1982 NBA playoffs
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 20–June 8, 1982 |
| Season | 1981–82 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Los Angeles Lakers (8th title) |
| Runners-up | Philadelphia 76ers |
| Semifinalists | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Scoring leader(s) | Julius Erving (76ers) (461) |
| Awards | |
| MVP | Magic Johnson (Lakers) |
The 1982 NBA playoffs were the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1981–82 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. Magic Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP for the second time.
It was the second NBA Finals meeting in three years between the Lakers and Sixers, and ended with the same result—a 4–2 Lakers victory—as the previous confrontation. They met again in 1983, with Philadelphia getting revenge in a sweep. The Sixers beat the Celtics again in the Eastern Conference Finals, the second of their three series wins in a four-year stretch.
The Bullets' 2–0 sweep of the Nets was their last playoff series victory until 2005.
This was the third straight year the Bucks failed to advance to the third round with the #2 seed despite a first-round bye, although they did not have the better record in each of those matchups, and thus not having home-court advantage.
Bracket
[edit]| First Round | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | NBA Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Boston* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | New Jersey | 0 | E5 | Washington | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| E5 | Washington | 2 | Eastern Conference | E1 | Boston* | 3 | |||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 2 | E2 | Milwaukee* | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| E6 | Atlanta | 0 | E3 | Philadelphia | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| W1 | Los Angeles* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Los Angeles* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Denver | 1 | W5 | Phoenix | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| W5 | Phoenix | 2 | Western Conference | W1 | Los Angeles* | 4 | |||||||||||||
| W2 | San Antonio* | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Seattle | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Seattle | 2 | W2 | San Antonio* | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| W6 | Houston | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
- * Division winner
- Bold Series winner
- Italic Team with home-court advantage
First round
[edit]Eastern Conference first round
[edit](3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) Atlanta Hawks
[edit]April 21 |
| Atlanta Hawks 76, Philadelphia 76ers 111 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 20–28, 16–25, 22–26, 18–32 | ||
| Pts: John Drew 18 Rebs: Dan Roundfield 11 Asts: Rory Sparrow 8 |
Pts: Darryl Dawkins 27 Rebs: Darryl Dawkins 9 Asts: Maurice Cheeks 6 | |
| Philadelphia leads series, 1–0 | ||
April 23 |
| Philadelphia 76ers 98, Atlanta Hawks 95 (OT) | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 21–20, 19–19, 23–29, 27–22, Overtime: 8–5 | ||
| Pts: Julius Erving 28 Rebs: Dawkins, C. Jones 8 each Asts: | ||