1983-1984 NBA News Highlights presented by editor Joe Balazs of basketball historian
September 28 1983
The National Basketball Association rules that any player convicted of taking illegal drugs, or admitting to having taking them, will be banned from the league for life.
December 13 1983 A new NBA scoring record:
The Detroit Pistons defeat the Denver Nuggets, 186-184, in triple overtime in McNichols Arena in Denver. Kikki Vandeweghe of Denver scores a game-high 51 points and teammate Alex English scores 47. Isiah Thomas of the winning Detroit Pistons connects for 47 points, and teammate John Long scores 41.
Amazing fact: Four players did not score a single point, David Thirdkill and Kent Benson of Detroit and Ken Dennard and Howard Carter od Denver.
February 1 1984
The NBA office announces that David Stern will become the new commissioner.
He replaces Larry O’Brien who resigned. David Stern will be the NBA's fourth president.
April 5 1984
Kareem Abdul Jabbar becomes the new highest scorer in NBA history. Kareem passes Wilt Chamberlain total of 31,419. Abdul-Jabbar record setting points come on one of his legendary skyhooks front the right side in a game against the Utah Jazz.
1984 National Basketball Association Final Standings
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division Standings:
Boston 62-20… Philadelphia 52-30 10 GB… New York 47-35 15 GB…
New Jersey 45-37 17 GB… Washington 35-47 27 GB
Central Division Standings:
Milwaukee 50-32… Detroit 49-33 1 GB… Atlanta 40-42 10 GB…
Cleveland 28-54 22 GB… Chicago 27-55 23 GB… Indiana 26-56 24 GB
Western Conference
Midwest Division Standings:
Utah 45-37… Dallas 43-39 2 GB… Kansas City 38-44 7 GB… San Antonio
38-44 7 GB… Houston 29-53 16 GB
Pacific Division Standings:
Los Angeles 54-28 … Portland 48-34 6 GB… Seattle 42-40 12 GB…
Phoenix 41-41 13 GB… Golden State 37-45 17 GB… San Diego 30-52 24 GB
1983-1984 NBA
The largest television audience ever watched the seventh game of the NBA Championships. The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 111-102. The Lakers and Magic Johnson and the Celtics and Larry Bird dazzled the viewing public in their first battle since the 1979 NCAA Championship Game. Larry Bird was voted the 1984 NBA Playoff MVP. Bird averaged 27 points per game and 11 rebounds per game thru the playoffs. In the Championship 7th Game Cedric Maxwell led the Celtics with 24 points and teammate Dennis Johnson had 22. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a game-high 29 for the losing Lakers.
Regular Season 1983-1984 NBA Scoring Leaders:
Adrian Dantley, Utah 30.6 ppg Mark Aquirre, Dallas 29.5 ppg Kiki Vandeweghe, Denver 29.4 ppg
Alex English, Denver 26.4 ppg Bernard King, NYK 26.3 ppg George Gervin San Antonio 25.9 ppg
Larry Bird, Boston 24.2 ppg Mike Mitchell, San Antonio 23.3 ppg Terry Cummings, San Diego
22.9 ppg Purvis Short, Golden State 22.8 ppg
1983-1984 Assists Per Game Leaders:
Magic Johnson, Los Angeles 13.1 Norm Nixon, San Diego 11.1 Isiah Thomas, Detroit
11.1 John Lucas, San Diego 10.7 Johnny Moore, San Diego 9.6 Rickey Green, San Ant. 9.2
1983-1984 Rebounds Per Game:
Moses Malone, Philadelphia 13.4 Buck Williams, NJN 12.3 Jeff Ruland Washington 12.3
Bill Laimbeer, Detroit 12.2 Ralph Sampson 11.1 Jack Sikma, Seattle 11.1
1983-1984 Blocked Shots Per Game:
Mark Eaton, Utah 4.28 Tree Rollins, Atlanta 3.60 Ralph Sampson, Houston 2.40 Larry
Nance, Phoenix 2.12 Artis Gilmore, San Diego 2.06 Roy Hinson, Cleveland 1.81
Julius Irving, Philadelphia 1.81
1983-1984 Steals Per Game:
Rickey Green, Utah 2.65 Isiah Thomas, Detroit 2.49 Gus Williams Seattle 2.36
NBA Stats by basketballhistorian.com
