NBA QUICK FACTS

Name changes: The NBA has changed the name of its championship series three times in this decade. Until 1982, the official name was the NBA World Championship Series. The next two years, the NBA tried Showdown ’83 and Showdown ’84. In 1985, the NBA went back to NBA World Championship Series before settling on the NBA Finals in 1986.

Making Their Points: No team from 1980-88 made the NBA Finals without at least one 20-point scorer. The last team to do so was Seattle in 1979. The Sonics won the NBA championship that year with Gus Williams their leading regular-season scorer at 19.2 points per game.

Best of the Best: In seven of the first nine years of the decade, the team with the best regular-season record won the championship. The only exceptions so far came in 1985, when Boston had the best record of 63-19 and the Lakers, at 62-20, were the winners, and in 1982, when Boston also was 63-19 and the Lakers (57-25) defeated Philadelphia (58-24) for the title.

MVP: Six players have won playoff Most Valuable Player awards in the 1980s: Magic Johnson in 1980, 1982 and 1987, Larry Bird in 1984 and 1986, Moses Malone in 1982, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1985 and James Worthy in 1987. The sixth name is not so memorable. It was Cedric Maxwell for the 1981 Celtics.

(Southland Edition) Two of the last five NBA champions won just 30 percent of their road playoff games. The 1988 Lakers and 1984 Celtics each were 3-7 in the playoffs away from home.