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- Harold Katz bought the 76ers in 1982. On his watch, the final piece of the championship puzzle was completed before the 1982-83 season when they acquired center Malone from the aforementioned Houston Rockets. Led by Hall of Famer Julius Erving and All-Stars Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones they dominated the regular season, winning 65 games in what is still the second most winning year in franchise history. Malone was named League MVP, and when reporters asked how the playoffs would run, he answered, "four, four, four" — in other words, predicting that the Sixers would sweep all three rounds to win the title, with the minimum 12 games. Malone's deep voice made his boast sound like "fo', fo', fo'. " However, the Sixers backed up Malone's boast. They made a mockery of the Eastern Conference playoffs, first sweeping the New York Knicks and then beating the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. The Sixers went on to win their third NBA championship (and second in Philadelphia) with a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, who had defeated them the season before. Malone was named the playoffs' MVP. The Sixers didn't quite fulfill Malone's prediction, as their run was actually "fo', fi', fo" ("four, five, four"). Nonetheless, their 12–1 playoff record is the second-best in league history after the 2000-01 Lakers, who went 15–1 en route to the NBA Title coincidentally beating the 76ers in the finals. The Philadelphia-based group Pieces Of A Dream had a minor hit in 1983 with the R&B song "Fo-Fi-Fo", which title was prompted by Malone's quip.
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