Sixers

Not to Get Ahead of Ourselves, But the Last Sixers Team to Win it All Also Started 8-1

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 5th, 2026 · 10:35 AM EST

---

The Sixers are 8-1 and it’s not because they’re dispatching cupcakes.

They have wins against:

• the defending champion Knicks (2x)
• the Eastern Conference finalist Cavs
• the #1 seed Detroit Pistons
• the Hornets (2nd night of a back-to-back, on the road)
• the Bulls
• the Pacers
• the Bucks

And the schedule doesn’t get any easier over the next 10 days. They’ll play the Cavs on the road and the Celtics and Raptors at home. They don’t play a Western Conference team until November 23rd but they’ve already tangled with three of the best teams in the East.

This is one of the best starts in franchise history. They can’t match the 10-0 start that Allen Iverson and company ripped off in 2000-2001, en route to an NBA Finals appearance.

But they’ve matched the start of the last Sixers team to win it all, which is the 1982-1983 “Fo Fo Fo” squad with Moses Malone, Dr. J, Andrew Toney, and Mo Cheeks. That squad was 13-2 at Thanksgiving weekend and went on to finish 65-17 in the regular season:

Going back through the records, the Iverson Sixers are the only team to start 10-0. But in addition to the 1983 title team, the following Philly squads have started 9-1:

• 1981-1982 (season before they got Moses, lost to Lakers in the Finals)
• 1978-1979 (decent year sandwiched between Finals appearances)
• 1966-67 (championship team with Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, etc)
• 1968-69 (another Wilt year)

More recently, they did get out to an 8-1 start in 2023-2024, but lost a string of games in mid-November to fall to 13-7 at one point. They went on to win 47 total.

But if the Sixers can get past the Cavs on Friday, they’re 9-1 with the one-win Chicago Bulls on deck. A.I.’s team of 25 years ago was 18-8 by Christmas day.