The best champions to never win NBA Finals MVP

23 April 2013: Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett (5) during game two of the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY The Knicks defeated the Celtics 87-71 to lead the series 2-0. (Photo by Rich Kane/Icon SMI/Corbis via Getty Images) /

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PHILADELPHIA – JANUARY 6: NBA Legend Julius “Dr.J” Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers is announced prior to the game against the Detroit Pistons on January 6, 2012 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Julius Erving

When Julius Erving entered the NBA following the 1976 NBA/ABA merger, he had already won two championships and two Playoffs MVPs in the ABA as a member of the New York Nets. Erving would then go on to win his lone NBA championship as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983. It was Erving’s fourth trip to the NBA Final as he had lost to the Trail Blazers in 1977 and the Lakers in 1980 and 1982. However, it was Moses Malone who led the way for that Sixers team as he won MVP in both the regular season and the NBA Finals that year. The Sixers were not quite able to live up to Malone’s audacious prediction of “Fo, Fo, Fo,” but they only lost one game in the Conference Finals on their way to sweeping the Lakers, giving Erving and the 76ers revenge for their Finals losses to Los Angeles in 1980 and 1982. Dr. J, the high flyer who paved the way for Michael Jordan and so many others who followed his lead, remains one of the most revolutionary players in league history and one of just eight players to have scored 30,000 career points when factoring in his over 11,000 points in the ABA.

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