For The 76ers, It Was Almost A Net Loss

But never, even at his pre-drug peak when he made the All-Star teams in 1980, '81 and '82, had Richardson shown the controlled all-around game he exhibited against the 76ers. In Game 1 he scored 18 points and dished out nine assists. Then in Game 2 he singlehandedly buried the Sixers, scoring 24 points in the first half and finishing with 32 (including three 3-pointers) and nine assists. Plus, he ruthlessly exploited a matchup with Cheeks, who at 6'1" is four inches shorter than Richardson and was hampered by tendinitis in his right knee. "Yeah, Cheeks...he's a nice guy, but he's not 100 percent," said Richardson after Game 2. "And in this league, when you're not 100 percent, you're in trouble. If I was hurt, he'd do the same to me."

Cheeks, who is the Sixers' defensive catalyst, gave everybody a scare when, midway through the third quarter of the second game, he scaled Mt. Dawkins on a fast break and tumbled headfirst into a basket support. Cheeks needed three stitches over his left eye and didn't return to the game.

"I saw him yesterday and asked him how his knee was," said Cunningham just before Sunday's game. "He said fine. I asked him about his eye. He said fine. Then he said his back was killing him."

Things had gotten better by Sunday's second half when Cheeks finally found a way to shackle Richardson, who, after an 11-point, nine-assist first half, finished with just 16 and 11. Cheeks played Richardson chest-to-chest all over the floor, thus stopping Richardson's penetration and, to a great extent, the Nets' fast break. And, with the Sixers clinging to a two-point lead with just 28 seconds to play, Cheeks stole a King pass and scored the clinching hoop.

"Now on defense they know we're going to be there, but they won't be sure from where," Cheeks said afterward. "There's some indecision in their minds." That may have been so, but still, at week's end, it was Philly that looked as if it may have waited too long to make up its mind about how it would defend its championship.