The Big Guy Meets the Doctor

Basketball's twin titans face off in the finals

The program books and bright marquees spell out the official version of the 1980 National Basketball Association championship series: the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. But basketball fans across the country know that the real name of these final games is: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs. Julius Erving. No matter what the outcome, the 1980 championship will be remembered as the long awaited meeting of the Big Guy and the Doctor.

For nearly a decade, such a showdown has been the stuff of a hoop fan's dreams. Abdul-Jabbar, the N.B.A.'s five-time Most Valuable Player, the compleat center whose size (7 ft. 2 in.) does not diminish his grace. Julius Erving, the flashy, 6-ft. 6-in. forward from the now defunct A.B.A., whose rafter-clearing leaps and fluid moves earned him the sobriquet Dr. J (as in, watch him operate). Only after a merger of the warring leagues and four years of playoff eliminations did Abdul-Jabbar's Lakers dominate the West and Erving's 76ers conquer the East.

But the wait has proved worth it. This season, each man has been able to raise his game to a new professional level and, after years of conflict off-court, find new tranquillity in his personal life. Abdul-Jabbar's season was another notch in a consistently exceptional career. His lifetime average after eleven years as a pro: 28.3 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists.

Rookie of the year with the Milwaukee Bucks, he earned the first of his five M.V.P. trophies the next year, leading the Bucks to the N.B.A. title. New Laker Owner Jerry Buss renegotiated his contract at the start of the season (an estimated $1 million annually for four years) and acquired three power forwards, among them Starter Jim Chones, to liberate Kareem from the nightly double-teaming and pounding under the boards that had sapped his energy and enthusiasm in the past.

Off-court, Abdul-Jabbar and his wife Habiba are getting divorced after seven years of separation. While he still has some connections with the Hanafi Muslims in Washington, D.C., he has rid himself of the house where seven of them were murdered in 1973. Once among the most reclusive of superstars, Abdul-Jabbar is now seen about the town more often, skating at a roller disco or dining with friends.

The new, relaxed Abdul-Jabbar has emerged as the Lakers' leader in the locker room as well as on the court. After his teammates turned in a lackadaisical first half against the Seattle Supersonics during the playoffs, he delivered "my first-ever locker-room talk. Most of it was a lot of expletives deleted." Whatever the content, it worked; the Lakers won the game by six points. Recalls Magic Johnson, Los Angeles' marvelous rookie guard: "He was E.F. Hutton. Everybody listened."

In Philadelphia, meanwhile, everyone has begun to listen to Erving. A soaring magician who could seemingly leave the floor at midcourt and glide like a bird of prey to the backboard, he joined the 76ers from the A.B.A. for a record $3.5 million in 1976. But Erving found an overtalented team of prima donnas who were loathe to give him the ball and shunned him off-court as well.

For three seasons, he showed only flashes of his legendary form (he was M.V.P. of the All-Star game his first year in the N.B.A.). Last year he was left off the league's official All-Star team for the first time in his career. His pride stung, Erving came roaring back. He averaged 26.9 points this season, his best in the N.B.A., added 355 assists and blocked 140 shots. In one computer survey, he was rated the most productive and consistent player in the league. "I thought the reputation I had built up over all these years was slipping away," Erving said of his turnaround. "It is important to me to be recognized as one of the best players in the game."

Equally important, 76er management traded away two of the team's bigger ball hogs, George McGinnis and Lloyd Free, then moved 7-ft. Center Caldwell Jones to forward to ease Erving's rebounding burden. Freed at last to work his moves on the outside and levitate past foot-tangled defenders, Erving became the Dr. J of old. After he scored a career-high 44 points against Houston, Rockets Coach Del Harris said: "You couldn't have stopped him with a hockey stick. We had a whole committee of people on him, and they couldn't begin to slow him down."

Erving has also begun making friends with his new teammates, hanging out with them in coffee shops when the club is on the road. He attributes the change to a family reunion last summer in New York City. There, with more than 300 members of the Erving clan, Dr. J explored his roots and the responsibility of his unique place within the family circle. Says Erving: "I got a lot of strength and determination and peace from them."

Thus the rejuvenated superstars headed for their celebrated showdown. In the first two games in the best-of-seven championship series, the men and their teams played to a standoff. With Abdul-Jabbar pouring in 33 points and sweeping up 14 rebounds, the Lakers won the first game, 109-102. Next it was Erving's, and the Sixers', turn. He had 23 points and seven assists with five blocked shots, two of them against Abdul-Jabbar himself. As the teams headed for Philadelphia for the weekend, fans savored the sight of Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook and Erving's skywalking. It was turning out to be, as admirers had believed all along, a dream confrontation come true.

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