Last year, utilizing a complex analytical formula, statistical guru Nate Silver's website, FiveThirtyEight.com, ranked the greatest teams in NBA history.
The 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers were 18th.
A half-century after arcing so brightly but briefly in the NBA skies, that record-setting championship team, once honored as the league's all-time best, is now a falling star.
"A lot of people out there think basketball was invented with Bird and Magic," said Wali Jones, a starting guard on the 1966-67 Sixers. "After all these years, when they talk about the best teams ever, they don't mention us anymore."
But in Philadelphia, where 50 years ago they made basketball history and, more important, finally cleared the enormous green hurdle that was the despised Boston Celtics, those NBA-champion 76ers still shine vividly in the sports firmament.