Despite being underdogs against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division semifinals, Gretzky led the Kings to a shocking upset of his old squad, spearheading the Kings ' return from a 3 – 1 series deficit to win the series 4 – 3.

Despite the fact that many performances are held within the circle of a small art-world group, RoseLee Goldberg notes, in Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present that " performance has been a way of appealing directly to a large public, as well as shocking audiences into reassessing their own notions of art and its relation to culture.

Despite this shocking display of violence, Angel never seemed to scare Fred, and even at his most demonic, he never attacked her.

Despite the lurid tone of its poster art based on one of the shocking images from the film, Phase IV approaches its subject matter naturalistically, with relatively little melodrama.

Despite a volley of arrows from the Hungarians, Otto's army smashed into the Hungarian line, and began to sweep over it.

Despite their poor regular season showing in 1968 – 69, they made the playoffs ; however, they were manhandled by St. Louis in a four-game sweep.

Despite another disappointing season, the Pacers managed to sweep the waning Detroit Pistons for the first time in 5 years, and the abysmal New Jersey Nets for the first time in 20.

Despite their success against Calgary, round 2 would prove to be a disaster for the Sharks, when they lost in a four game sweep to Detroit ( in a rematch of the previous year ) without even holding a single lead in all 4 games.

Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect.

Despite the large Fuzhou population, most of the Chinese businesses in Chinatown are still Cantonese owned and because of still the large Cantonese population on the Lower East Side, especially with the Cantonese Community still being the main Chinese commercial district for all of Chinatown and with the Cantonese people living in more affluent residencies that are also important customers to Chinatown's businesses, Cantonese is still a strong Lingua Franca in Chinatown even though Mandarin is beginning to sweep Cantonese aside as a Lingua Franca allowing Cantonese to still dominate the cultural standards and economic resources of Manhattan's Chinatown.

Despite the exhibitions, history, number of artists and global sweep of the artistamp movement, the medium had long been ignored by major institutions and derided by the arts establishment: before his death in 1989, Bidner attempted to donate his definitive collection to several major Canadian institutions but was turned down by every one.

Despite the Tories ' sweep of much of the province, Conway's personal popularity allowed him a fairly easily re-election in Renfrew North.

Despite 30 points from ex-Eagles Richard Midgley, the Eagles held on for a 97-94 win, therefore winning the treble to cap off their most successful season since the clean sweep.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography ( accounts differ ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he went back to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early in the morning of February 9, 1981.

Despite a general strike in 1981 and poor economic conditions worldwide during 1981 – 83, Bermuda's social, political, and economic institutions showed resilience and stability.

Despite their regular season success, the Spurs were unable to win any NBA championships, losing in the Western Conference playoffs to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 1981 and the Los Angeles Lakers in in 4 games 1982 and in 6 games in the 1983 Western Finals despite getting both wins at the Forum in the 1983 series.

Despite the difficulties Silja's first real cruiseferries and entered traffic in 1981, which led to a 45 % raise in passenger numbers.

Despite the off-field troubles, Carlton continued to thrive on-field, and Parkin led the team to back-to-back premierships in 1981 and 1982, with victories in the Grand Finals against Collingwood and respectively.

Despite being advertised as soon available in November 1979, Horrendous Disc was not finally released by Solid Rock until April 10, 1981, ten days before the band's follow-up ¡ Alarma !, was released on Newpax Records.

Despite losing Internacional's most important match ever, it set a precedent of great moments to come in this decade, as the team went on to win the Campeonato Gaúcho four years in a row starting in 1981.

Despite Turkey's failure to recognize the Greek government in Cyprus, all three countries performed together when Cyprus debuted in 1981.

Despite its unattractive design and heavy weight — it resembled " a cross between a World War II field radio and a shrunken instrument panel of a DC-3 ", and Felstenstein confessed that carrying two units four blocks to a trade show " nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets "— in the first eight months after April 1981, when the Osborne 1 was announced, the company sold 11, 000 units.

Despite this success, Rikk Agnew left the band in 1981, shortly before the band's second release, a 7 " EP named " Welcome to Reality.

Despite pressure from activists for the New Zealand government ( headed by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon ) to cancel the tour, permission was granted, and the South African team arrived in New Zealand on 19 July 1981.

Other examples include Vaughan Williams ' Songs of Travel, Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs ( 1953 ) and Despite and Still, and Songfest by Leonard Bernstein, Hammarskjöld Portrait ( 1974 ), Les Olympiques ( 1976 ), Tribute to a Hero ( 1981 ), Next Year in Jerusalem ( 1985 ), and A Year of Birds ( 1995 ) by Malcolm Williamson, Honey and Rue by André Previn ( composed for the American soprano Kathleen Battle ) and Raising Sparks by James MacMillan ( 1997 ).

Despite creating a number of hugely popular musicals in the late 1970s and 1980s such as The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, and Evita, Prince had his first artistic failure with Stephen Sondheim in 1981 with Merrily We Roll Along.

Despite the obvious negative impact of such a scheme on subsistence agriculture, after 1981 villages were mandated to be agriculturally self-sufficient.

Despite being the same car mechanically, the Opel Ascona was sold alongside the Cavalier in the UK until 24 July 1981, when GM decided to phase out duplicated models with the Opel brand in the UK, and merge remaining dealerships with those of Vauxhall.

Despite other claims as to the name " Chicken Dance ", the name had come about because an Austrian tour guide translated " Bird Dance / Dance Little Bird " and other similar names, from German to English by calling it " The Chicken Dance " when Norm Edlebeck's Band appeared in Austria in the fall of 1981.

Despite constant illness, he produced a large amount of music, including important works such as the Second ( 1980 ) and Third ( 1983 ) String Quartets and the String Trio ( 1985 ); the Faust Cantata ( 1983 ), which he later incorporated in his opera Historia von D. Johann Fausten ; the ballet Peer Gynt ( 1985 – 1987 ); the Third ( 1981 ), Fourth ( 1984 ) and Fifth ( 1988 ) Symphonies ( the last of which is also known as the Fourth Concerto Grosso ) and the Viola ( 1985 ) and 1st Cello ( 1985 – 1986 ) concertos.

Despite internal divisions, the party retained control of three towns in the December 1981 municipal elections

Despite these defeats, Erving was named the NBA MVP in 1981 and was again voted to the 1982 All-NBA first Team.

Despite sharing a common name this association had nothing to do with the original United States based National Bicycle Association that was formed in California in 1974 and ironically merged with the National Bicycle League and ceased operations as an independent body in December 1981, the same month and year the Australian namesake was formed.

Despite government-led efforts to regenerate Toxteth after the 1981 riots, few of the area's problems appeared to have improved by 1991, by which time joyriding had also become a serious problem ; on 30 October that year, a 12-year-old was killed by a speeding stolen car on Granby Street, seriously injuring a nine-year-old who died in hospital from his injuries six days later.

Despite these defections, Pawley's New Democrats were able to win a majority government in the 1981 election.

Despite facial burns during a pit fire in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Mears ' ten wins in the two-year span were enough for another two Indycar championship titles.

Despite the success of the CX design ( and the unbroken legacy of dominance in this segment stretching back to 1934, there was no new and improved " big Citroën " model on the horizon by 1981.

Despite his Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1997 playoffs, Mike Vernon had been replaced as the regular Wings goaltender during the season with the younger Chris Osgood.

Despite a strong push in the middle of the 2007 season, winning five straight games, the Vikings lost their final two games to finish the season at 8 – 8, missing the playoffs.

Despite not making the playoffs, the Brewers had some other memorable moments, as Pat Listach hit. 290 and stole 54 bases while winning the AL Rookie of the Year award, while Robin Yount got his 3000th career hit.

Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs.

Despite their regular season dominance, the Islanders exited the playoffs with a loss to the New York Rangers in the semifinals, after which original team captain and star Ed Westfall-who had surrendered the captaincy to Clark Gillies the season before-retired.

Despite the fact that the Lightning finished first in the conference and the Islanders qualified for the playoffs as the 8th and final seed, a few journalists had picked the Islanders to win based on their strong regular season performance against Tampa Bay.

Despite these high-priced acquisitions the Rangers still finished out of the playoffs.

Despite their regular season success, an emotionally exhausted Flyers team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Rangers in five games.

Despite finishing at the. 500 mark in 1988 – 89, the Flyers made the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season.

Despite finishing just one point shy of a third straight Atlantic Division title, the Flyers blitzed their way through the first three rounds of the playoffs, dominating Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the Rangers all in five games apiece to win the Eastern Conference championship, and clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1986 – 87.

Despite their move to the brand-new ESA, the Hurricanes played lackluster hockey in 1999 – 2000, failing to make the playoffs.

Despite a 20 point improvement from last season's efforts, the team failed to reach the playoffs for the second straight year, the first time the Colorado club would do so in their 17 years playing in Denver.

Despite barely missing the playoffs and receiving the least chance of gaining the top draft pick with only one ball in the lottery, the Magic won the first pick in the 1993 NBA Draft Lottery.

Despite still not having Hill due to injury, the Magic entered the playoffs for the third straight year.

Despite their efforts they didn't make the playoffs.

Despite continuing to improve, the Hornets failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

Despite the Bulls ' amazing run during the 1993 – 94 season, where they won 55 games, they were beaten in seven games by the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, after a controversial foul call by referee Hue Hollins in game 5 of that series.

Despite the difficulties with the suspensions and injuries, the Pacers earned a sixth seed in the playoffs with a record of 44 – 38.

Despite the adversity they had gone through, the Pacers made the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 years.

Despite the loss of Miller, the Artest saga, and many key injuries the Pacers made the playoffs in 2006 for the 14th time in 15 years.

Despite missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 80's, the 2007 – 08 season displayed many signs of growth in the team, especially towards the end of the season.

Despite all the progress, there was speculation that Jim O ' Brien was not the coach to lead this team back to the playoffs.

Despite losing leading scorer Tom Gugliotta for half the season, the Timberwolves went on to post their first winning season at 45 – 37, making the playoffs for the 2nd straight season.

Despite these setbacks, the Timberwolves made the playoffs for the fifth straight season with a 47 – 35 record.