http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006817
LEISURE & ARTS
That Magic Moment
Johnson's legend was born in the 1980 NBA Finals.
BY JULIUS ERVING
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 12:01 a.m.
As this year's NBA Finals capture the headlines, I find myself reflecting on some of the truly remarkable moments and performances of past Finals that I've witnessed--some first-hand, others as a fan. The Finals present a stage unlike any other in basketball, and no memories remain fresher than those that occur during the NBA's ultimate season finale.
There's a short list of NBA names that, when spoken, immediately evoke feelings of greatness of near-divine proportions. For every 20 or so guys who have played in a handful of All-Star Games in their careers, there's one player whose star shines brighter than the rest, a guy who fills the arenas on a nightly basis. From the moment he stepped on the court in his first NBA game in 1979, Earvin "Magic" Johnson was one of those players. But it was one performance against my Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 Finals that forever placed Magic's name among the true NBA legends.
Coming off his Michigan State Spartans' storied NCAA championship victory over Larry Bird and Indiana State, the 6-foot-9 rookie point guard won over fans immediately with his brilliant smile and colorful game. With the formidable Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won his sixth and final Most Valuable Player trophy that year, commanding the middle, Johnson delivered from day one, averaging 18 points and 7.3 assists his first year. He was ultimately eked out for Rookie of the Year by Bird, who just about single-handedly resurrected a slumping Boston Celtics franchise.
Magic showed remarkable leadership in steering the Los Angeles Lakers' ship all the way to the 1980 NBA Finals against us, a series we were slightly favored in. The world had seen Magic perform superbly in crunch time of the NCAA tournament the previous year. But there's no stage like the NBA Finals, and he was only 20 years old with two years of college and one NBA season under his belt. Many had sensed greatness in Earvin, but a player has to perform under the most pressure-filled conditions before he earns true superstar status.
The series began pretty evenly, with my personal highlight being in the fourth quarter of Game Four, with us trailing 2-1 in the series. In what's now become a pretty well-documented move, I drove baseline, elevated, reached back behind the backboard with the ball and emerged on the opposite side of the basket to convert the layup. We ended up with a 105-102 win to tie the series, and our confidence was riding high.
L.A. won Game Five to take a 3-2 series lead, but word dropped that Kareem wouldn't make the trip to Philly for Game Six, as his ankle sprain left him unable to run. We were totally shocked to hear this news, and I remember our coach, Billy Cunningham, saying he'd believe Kareem wasn't playing only when the game ended and he hadn't seen him. But while we knew our backs were still against the wall and that the Lakers would be tough even without the big center, I'd be lying if I said our confidence didn't jump a notch or two upon hearing Kareem was out.
With the eventual leading scorer in NBA history home in bed, we were considerably bigger than L.A., so the Lakers were going to have to play a different style of basketball for them to have a chance against us. We didn't know exactly what to expect, which made them unpredictable and dangerous, as evidenced by the fact that Magic jumped center for them to start out the game. I remember Earvin smiling at center court moments before anyone else was in position, trying to decide how to jump.
With Darryl Dawkins and Caldwell Jones manning our inside, we might've been bigger than the Kareem-less Lakers, but with Magic pushing the break flanked by Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, Spencer Haywood and Michael Cooper, they were significantly more athletic than us. Their up-tempo strategy paid off in the first half, as we headed into the locker room deadlocked at 60-60, a halftime score you don't see too often anymore.
While we were somewhat surprised at how the Lakers were hanging with us without Kareem in Philadelphia, you can only imagine how we felt when L.A. opened the third quarter with a 14-0 explosion. Aided by Wilkes's career game of 37 points and 10 rebounds, Magic never let us back into the game, passing, rebounding and shooting his way to 42 points, 15 boards, seven assists and three steals--on the road, no less. The Lakers won the game, 123-107, and thus the NBA championship.
Earvin turned in what many consider, myself included, the best performance ever in an NBA Finals game. While I obviously would've preferred winning that game and then the championship, at least I can look back 25 years later and say that I saw the legend of Magic Johnson born first-hand.
The Lakers would go on to win four more NBA titles in the '80s, none of which would have come without the 6-foot-9 point guard with the huge smile and an even bigger game.
Mr. Erving is a basketball Hall of Famer and currently one of NBA's ambassadors for the Finals.
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