Former Lakers President, Magic Johnson (63 years old on August 14) has perfectly succeeded in his retraining as a businessman, but it is the images of an extraordinary player, master of showtime, which will remain forever engraved in our heads.
Three NBA Most Valuable Player titles have come to crown the blind passing king, a lifelong Lakers loyalist who holds a special place in the hearts of basketball fans everywhere.
Amazement around the world on November 7, 1991 when Magic Johnson announced that he had AIDS and decided to end his career on the spot. Earvin promises to fight the disease as hard as he always has on the basketball court.
Six years earlier, American actor Rock Hudson was one of the first Hollywood celebrities to succumb to the virus. And if the research advances, it has not reached the advance that we know today. Hence the excitement aroused by the news in the four corners of the planet. Emotion all the greater since we are not talking here about a basketball starlet as the League produces ten of them each year. Pillar of the Lakers showtime version, Magic fascinated all sports lovers during the 80s.
The king of showtime
Earvin Johnson has always been a fighter, as evidenced by his five NBA titles (1980, 82, 85, 87, 88), his three League MVP titles and his nine All-NBA First Team citations. A prestigious track record opened in 1979 with the Michigan State Spartans. During the NCAA Final against Indiana State, Magic has the one who will become his lifelong rival: Larry Bird. All his playing life, however, Magic will have the impression of chasing “Larry Legend”. A few weeks before receiving his first regular season MVP award, he declared in the “Los Angeles Times”: “Larry Bird already has three, I have none. It’s good now… “
We are in 1987. The Lakers point guard had to wait eight years to win the highest individual honor. Two others will follow in 1989 and 1990, two seasons where Magic will miss the NBA title with the Lakers. In 1989, Los Angeles was swept away by the “Bad boys” of Detroit (0-4). Magic finished the year injured. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ends his career. In 1990, the Lakers were sharply dismissed by Phoenix (4-1) in the Conference semi-finals. A year later, Michael Jordan’s reign began with a 4-1 victory over LA in the Finals. Magic in turn bows out. Fortunately, the Olympic gold of Barcelona will come to put some balm in his heart, like the MVP trophy of the All-Star Game of Orlando the same year (1992), loaded with emotion for the reasons that we have mentioned above (the second of its kind after that of 1990). The sequel is a failed experience on the edge of the floor as a coach – 16 games in 1994 replacing Randy Pfund – and a comeback as a player during the 1995-96 season, after more than four years of interruption. The NBA’s most famous smile will never be found again. The magician of the ball, the king of showtime version Pat Riley, the wildly glamorous prince of Hollywood, the one who found in Larry Bird his perfect antithesis.
“You have to keep chasing your dreams, explained Magic after his last return to the field. Mine is to be my own boss, an accomplished businessman. Until I achieve this, I will not live completely happy. »
Magic gave happiness to all basketball fans for thirteen seasons by compiling more than 17,000 points, 6,500 rebounds and more than 10,000 assists, an art in which he had become a real expert. For Magic, no assist was impossible. He found his teammates with their eyes closed. On the counter-attack phases, Johnson amused himself by turning his head in the opposite direction to the game to blindly serve an ideally placed partner (“no look pass”). On the other hand, Earvin was never really a scorer. His best points average: 23.9 in 1986-87. The nickname “Magic” was given to him by a newspaper reporter while he was still in high school in Everett, Lansing County near Detroit.
The only rookie in history elected MVP of the Finals
In the 1980s, the Abdul-Jabbars, Worthys and other McAdoos were literally stuffed with caviars. Showtime was truly born in Los Angeles when owner Jerry Buss brought in seven new players in 1979, including Magic Johnson. Jack McKinney, appointed coach at the same time, managed the team for only 14 matches. Victim of a bicycle accident at the end of the year, he was close to the worst. Paul Westhead took over on the bench and led the Lakers to the first of their five titles in the 80s.
The overflowing enthusiasm of the rookie Johnson laid the foundations of this first coronation. A first personal title coupled with an MVP trophy in the Final against Philadelphia. A slice of history. Magic took the place of Abdul-Jabbar, with an ankle injury, at center in a crucial Game 6 and compiled 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. LA win 123-107. During this meeting, Johnson played in almost every position! His performance in this series remains one of the most “amazing” in the history of the League. He is also the only rookie to win the Finals MVP title.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar always mentions this anecdote: “That season, we played our first game against the San Diego Clippers. We won thanks to a buzzer shot from me. Throughout the match, Magic came to hit the five with the players who scored. In the end, it’s as if we had won the NBA title… I took him aside in the locker room to explain to him that there were still 81 games left and that he had to calm down. He was young, he didn’t know what an NBA season was yet. »
Abdul-Jabbar was unaware at the time that he was dealing with a winner at heart, a genius playmaker, a rising legend.
Magic Johnson asks for his coach’s head
A legend that will expand with knife duels against Larry Bird’s Boston in the 80s. The saga of the decade. The one that will allow the NBA to establish itself as a major sports league and increase its popularity around the world. Magic-Bird, Los-Angeles-Boston, it’s a modern Greek tragedy. An endless rivalry. Magic will know the delights of the whistles even in its own room, the Inglewood Forum… After a 1980-81 season disrupted by an injury and a premature elimination in the 1st round of the playoffs (1-2 against Houston and Moses Malone), Magic returns with a mind of steel. Pumped. Probably too much. He no longer accepts the offensive systems of Paul Westhead whose head he claims – no pun intended – one evening of defeat at Utah. He even threatens to leave the franchise if he does not win his case. “Star whim” for some. But whim granted. A few days later, assistant coach Pat Riley took over the reins of the team. Magic is jeered at the Forum during the presentation of the players against Seattle. He will pay a high price for his bloodshed: he is not even selected for the All-Star Game as a starter…
“There was Michael and then the rest, that is to say us”
Johnson will have known everything, very quickly. Success. Glory. Money, with a contract of 25 million dollars in 1984. The whistles will not last long since in this year of storm, it will offer a new title to Los Angeles (4-2 against the 76ers). Magic’s game is as brilliant as it is confusing. Very tall for a leader (2.05 m), Johnson compensates for his lack of speed with perfect fundamentals. Above all, he realizes what others are incapable of. Blind passes are so many stabs. Disarmed by so much nerve, the defenses remain powerless.
Of course, Magic Johnson made mistakes, especially during the 1984 Final against Boston (during Matches 2, 4 and 7), but his aura would remain intact. Especially since the following season, he took his revenge on these same Celtics. 1987 was a great year for the native of Lansing, Michigan (League MVP, NBA title, Finals MVP), who had never scored so much. It is the Kings who will bear the brunt of his wrath, a crazy night when he planted 46 points, his career high. Magic will win a last NBA title in 1988 in a famous back-to-back against Detroit. But the Pistons are ready to reign in turn. Like Chicago where a certain Michael Jordan, lurking in the shadows, is biding his time. The transfer of power will therefore take place in 1991, in five matches. Earvin Johnson’s 9th Final in twelve seasons! In front of the prodigy Jordan, Magic will always be very humble. “There was Michael and then the rest, which was us. »
For a long time, however, a majority of NBA players and millions of fans around the world placed Magic above the elite. A 12-time All-Star player who had magic in his hands, and whose Western Conference Finals MVP trophy is named after him.
MVP titles: 1987, 1989, 1990
Number of NBA matches: 906
Number of career points: 17,707
The Dream Team 1992
| Magic Johnson | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 1979-80 | ALL | 77 | 36 | 53.0 | 22.6 | 81.0 | 2.2 | 5.6 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 18.0 |
| 1980-81 | ALL | 37 | 37 | 53.2 | 17.6 | 76.0 | 2.7 | 5.9 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 0.7 | 21.6 |
| 1981-82 | ALL | 78 | 38 | 53.7 | 20.7 | 76.0 | 3.2 | 6.4 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 18.6 |
| 1982-83 | ALL | 79 | 37 | 54.8 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 2.7 | 5.9 | 8.7 | 10.5 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 16.8 |
| 1983-84 | ALL | 67 | 38 | 56.5 | 20.7 | 81.0 | 1.5 | 5.9 | 7.3 | 13.1 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 4.6 | 0.7 | 17.6 |
| 1984-85 | ALL | 77 | 36 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 84.3 | 1.2 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 12.6 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 18.3 |
| 1985-86 | ALL | 72 | 36 | 52.6 | 23.8 | 87.1 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 5.9 | 12.5 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 0.2 | 18.8 |
| 1986-87 ★ | ALL | 80 | 36 | 52.3 | 20.5 | 84.8 | 1.5 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 12.2 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 0.5 | 23.9 |
| 1987-88 | ALL | 72 | 37 | 49.2 | 19.6 | 85.3 | 1.2 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 11.9 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 0.2 | 19.6 |
| 1988-89 ★ | ALL | 77 | 38 | 50.9 | 31.4 | 91.1 | 1.4 | 6.4 | 7.9 | 12.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 22.5 |
| 1989-90 ★ | ALL | 79 | 37 | 48.0 | 38.4 | 89.0 | 1.6 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 11.5 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 22.3 |
| 1990-91 | ALL | 79 | 37 | 47.7 | 32.0 | 90.6 | 1.3 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 12.5 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 4.0 | 0.2 | 19.4 |
| 1995-96 | ALL | 32 | 30 | 46.6 | 37.9 | 85.6 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 6.9 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 14.6 |
| Total | 906 | 37 | 52.0 | 30.3 | 84.8 | 1.8 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 11.2 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 19.5 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
