1991 Lakers vs Portland - Game 6

[loutcb]

clyde should have drove.

[landrykkb]

@loutcb That's what we all said too at the time.

[FRSFreeStatePlus]

The 1991 Lakers were special because even though they were actually and underdog, they still won the Western Conference.

[Meshael24]

@FRSFreeStatePlus The Lakers record in 90-91 season is 56-26. Is that a underdog to you?

[FRSFreeStatePlus]

@Meshael24

Regular Season Record is not the only factor, the Lakers won that WCF because of experience and Magic who's arguably the best player of all time. And those were the only two advantages they had. The Blazers had much better depth and Athletic Ability. And were probably the favorite to win the NBA Finals in 91 going in.

[fjones71]

@Meshael24 They were 57-25, and yes they were underdogs against Portland that year. No question about it.

[GrooTheWanderer80]

@Meshael24 records dont mean shit. The Mavs had a great record this year and nobody expected them to make it past the 1st round. LA was aging and declining. Portland was the young up and coming team that had just come off a Finals loss to Detroit.

[Angelslover9]

what a play by magic nobody would have thought and also by the time the ball went out of bounds it should have been 0.0 time

[BluntedNcali]

Portland will never beat the Lakers when the chips are down. Cliff Robinson should be pissed at himself, he missed the lay up when it was a lay up on the fast break with less than a minute left. Great crowd at the forum, better than the pre madonnas at staples. Go Lakers

[xxwhatevahxx]

FUCKING GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!

[BigBrauner]

Best play ever. Magic didn't plan this way ahead. Just an in-the-moment genius play. If he had held on to it he would have been fouled. Even if he had made them both, Portland could have advanced and with still three seconds Clyde or Porter or even Robinson could have hit a three. Genius genius play, my all time favorite. Thanks for posting.

[dodgerdrei]

@BigBrauner Of all of Magic's , well, Magic , this was my 2nd favorite Magic moment ( Some Baby Hook shot in the '87 finals is my #1 ). '91 would also be Magic's last finals appearance, and the last hurrah for Showtime. Great times....

[Ronarks]

Ironic, dunleavy was the Lakers coach back then, in 00 he was coaching the blazers when the lakers eliminated them in the wcf.

[briandillon120]

God Dick Bavetta hasn't aged a day!

[tonton6969]

I'll never forget this play by Magic :)

I went nuts jumping of joy. Go Lakers!

But when the series started I was sure the TBlazers would win the series, they were scary, with a very athletic roster. I agree they would have had a better chance against the 1991 Bulls.

Kersey, Robinson, Williams and Duckworth were tough and agile. Porter was smart and fast. Ainge and Petrovic in the perimeters were among the top 5 shooters in the league.

And Clyde just being Clyde.

they werent as good in 92 tho

[Milordvega]

I remember seeing this and wondering what Magic was doing, what if the Blazers got the ball - but no, HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. With his usual court vision, he instantly saw that there was no one on the other side of the court, so he knew the seconds would tick off and game over. 

FANTASTIC.

[MizNelson]

As a huge Blazer fan at the time, I remember watching this and I was crushed. No doubt the Blazers would've won if they made the Finals, because the Bulls weren't yet the superpower they became the next season.

[sarnow76]

@MizNelson I totally agree.

[TheRatedIX7]

U mean in Game 4.

[Koolazzmike]

As a Blazer fan at the time, I was so heart broken and stunned. This was too much to take.

[iguillo]

People forget that it was the Blazers who had won the Pacific Division that year and had the best record in the league. The Lakers were not even supposed to make the finals but Magic, and Worthy, willed them into it.

:-)

[Kufdaddy2010]

Yeah i remember thinking as a little kid in Los Angeles that Portland was going to win the title that year. They played so well together and Clyde the Glide was at his best. The Lakers had a great offense that was too much for the blazers who were simply outplayed.

[SSW8040]

It is interesting seeing Mike Dunleavy and Rick Addelman coaching against each other in 1991. Mike Dunleavy with the Clippers in 2009 and Rick Addelman with the Houston Rockets and they are still coaching against each other.

Go Lakers 2009 NBA Champions!

[Smoov768]

What was the final score?

[ilikeicees]

uhhh its on the screen... 91-90

[herbs4mike]

I remember this. It was great..... And my friend who was a Portland fan was red faced and damn near in tears. It was one of the most memorable plays ever.

Thanks for posting it

[Koolazzmike]

I can feel your friend's pain. I was a Blazer fan at the time.

[sarnow76]

God watching this hurts soooooooooo much. I was a huge Blazer fan back then.

[zcarenow]

like i said in the begining , i don't want to hear the crap about "if mj hadn't retired", give credit where credit is due. rockets dominated 93-95' 2 titles, bulls dominated 90-92 3 titles, 96-98, titles. the only reason i brought up the other stuff was because of those who kept bringing it up.

[zcarenow]

just remember the rockets had olajuwon which in no way jordan would've driven to the hole and gotten it spit back! ewing is nowhere near olajuwon. keep that in mind.. the rockets can play against the bulls...that is why they owned the bulls..so don't give me that crap. mj would be a jump shooter throughout the series.

[jlward]

This sucked. Nuf said

[timatotoro]

best play ever, period, better than Horry's shot in 2002, or Jordan's in Utah, or even Magic's junior sky hook. Shear brilliance!

[zcarenow]

People tend to forget that during the first 3 years that the Bulls' won their championships, the Rockets owned them(5-1) so all this nonsense about the Rockets thanking MJ is crap. So i don't wanna hear about this "if MJ hadn't retired...." crap. Give credit where credit is due.

[brianblair2007]

Definitely agree with Professor Clip...Right here is the most intelligent play I've ever seen in Basketball and I've seen a lot (NBAclassic included)! I didn't see this live since I was only 6 years old, but greatness doesn't discriminate in terms of age :)

[professorlip]

Magic (and Bird) were two of the smartest players ever. This play by Magic was probably the single most intelligent play I have ever seen on the court. I remember watching it live back in '91 and was like...WOW!!! Magic is a genius.

[oleold]

These two teams will be going at for a while now with Bynum And Oden in the mix.

[LuigiLaker]

The Lakers knock out the defending Western Conference Champions in a hard fought series..

[homes07596]

LOL at Cliff Robinson. He always in videos where he looks dazed and as if he shat 800 bricks. First this, then Jordan in 92.

[shortydeemac]

Excuses excuses excuse. Mike and the Bulls were an old team their 2nd 3-peat and were still winning. Mike was still winning in mid 30's. GTFOH, Lakers fans are full of shit. Blaming everything from injuries, to age to Magic's sperm. Magic himself would tell you they got whooped. The Bulls also handedly ran through the Pistons in the ECF that same postseason and the Pistons were the 2 time champs, not LA. People still cant get over it that Mike ended Showtime and the Badboys in one season.

[brian3206]

Couldn't have said it better myself. The Bulls would have had more of a dynasty is MJ didn't retire. Instead of 6 it could of been 8to 10 championships. So the 94&95 Rockets should thank MJ for retiring. And so should the 99 Spurs and 00 Lakers thank the Bulls management for breaking up the Team. I would have love to seen the Bulls vs the 00 Lakers. That is if the Lakers make it because Harper would have been on the Bulls LOL and Phil Jackson too. Pippen and Harper were great on the West Coast.

[furbss]

why did the clock freeze at 2.2??

[ewcorpuz]

The clock operator got confused.

[xxbiggx850]

This is what makes a good player--brains--not just being able to jump and dunk it. Who else could do this, play point and also play center in the same game?

[unclvinny]

I remember the ending of this game... it killed me at the time, but I have to admire Magic for thinking of that trick! It was agony to watch the ball bounce down the court as the seconds ticked away. In my memory it rolled slowly down the court, but I guess in real life it was moving pretty fast.

[ilovechi1]

This is the most worthless video ever. Magic and his lakers are killed in the finals by the SHOWTIME CHICAGO BULLS.

[chriso728]

Bulls were good, but the Lakers were older. Chi wouldn't have stood a chance against LA's 87 squad. MJ won out by being younger than Bird and Magic. He didn't face much competition in the 90s.

[SFFOOL76]

thank

you

[brian3206]

I know U are smoking some good stuff. Where do I start? Detroit,LA,NY,Clevland,Portlan­d,Phoenix, Seattle,Orlando,Indiana,and Utah twice. How many Hall of Famers on those teams? No competition? Houston should thank MJ for retiring because they would have never won back to back if MJ was there. And I will take the 1996 Bulls over anybody including the 87 Lakers. Don't forget the 97 Bulls won 69 games LOL. They lost the last game of season to the Knicks or they would have won 70 games back to back.

[chriso728]

^ And? When Jordan was winning his titles, he didn't have to go thru any team even close to the 83 Sixers, 80s Celts, 80s Lakers, Bad Boy Pistons.

Are you seriously using the fucking Cleveland Cavs (not to mention the Sonics and Magic) as a refutation against my claim above? Brush up on your history, kid. Those teams were soft. The Cavs were notoriously soft. The Sonics were chokers w/ ghetto tudes. Orlando got swept every year by lesser teams than Chicago.

[brian3206]

OK U make a good point with Cleveland LOL. But the Sonics use to win 60 games a year back then. And Orlando was an up and coming team that got bitch slapped by Houston and the Bulls. He beat the Lakers and he finally beat the Pistons. He beat everybody once he got better quality role players. That is the same for every team though. Some teams just have multiple stars right away like the Celtics and Lakers did. Those other teams I mentioned were very good and had many great and Hall of Players.

[brian3206]

As for the 80's Lakers and 80's Celtics and 83Sixers will never know if they the Bulls could beat them or the other way around. It is just something that is fun to talk about. I am a Sixers fan so I would love to see the 83 Sixers play the 96 Bulls. And I would want to see the 86 Celtics or 87 Lakers play them too. To be honest any Celtics or Lakers team that won in the 80's vs any 90's Bulls would be great. Unfortunatly we will need a time machine to do it LOL. As for my history 4-4-4 almost.

[landrykkb]

@chriso728 The Bulls were due for an NBA Title for a long time as it was anyway.They did even better and won 6 championships all in the span of 8 years.

[dnussr]

People forget that with under a minute to go in this game, Cliff Robinson made a boneheaded turnover off a fast break pass from Jerome Kersey which should've been an easy dunk. That might've been enough to force a Game 7.

What could've been.

[TRJ22487]

seems like the Blazers were always making those little mistakes that kept them from being great. Werent they up like 7 with under a minute in the 1990 finals? Then Drexler fouls out and Isiah takes over

[chriso728]

Yah, Cliffy dropped the ball out of bounds under the rim.

Portland took til Gm5 before they woke up. Magic was a tough opponent for the teams LA faced that year because he was content on drawing a double team as deep as he could before slinging it out to open shooters. LA stole Gm1 on the road by him using that strategy over and over in the 4th, yet the Blazers kept biting. He was too tall and too good a passer to be bothered by Porter or Ainge playing help D.

[yangsing]

I was kid back then. Heart breaking...

[padis]

wow, Dick Bavetta is old!

[temptation1979ga]

Something a lot of people don't ever mention about this video...had the clock not stopped without reason at :02.2 for at least two seconds, then there wouldn't have even been :00.1 left at the end of the game, not that it mattered, but just interesting to note.

[timatotoro]

wow, i've never noticed that...the clock stops for just a split second, but enough, that the game should have been over. The play would have been even better had the clock not stopped! Still, the best play ever in an NBA game, better than any 3 pointer to win a game, better than Jordan's last second against Utah in the Finals, simply the best ever.

[bubufubu]

Stopped for more than a split second. It's practically a two second stoppage of the clock. No way would a clock operator get away with that today. If the Blazers had gotten a tip-in, then it would have truly been a travesty. Great play by Magic. I miss the days when NBA players were much more intelligent and used it to make up for not having supreme athleticism.

[joekiddlouischama]

And it's a myth that all players today possess supreme athleticism. Most of the players in the 2007 Finals were less athletic than the players in this video.

[yuhyup]

I don't think the clock operator was trying to "get away with anything." THis was at The Forum, so someone from the Lakers' personnel would've been handling those duties; apparently, he thought he heard a whistle at :02.2. But definitely, this wouldn't be allowed to happen today.

[a7b7c78]

This series was heartbreaking. The Blazers

have given the Lakers 2 trips to the finals: 91

and 2000. I think that the Blazers have some

curse on them, but that is about ready to end.

[ohiolaker]

Given trips to the Finals? Lakers were up 3-1 in both series. I give credit for Portland not playing dead at elimination time, but rest assured, the Lakers earned it!

[chriso728]

It could be said that the Blazers went down 1-3 each time as a result of their own personality as a team. The 2000 WCFs...after Harper hit that 3 in Gm3, you expected the Blazers to rip LA up in Gm4, but they got beat again rather easily. That was a bizarre series. Wild swings both ways, game by game.

[chriso728]

LA would've beaten Portland in 1977 if not for Lucius Allen and Kermit Washington getting injured before the series. Lakers were the best team in the league that year before that and were 3-0 against Porty prior to those injuries.

[Adler4404]

Please... Portland swept L.A. in the 1977 WCF. Two injured Lakers scrubs wouldn't have meant an extra 4 wins. Suck it up.

[chriso728]

LA was the best team in the league that year. Injuries did them in. Handled Porty that year, assuredly wouldn't have lost 4 straight otherwise.

[celtixpride]

Correction, Philadelphia was the best team that year. Dr. J, Henry Bibby, George McGinnis, Darryl Dawkins, Lloyd Free, Doug Collins. LA was talented, but not the best. And Portland flat out beat both of them.

[cbaldwinjr]

Lucius Allen and Kermit Washington weren't scrubs (Washington especially)...but I do think Portland was just the better team in '77. That was the apex of Bill Walton as the ethereal basketball player

[landrykkb]

@a7b7c78 Portland did get some measure of revenge when they eliminated the Lakers 3-1 in the first round the following season.They had to play Game 4 in Las Vegas because of the L.A. riots after the Rodney King trial.

[denmayyavonas]

This is one of the most incredible plays in NBA history. The amzing thing is that not only was Magic smart enough to do it, but he also did it at the right speed that the Blazers couldn't get it, and it didn't go out of bounds too soon.

[ogamdo]

This was a very smart play by Magic and let me tell you something. If James Worthy was 100% healthy and free of sprained ankle during the Finals, Lakers would have beaten Jordan and the Bulls and won a championship without Kareem for the first time. Jordan would've won championships after this season but history would've haunted him saying that he beat everybody except you know who....Magic Johnson.

[timatotoro]

Most Brilliant player ever in the NBA. The court, time and score awareness. Had he been fouled would have stopped the clock and Magic would have had to shoot free throws. His played sealed the deal, the Lakers to the Final (where they lost due to a hurt Magic and Scott)

[chriso728]

^ Realness.

Riley's fuckin unheard-of mini camp prior to the Finals in 89 cost Byron his hammy right off the bat. In Gm2 when Magic tore his own, LA was up by 8 pts in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, that Lakers team was better than the one which won the title in 88.

[scoutie101]

ooooh, painful. Not as painful as Game 7 of the '00 WCF, but still pretty painful.

[Lasersharp24]

The Blazers were awesome in the late 80s early 90s.

[ObaSuPala]

Rick Adelman- idiot

[brokey]

What´s a Duck Worth ?

[toledo93j]

Portland was pretty good back in the day.

Clyde Drexler, Dukworth

[pearlmax]

portland has been good all but about 9 seasons in the franchises history. you act as if you're surprised..

[NYSTREETXCHANGE]

i not a huge fan but a brillant play

[elf1219]

What a smart play. Magic was unbelieveable.