Magic Johnson: Always Showtime (Part 3)

Follow young Earvin from the driveway where his father taught him the game, to high school, and then to Michigan State, where his Spartan team famously beat Larry Bird's Indiana State team in the 1979 NCAA championship game. The action quickly moves to the NBA and Johnson's storied career with the Lakers - playing with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy - vanquishing first Julius Erving and the 76ers, then Bird and the Celtics, on the way to five championships and the birth of a great dynasty.

(This is Part 3 of 8)

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Magic
• Johnson
• Showtime
• Los
• Angeles
• Lakers
• Pat
• Riley
• Kareem
• Championship
• NBA
• Larry
• Bird

[ChocolateKing21]

I think the rivalry between Bird and Magic has to be one of the greatest rivalries of all time. Not only were they both great players in their own right, they made everyone around them better as well, which is the true mark of a great player. They made basketball in the 80s. Definitely the NBAs best "golden age" in terms of sustained greatness. Not to mention there were a ton of other great teams, like the Hawks, Pistons, Bulls, Sonics, Rockets, Mavericks, etc.

[Zeeboe]

"Dont fear, cause 32 is here." lol. I love it. Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals was proof that Magic could win a title without Kareem. No disrespect intended towards the Capt though!

Magic Johnson should have won rookie of the year. He deserved it more then Larry Bird.

[hazmat1000]

@ChocolateKing21 Agree, they both could win games without putting up 30 points. They could control the game from several different angles...passing, rebounding, defense and clutch plays/shots and understanding the game like few ever have.

[bobbyeph]

i miss Chick Hearn-----for me the only voice of the lakers,ever :(

[SyVanG10]

Don't fear coz 32 is here!! Cha cha cha hahaha...MAGIC!

[arian1999nbawwe]

magic is awesome

[MyKareem33]

@clarence02875 I would hate the Lakers :)

[big592]

jamal wilkes @7:25 thats cornbread from cornbread earl and me

[clarence02875]

what if magic was in boston and larry in lakers??

[threeby8887]

@ChocolateKing21  No doubt Bird and Magic helped save the NBA, then they (along with help from Michael Jordan beginning in 1984) took the league to new heights.

[threeby8887]

And did Magic and Bird come to the NBA at the right time, or what? Just as the league was entering the Tape Delay Era, just as the league's players had an image problem as a bunch of violent, self-centered, coked-up, one-on-one streetball-playing mercenaries who only cared about their stats and their paychecks and were not very media-friendly or fan-friendly, just when the league was suffering from a bunch of business problems...

[kingz1251]

3:24 and look at the blue spark wtf