Magic Johnson - looking back one more time

VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#1
#1
If you're not watching the All-Star special right now and you weren't around to watch the All-Star game in 1992, you just missed seeing arguably the most impressive performance by a player in an all-star game in NBA history.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson retired from the Lakers and walked away from the game he loved after the 1991 season because he was HIV positive. But the fans didn't want to see him leave and voted him to the 1992 All-Star team from the West.

Magic came to the show and proceeded to make it his own - one last time. With 25 points and eight assists, he competed against the best of his day, including Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler and Isiah Thomas. He lit up the court that day and, seeing it again for the first time in 16 years, I was as moved this time - even as a Laker hater - as I was back then.

And this was from someone who hadn't played basketball since the end of the 1991 season. He played for love of the game - and the game repaid him and all of us.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#3
#3
His performance in that game was incredible. He was making the kinds of shots Michael Jordan made in the game against Utah when he was running a temperature of 102 and could barely stand during the time outs.

There are very few performances that impress me so much I get goosebumps just thinking about them. When that happens, it doesn't make a bit of difference what uniform the player happens to be wearing.
 
DocHolliday

DocHolliday

Starter
#5
#5
A little known fact about me is I grew up an L.A. Laker Fan. I'm not really sure how that happened since I was born in the bay area, but I was. I grew up watching some of the best battles in basketball history via the L.A., Boston rivalry.

Magic Johnson was unique, and we won't see the likes of him with the size and type of game he had.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#6
#6
You want to win a bet with newer basketball fans? Make a bet about the position Magic Johnson played. They just about NEVER get it right.

:p
 
6th

6th

Homer Fan Since 1985
#9
#9
I have NEVER been a Laker fan.....NEVER. However, I loved Magic Johnson. He was special. Gargy, I hear you and I would say that there has never been a PG with more impact on the game. He was the BEST!!!
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#13
#13
I still believe he is the best player I've ever seen, and I've always hated the Lakers. He could play virtually every position on the court at a championship level. You just can't say that about all the other usual suspects in that debate.
 
hoopsfan

hoopsfan

Starter
#14
#14
pdxKingsFan said:
I still believe he is the best player I've ever seen, and I've always hated the Lakers. He could play virtually every position on the court at a championship level. You just can't say that about all the other usual suspects in that debate.
Click to expand...
He did just that in the 1980 finals, game 6:

"On May 16, 1980, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, playing on the road, in Philadelphia, Magic (a 6'9" point guard) started the game at center and eventually played every position on the floor in a dominating performance. Scoring a game-high 42 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds -- and handing out 7 assists -- Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the NBA crown, stunning Julius Erving, the Philadelphia 76ers, and a national television audience who came to understand the moniker "Magic."
What made Magic Johnson's performance even more remarkable was that he was an NBA rookie -- and, indeed, one who had left college after only two years. Thus, he was only 20 years old."


One of my all-time favs!:D
 
Gargamel

Gargamel

Starter
#15
#15
kings20993 said:
Sadley i never got a chance to watch him play back then, but watching the film its just amazing that a guy who is 6 9 could do the stuff he did:eek::confused::eek::confused:
Click to expand...
Another exaggeration about him was that he wasn't athletic. Show me the list of 6'9" guys who lead fast breaks all game long, weave thru traffic so often, dribble from end to end for layups, have a dropstep to the left that's sharp as a knife (as a right hander), hit hooks w/ either hand, throw 50 foot darts off the dribble w/o touching the ball w/ his left hand, etc.

Dunks & verts = athleticism, I guess.
 
pdxKingsFan

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#17
#17
hoopsfan said:
He did just that in the 1980 finals, game 6:

"On May 16, 1980, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, playing on the road, in Philadelphia, Magic (a 6'9" point guard) started the game at center and eventually played every position on the floor in a dominating performance. Scoring a game-high 42 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds -- and handing out 7 assists -- Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the NBA crown, stunning Julius Erving, the Philadelphia 76ers, and a national television audience who came to understand the moniker "Magic."
What made Magic Johnson's performance even more remarkable was that he was an NBA rookie -- and, indeed, one who had left college after only two years. Thus, he was only 20 years old."


One of my all-time favs!:D
Click to expand...
Of course that's what I was referring to. I only used virtually since his extended stint at PF didn't quite yield the same results :)
 
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