When the NBA was struggling, the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson rivalry saved the league and changed everything.
The NBA does have its issues with TV ratings and declining regular season interest, but it was nothing compared to the times in the 1970s. Fights, drug abuse and let’s be honest here, the league being known as the “black” league turned many fans off.
For all of the 24/7/365 coverage of the NBA today, many would be shocked that the NBA Finals used to be on tape delay after the 11:00 news. Declining sponsorships, no exclusive TV deals lead to the road of doom for the NBA.
It’s really amazing that the Los Angeles Lakers seem to play a major part in NBA history. It was no different at the start of the 1980s. The Lakers drafted Magic Johnson and win the NBA title in his rookie year. The Boston Celtics draft Larry Bird and the NBA were back on the map.
Like LeBron and Kawhi, they both were great with conflicting styles. When your peers have great stories about these two, it shows the magnitude of the positive effect on the NBA.
Led by Magic and Bird, they improved franchises that were mediocre at best (Lakers) and just plain bad at worst (Celtics) in the ’70s. In the ’80s, the Lakers and Celtics dominated the NBA, showing up in multiple NBA Finals throughout the decade.
What made this a great rivalry? The Lakers and Celtics faced off in three Finals themselves. The drama between the two teams was enough, but the subplots of Bird vs. Magic made it an all-time special event. Without Bird and the Celtics, Showtime would not be revered like it is today.
The ending will be remembered every time the NBA Finals starts. Magic Johnson and the infamous baby skyhook is one of the greatest clutch plays of not only Lakers’ history but all of basketball.
Like Paul Pierce said above, part of the narrative was about race. Larry Bird brought the white audiences back to the TV sets to watch Bird take down Magic.
Most of the black audiences rooted for Magic and the Lakers. The TV networks took advantage of that perfect storm and played up the subplot. Two talented icons that everyone could relate to. The NBA exposure exploded and the league and TV networks never looked back.
Magic Johnson was the fun-loving, outgoing player with the smile that the NBA could market.
Larry Bird was the hard-working, bring the lunch pail to work guy that was the perfect adversary.
But the beauty of it all was both of them were the best in the NBA. The league needs to take advantage of the lightning in the bottle one more time. With load management being a PR nightmare these days, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard have the ability to turn this into PR gold.