Of the many times that Michael Jordan and Los Angeles Lakers’ legend Magic Johnson shared the floor, three stand out as the most significant.
The recent success of the Netflix docuseries “The Last Dance” reignited the GOAT discussions, bringing up comparisons between the clear favorite and the main contender LeBron James, with some rare mentions of Kobe Bryant.
Granted that other names should be mentioned in the conversation, it always strikes me how Magic Johnson is never taken into consideration within this topic. As if he was not on the same level as those players.
Merely his resume suggests differently. Five-time NBA champion and three Finals MVP. Nine appearances in the finals. 3 MVPs, nine All-NBA First team and 12 All-Star selections. Four-time assist leader and twice steal leader. One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players. Most of all, the ability to dominate the game without scoring.
In his third season, he almost averaged a triple-double 18.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 9.5 assists. Unlike today’s game, it was a feat almost impossible in those days, after the historic Oscar Robertson. Through the 1987 MVP season, he averaged 23.9 points, 12.2 assists and 6.3 rebounds.
As a rookie, he had a 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 3.1 steals playoff run, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the championship in game 6 of the NBA Finals without MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, earning Finals MVP honors.
Before Michael Jordan arrived in the NBA, he was the closest thing to the global icon MJ would become. He and Bird made the NBA a popular sport as we know it today and unlike it had ever been before, but he was the face of the league and, at least nationally, the face of American sport. The city of Los Angeles was at his feet.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ success through the 80s is strictly tied to Magic Johnson and that says a lot of one of the greatest teams in NBA history and Magic himself.
The point is not, however, to compare Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan in a head-to-head for the greatest of all time, but to acknowledge the most important meetings between these two great legends.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls, 1991 NBA Finals
In support of my initial thesis, there is a reason why this first Michael Jordan’s finals appearance and victory is considered so iconic and important for his legacy. Besides being the very first of many championships, it was the passing of the torch. Magic at the time was considered the number one in the league and MJ had to snatch the scepter out of his hands to prove that he was the greatest.
It is not surprising, then, that in Game 1 in Chicago he took the defensive assignment to guard Johnson. But maybe it was not the best idea if the Bulls wanted to come out champions. The Lakers won that game, regaining the home-court advantage.
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Magic had a triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, while, among his teammates, Vlade Divac had 16 points, while James Worthy and Sam Perkins 22 apiece.
Jordan finished with 36 points, but of his teammates only Scottie Pippen scored in double-figure with 19.
The series changed drastically when, in Game 2, Phil Jackson put Pippen on Magic, and Michael returned to trust and rely on his teammates. The finals finished 4-1 with relative ease for the Bulls. Earvin averaged a good 18.6 points, 8 rebounds and 12.4 assists, anyway, but his percentages dropped since Pip took him in charge, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ offense was not so fluid with its general constantly hounded.
Jordan finished the series averaging 31.2 points, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks, winning the Finals MVP and finally taking his long-due place in the Olympus of basketball.
That series marked the end of a reign, and the beginning of a new era. The young pretender had overthrown the aging king and torn the crown off his hands. His rule looked bright and long, while the old regnant would soon be banished, left with just the memories of the glory days.
The Dream Team
Meeting does not necessarily mean clashing.
In 1992, Magic and Jordan teamed up in Barcelona on the USA Basketball Olympic Team. The legendary team, better known as the Dream Team, that would go down as the greatest team in sports history. It featured the best players that generation of NBA had to offer, many of them among the greatest in history of basketball.
Although retired for the HIV virus, Magic could not miss such a historic roster. His Airness, obviously, topped the USAB’s recruiting list.
Easily the greatest backcourt ever. The best point guard and the best shooting guard in the history of the game. Can’t argue. The ultimate passer and the ultimate scorer. A former Defensive Player of the Year and a former steal leader. The tournament could not but be ultimately entertaining with those two spectacular players to lead that Hall of Fame selection.
The Dream Team won the gold medal destroying its adversaries, but the real games (one in particular) took place in closed practices, when the Americans split in two teams and scrimmaging one against the other. In the most famous, Magic led one team, Michael the other one, because they needed to confront and prove who was better.
According to many of the players who took part in that scrimmage, that was the greatest game ever played.
February 2, 1996 – Chicago Bulls @ Los Angeles Lakers
The 1995-96 season saw the spectacular return of the two legends to the NBA. I mean, Jordan had already returned to the Chicago Bulls the year before, but that was Michael Jordan no. 45. Michael Jordan the MVP was back in the Fall of 1995.
That season the Bulls were an unstoppable force. They put together the greatest team in NBA history, which would end the season with a 72-10 record. They were an unbelievable show and became a media circus, generating excitement and craziness wherever they went.
On the West Coast, in the meantime, Magic Johnson made his triumphant return at the end of January, after four seasons away from the NBA. The mediocre Los Angeles Lakers saw the return of their legendary leader, who would take the backup forward role and hopefully helped them make a decent playoff push.
Just in his second game, Magic met for the last time Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
It was not a particularly interesting game, as the Bulls led by 20 in the early third quarter and the final score (99-84) does not do justice to the Bulls.
Among the highlights of the game, Rodman had 15 rebounds at halftime and finished with a season-high 23. The short-ended Bulls, without Luc Longley and Toni Kukoc for injuries, and foul troubles, had to dive deep in their bench, as 40 years old James Edwards saw extended playing time, scoring 12 points.
The first quarter finished with a running three-point buzzer-beater by Anthony Peeler.
Magic did not have a great game, though he finished with 15 points. He forced his way trying to establish himself on the Bulls, probably willing to prove them he still was a threat to be respected, attacking Rodman repeatedly in the post. Not the best strategy for the Lakers,but Dennis had a hard time trying to stop him, anyway.
This was the last meeting between Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. The last time two of the greatest legends of basketball stepped on the same court. The representatives of two different eras of basketball and brand of games. Their opposition was probably the emblem of that game’s change.
At the end of the season Magic definitely retired, while Jordan and the Bulls would go on winning another three-peat.