Los Angeles Lakers: 30 greatest individual performances in team history

Los Angeles Lakers: 30 greatest individual performances in team history: 7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar deserves more credit

Magic Johnson gets every single headline for the 1980 NBA Finals. His recognition, of course, is well deserved. But, it’s as though only Johnson’s close-out Game 6 performance is remembered and recognized.

Before the rookie sensation carried the Lakers home while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar nursed a bum ankle, the Hall of Fame big man was putting in work. While he dominated the series for as long as he played, his Game 1 performance isn’t talked about nearly as much as it should. On the night, Abdul-Jabbar manhandled Moses Malone and the Philadelphia 76ers. He scored 33 points, grabbed 14 boards and sent five shots into the stands. Abdul-Jabbar even showed that Johnson wasn’t the only one capable of racking up assists as he registered six.

The result from his all-time great performance was a win for the Lakers. In every game he played before he got hurt, Abdul-Jabbar punished everyone down low. It’s often forgotten but he averaged 33.4 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 4.6 blocks. He did all that while shooting 54.9 percent from the field and he was money from the free throw line, knocking in 80.8%.

Johnson deserves all of the superlative words that are hurled in his direction for closing the show without Abdul-Jabbar but please, let’s stop acting like he was merely some afterthought.