Magic also said that he had unprotected sex with many women during his time as a pro basketball player. For NBA fans, it was an unfortunate circumstance, especially since Magic was still very effective as a basketball player after a decade with the Lakers. Magic tried to come back on a limited basis, but the negative perception of him and his condition by NBA players including Karl Malone ensured that it was short-lived. In the end, despite his amazing career and despite the positive role model he has become as an HIV activist and despite the fact that he has not let the stigma of HIV slow him down as a successful entrepreneur—the first thing we think about when we see Magic Johnson is that he was that player who contracted HIV.
The Celtics had Larry Bird as their centerpiece and posted a record of , including an NBA record 40 wins at home. In the playoffs, the team went en route to winning the championship.
The Lakers team had Magic Johnson as its focal point, sported a record of and also went in the playoffs along the way to winning a title. In order to assess the winner, each position will be broken down since most often an NBA series is won by matchups that are exploited. Secondly, to give neither team the home-court advantage, assume the series would be played on a neutral court.
In his prime, Kareem would have destroyed Parish in this matchup, but we are talking about Kareem, who was 40 years old. Nevertheless, Kareem still had his clutch sky hook shot that was still very accurate, and unblockable. While A. Green was a good role player for the Lakers, there was little he could do to slow down Kevin McHale, one of the best power forwards of all time.
Against Green, McHale would be almost unstoppable from the low post. In most matchups, James Worthy would win in a battle of small forwards. While Ainge was known for his blue-collar work ethic, Scott was all about finesse and efficiency. As the superior scorer and shooter, Scott would win this matchup. The Battle of the Johnsons! The late Dennis Johnson was perhaps quite underrated in his day. Although he never got the same attention as Magic, Dennis was a superb defender and a decent scorer.
These two benches would actually both make some major contributions to help their teams' chances. Walton provided an extra big man for the Celtics who was good at just about every facet of the game. The only issue with Walton is that his knees were creaky and he had major injuries throughout his career.
Even in , Walton only played about 19 minutes per game. While Walton could help the Celtics in the middle, Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting could help back up the forward and guard positions respectively.
Wedman still was an efficient scorer and Sichting could add run the point to back up Johnson. In addition, he also did a decent job in running the point guard backing up Magic Johnson. Mychal Thompson was another valuable frontcourt addition. In the finals against Boston, he did a masterful job defending Kevin McHale, holding him to about six points per game fewer than his regular-season average.
While slowing McHale down, Thompson also added about 10 to 12 points off the bench. In reviewing the position-by-position analysis, the Lakers hold the advantage in four out of six areas.
The Lakers backcourt of Scott and Johnson would hold a strong advantage over the Celtics. While Boston would hold the advantage at forward, Thompson and Cooper would help L. Finally, expect Abdul-Jabbar to get the better of Parish, as he usually did when they faced each other in the playoffs.
Overall, the series would be highly entertaining and some games would be close throughout. But in the end, the Lakers would win in six games. The Celtics won an impressive 67 games including a home record, while the L. Lakers won 65 games. Both teams boasted an astounding assembly of their own Big Three. So who would win a seven-game series between the Celtics and the Lakers powerhouse teams?
Three obvious points were that the Celtics had superior length, shooting and defensive skills. He played five seasons with the Kings. Polynice averaged He went back to Seattle for a year and then played with the Utah Jazz for two seasons. He finished his career with the Clippers, but appeared in just two games during the season. So Broussard posed the question to Polynice, who played against both Bird and Johnson.
He asked Polynice who he thought the better player was. He can do basically what Magic was able to do, plus be an offensive threat all the way out to the 3-point line. It quantifies the effort-based activities in basketball, in both defense and offense. Bird is one of the greatest hustle players to ever play the game. He was an inspirational hustle player, whose smarts and immeasurable intangibles augmented his fantastic tangibles.
Larry Bird is a question of style rather than a question of quality. So which team are you? The team of flashy, Showtime Magic or the disciplined, hard-working Bird? The American League and then the National League temporarily adopted the rule in For better or for worse? The phenomenal Portuguese Ronaldo or the one-team man Lionel Messi? Generic filters. But where Bird always preferred returning to relative anonymity in his hometown of French Lick, Magic sought the spotlight and succeeded to a ridiculous degree.
Few sports personalities have been as perfect a match for their cities as Magic is for L. With an eye toward developing underserved communities, he made hundreds of millions of dollars investing in movie theaters, Starbucks and a host of other successful business ventures. This is all more than enough to excuse his failed foray into late-night TV.
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