Magic Johnson, a legendary NBA player, began his career in 1979 when the Los Angeles Lakers selected him as the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year and played in the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. Johnson had a legendary career with the Lakers, impressing fans with his court vision and swagger. Despite being out of the NBA, Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a team composed of former NBA and college players.
Magic Johnson’s versatility as a passer, his 6-foot-9 height, allowed him to see over defenders and create passing lanes that only he had. He played Center, Guard, and Forward in one game, averaging 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. His court vision and swagger were instrumental in leading the Lakers to new heights.
In this video, ShotMechanics explores Magic Johnson’s potential with a pure magic damage build, focusing on his shot mechanics, form, and techniques. The video also features a mixtape of Magic Johnson’s best highlights, assists, and more from his legendary NBA career.
📹 Pass Like Magic Johnson: NBA Basketball Moves
If you want to learn that killer court vision like the legend Magic Johnson you are in the right spot! This video is perfect to learn how …
📹 How Magic Johnson destroyed teams without volume scoring | Greatest Peaks Ep. 5
This is the 5th episode in a series on the greatest peaks in NBA history (focusing on 1977-2020), featuring detailed scouting …
Phil Jackson said that the reason the Bulls won the 1991 Finals was that the Lakers couldn’t keep the lead when Magic Johnson went to the bench. That’s one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever heard a player receive. For the guy who had Michael Jordan to say the only reason they could beat your team was that you couldn’t be on the floor 100% of the time. EDIT: Somehow the comments turned into a fight about Lebron and Marc Gasol. LOL.
Magic’s 1987 Finals remains to me the gold standard. 26/13/8 doesn’t seem like much in today’s easy offense era. But to do that on 54/50/96 shooting, that’s ridiculous. But the kicker for me was this…78 assists to just 13 turnovers. For the entire series. A 6:1 assist to turnover ratio against the champion Celtics in the Finals. No one has ever come CLOSE to that in a 6 or 7 game Finals series handling the ball at the volume he did. Magic did it while being the main scorer and setting his teammates up to where they shot a 51.5% shooting percentage as a team! Over six games in the Finals. Efficiency > athleticism. Magic at his best was better than anyone that ever lived at this.
You’ll never understand Magic’s game unless you watched in real time. He could score if he wanted, Magic but understood team work leading to high production. He was Euro stepping before it was called such a thing. This is great content, because it shows the all around game of his. Also Magic wasn’t old in 1991 contrary to popular belief. He was the winner of the 1989-1990 MVP awards.
You can find dozens of good NBA players, in Magic’s height range, that can score – but do nothing else. Those players are a dime a dozen. Magic put passing and team-play first, and that made everyone better. Pat Riley was an absolute Xs and Os genius who brought out the best in Magic. He challenged Magic to be a leader in all categories of the game. If Magic had wanted to, I have no doubt he could have had several years scoring 25+ a game. But that would not have helped the team. Worth noting his career was cut short.
Ben Taylor’s commentary in space is his greatest weapon, with witty quips and references that leave viewers guessing, but his ability to commentate on clips in transition really unlocks the watchers understanding, and that has tremendous value. That combination of different looks in addition to the level of energy he brings to every article makes thinking basketball, in my book, the best analysis website on the platform today 😉
I’ve never seen much footage of magic. As incredible as this article, the editing and the analysis are, I could’ve enjoyed just perusal the footage of him cut together with no audio. What a mesmerising and amazing player he was. I’ve always considered him one of the goats and I still think I’ve been underrating him…😦
I love your understanding, appreciation, and promotion of the understanding of the nuances of the game because the game is rife with it. Magic may not have been a volume scorers but he scored nearly 20 a game, which is the unstated baseline for all great scorers. However, he could score and efficiently because he was virtually unstoppable on the break. In that regard he’s like the inverse corollary to Bill Russell: a low volume but inefficient scorer relative to all time position and history. All this without even perusal the whole vid yet. Will pop in after to give my final thoughts.
Not a word about “leadership”? This is the deep magic of Magic. He elevated everyone’s game on the court. So often he didn’t take shots that he could easily make in order to pass to a teammate and pump their confidence and get them into the game. He kept the energy high, encouraging players, chiding players in a positive way, stepping in and taking control when the game was slipping away. NOONE has taken command of a team the way the Magic man did.
The TIMING of Magic’s passes is something very overlooked. Worthy explained this on a Lakers roundtable show. It’s just as important to get the ball in stride or in rhythm. They used Kurt Rambis as an example when he’d receive the ball underneath. Split second too early or late, he’s going to travel or get it blocked. He also got the ball to guys like Jamal Wilkes exactly where they wanted it.
If I may be so bold to compliment an odd aspect of this brilliant series… the music. The NBA had become synonymous with the most vile specimen of prison music in the last 20 odd years, which I loathe with a passion. Your series sporting (no pun intended) fantastic Synthwave is a perfect complement to these brilliant articles. Thank you again!
Great analysis! The nature of the sport requires defense to be played and that was an area where Magic was deficient in. Lebron James is my All-Time Starting PG. Basketball is positionless and he’s technically been the point guard his whole career. Can defend multiple positions, post up smaller guards, unstoppable in transition, High IQ, excellent passer. Magic had superior ball control though as Lebron turns the ball over far more, but Lebron makes up for that in other areas of the game.
My favorite thing about his breakdowns is how he includes misses off elite finds. I hate that it’s not a highlight if there’s not a make like it’s stupid because the elite guys like bron harden luka cp and others have so many crazy passes and finds that end up misses but are still poetry in motion and should still be seen by millions in highlight form
Man I miss those bird vs Magic days. I felt bird was better overall by the slightest of margins but saying Magic wasn’t as good as Bird just doesn’t sound right. I still remember seeing that baby hook in the clutch in the 87 finals. Magic was a man on a mission and wouldn’t be denied. Straight boss. Love your analytics!!
Great analysis but I think you missed the point on his « paperweight » défense. If he touched the player and gets into foul trouble, he sits and then offensive output of the team goes down the crapper. So he lets 2 points to by with minimal interference so have 5-8 more minutes in the game and ensure high offensive output
How many of you would believe I ran into Magic BY HIMSELF while working for Instacart!!! I was shopping in a supermarket in an upscale area of LA when I turned around and there Magic was. This was one of those stores you could prepare a plate so Magic was walking around trying to find stuff to put on his plate. I recognized nobody else was acting star struck so I just played it cool but I walked up and said hello. What were the odds of this? I didnt want to take pics at the time but I have regretted not taking some because nobody would believe this. My child hood idol met in a supermarket. WOW. Oh and the Instacart order I was shopping was someone who lived like 5 houses from the playboy mansion. Gotta love LA.
1. YouTube has some games of Magic. 2. Only perusal games you would notice how dominant he was. 3. Magic is one of the biggest what if’s all-time. He made all his accomplishments in 12 years or so. What if he could play for 5 more years? 4. Would like to watch analysis of Tim Duncan / Charles Barkley / Karl Malone / Jason Kidd / Dirk Nowitzki
The vast majority of people say that magic was better than bird, but im not really sure if this is true. It seems like bird was a slightly worse passer, but a better scorer and slightly better defender. I think bird at his peak was a little better than magic, even if his nba career was worse. What do you guys think?
After perusal this article and the Larry Bird one, I don’t really get how almost everyone has Magic above Bird on their all time list. Bird was all defense, the best shooter of his era, in the same league as Magic with his passing, lethal in the half court and transition, and an excellent rebounder. Even though he has fewer rings he was able to beat every other superstar of his era in the playoffs and won 3 straight MVPs. I’m surprised it’s almost been unanimously decided that Magic was better. It seems like it should be way more even, and I personally would give the slightest edge to Bird.
Great piece that shows magics great flashy skill level at 6 9. Some of the in depth look highlights you present are staggering in that they show the inordinate skill Magic had at seeing the whole court including the opponents eyes. When he had the ball he could do everything at once. Players seem to not be able to count and dribble now days in terms of basketball.
I’ve watched and studied the game since 1968 and played organized bball at a city league level. The rarest skill in the game, the hardest one to master, is the ability to dribble the ball down court under the kind of complete control you see Magic doing, head up, seeing the entire court, at FULL SPEED. 99% of players who have ever played couldn’t do that. Most guys who have played PG couldn’t. Three quarter speed yes but not full. Magic hasn’t been the only guy who could but in the smallest skill group ever he’s the only 6’9″ guy. With his ability to do that and play every position at an all star level he’s one of the few players closest to Wilt for the goat title. And I don’t put Jordan in that group.
I think Magic’s best ability was knowing what to do in the moment. The reason his physicality lowered was because, playing his PG position,, had it’s draw-backs…. When he was in college, He played more “above the rim”, but after being a point guard, he stabilized his dribbling & acceleration, while decreasing his his above the rim time. I’ve seen Magic take-off down the court & Larry wasn’t even able to match his speed, let alone catch him.He always been listed at 6-9 but when you see him next to “Larry-Legend” with they r both standing strait up, Larry looks like he has a solid 2 inches on him. In this vid, You called it at 6-8 & that’s closer to the truth. So Larry was about… 6-9.5, with Magic at 6-7.5, which, prolly a lil closer.
I remember in 1987 watchin magic improve his perimeter game and that is what pushed him to Birds status,although it must be said,Larry still shoulda won the MVP award,cuz it was his own personal best season and Boston dealt with injuries that yr and still they pushed the LAKERS to 6 gms,Magic was phenomenal in 87 but BIRD upped his gm as well and imo 30/11/6 per gm beats 24/6/11 so honestly I think Magic deserved that yr,but it was more like we gotta eventually stop givin it to LARRY!!LMAO!!
In current time it is crazy to see how guards where always his main defender. Now surely a wing would defend him. Altough the opposing guards still need to defend someone. Feels this is understaded in the article. Pick your poison is between having a guard defending and let him basically unopposed pass or have a wing on him which needs to have enough speed and you need to defend someone else with your guards.
THEY HAD THE NERVE TO CALL CHRIS PAUL 3# A POINT GOD. PAUL AIN’T NO POINT GOD!!! CP3 IS OVERRATED!!! CP3 IS A ALL TIME CHOKER!!! CP3 IS NEVER CHAMPIONSHIP MATERIAL!!! CP3 IS THE NUMBER 1# LOSER!!! EARVIN MAGIC JOHNSON IS THE ONE & ONLY POINT GOD. MAGIC JOHNSON IS THE GREATEST POINT GUARD OF ALL TIME!!! THE BEST THERE IS/ THE BEST THERE WAS/ &, THE BEST THERE EVER WILL BE!!!! IN 12 YEARS MAGIC LED THE LAKERS TO 9 NBA FINALS APPEARANCES WINNING 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988. MAGIC WON THE REGULAR SEASON MVP 3 TIMES. MAGIC WON A GOLD MEDAL. MAGIC LED THE NBA IN ASSISTS ON A NUMBER OF TIMES. MAGIC GOTS ALOT OF TRIPLE DOUBLES.
Year after year Magic was in the finals. Do I need say more. There was some great Boston teams, and great 76er teams in the 80s. Let’s not forget the Pistons. Magic Lost once to the Celtics, Once to the 76ers, and once to the Pistons. Those were great teams. The 90s. Had one great team and a couple of really good teams.
Magic is the epitome of being the perfect point guard. Meaning, knowing when to score and when to pass. He could give you a 30 and 8 night or a 15 and 15 night either way his team gof the win, he modt likely only took great shots, and the opposing team is exhausted and embarrassed because they had to chase him in transition all night while also having passes whip by their heads . And the more i learn about magic, the more i see where LeBron got A LOT of his game from. The in and out dribble in transition, the no look bullet passes, the passes through the defense just over the heads/shoulders of defenders. For example LeBron has a pass to Drew Gooden in the 2006 playoffs against the wizards where he pump fakes then whips the ball around the defender and it sails just over the shoulder of Goodens man and gooddn layed it up. From the games of johnson ive watched i realized that was basically johnsons signature no look pass. Imagine LBJ and magic on the same team, constant fast breaks, and no look passes lol
To me, a Laker fan since the West/Chamberlain era, Magic’s peak was more around 1982-85. He was great in ‘87 for sure … but the early 80s Lakers were a bit more fun in my opinion — they were deeper — and Magic himself was faster, more athletic and incredible to watch. By 1987, you could see early signs of Magic’s decline — he was just so great that the signs were subtle. Visual cue is this: the longer Magic’s socks, the better the era!
Everyone always talks who is the best. The one thing people forget is that we watch sports for it’s entertainment value. If it wasn’t fun to watch, would it matter how good you are? For me Magic was a great player, yes. But he was also, arguably, the most entertaining player in NBA history. It was his entertainment gift, along with Bird, transformed the NBA into what it is today.
Magic one of the few players in league history who could take only 10 shots for the game, yet control the whole game . Magic is the legacy for all the point forwards who are playing today. Have to also recognize Cedric Maxwell as a big who could bring the ball up the court, but not nearly the passer.
The 2 intangibles not mentioned in this very thorough article are 1 Magics ability to dictate the tempo of games, he sped up or slowed down the games as needed.. slowing down is easy but setting a high pace is much more challenging 2 Magics unselfish nature and style of play infected his teammates and they made a subconscious effort to play more unselfishly. It wasnt just a Showtime thing either as this was also seen in the 90s upon his short return to the Lakers.
Amazing article! I have just one concern from the article: “He was significantly less effective without monopolizing the basketball.” Can you provide insight on the 1979-1983 seasons? Magic played with alongside All-Star Point Guard Norm Nixon during that time, but Showtime won 2 rings out of 3 Finals appearances within that span. Were the Lakers more efficient because of the added Guard depth? Magic’s Assists avg was noticeably lower, but his Steals and Rebounds go up. Was Magic any less efficient during these years?
Magic took over the 5 spot for Kareem in his rookie season in the NBA Finsls and dropped 42 points and 15 rebounds, and brought the championship trophy back to LA!! Just because Magic didn’t always score doesn’t mean that he couldn’t, but he could pass the ball very well to the majority of scoring players he had all around him in LA. Dennis Rodman was another player who could score very well coming into the league out of college, but took a backseat to the great scorers in Detroit when he entered the league. Rodman was averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds a game in college, and he defeated knew how to put the ball in the basket just like Magic.
A lot of ppl think Magic was slow but at 6’9 he was very fast and quick it just looks slow due to his long strides Also Magic chose not to play fast at certain times to control the pace of the game the same way Luka Doncic does as a playmaker If Magic played in a league based on scoring more then defense then he’d be Luka
Biggest complaints with Magic and Larry Bird is that they weren’t athletic enough to translate to today’s game. They weren’t athletic then! I like how you break down Magic’s change of direction and speed. Also his below the rim finishing was great. He wasn’t the most athletic guy then but he played like Doncic does now. Using angles and size to get to spots on the floor with as little effort as possible. That’s really the goal is to make as few moves as possible to score. One in and out dribble going full speed is all you need to get to the rim even to this day. Simple moves to get to the spots you need to be to make plays.
In all of Magic’s years with the Lakers, he never had a losing record, never. With or without Kareem, with all the injuries to Worthy, Cooper, Byron Scott, AC Green, playing alongside a young Vlade Divac, Magic always wins. Greatest leader, highest basketball IQ of all time, one of the greatest winners, Magic is in a class of his own.
You need to do an analysis of MOSES MALONE BECAUSE HIS DOMINANT OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING CHANGED THE GAME IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS. 1. HE CREATED EXTRA POSSESSIONS 2. HE CREATED POINTS WITHOUT CONSUMING TIME., 3. HE CREATED FOULS ON OPPONENTS, 4. THOSE FOULS – POINTS CREATED MADE FREE THROWS, 5 FORCED SUBSTITIONS DUE TO EARLY FOUL TROUBLE 6. FORCED TIMEOUTS TO MAKE THOSE SUBS WHICH WERE ALSO RESTING POINTS FOR HIS TEAM, 7 . PUT HIS TEAM IN THE BONUS EARLIER, 8 . GAVE HIS TEAM A CHANCE TO SET THEIR DEFENSE DURING THOSE FREE THROWS. HIS OVER 2000 MORE REBOUNDS ARE ASTOUNDING. Only karl malone ever attempted more free throws and among centers only shaq attempted more perg. His greater ft % compared to Shaq meant higher value alluded to above . Its DUE MALONE MOSES THAT COUNTS. Seriously undervalued as frequently traded and playing with lesser talents in his career after 76ers tenure.
I remember the showtime Lakers mostly playing a barely disguised 1-3-1 zone on defense. The better to hide Magic’s athletic shortcomings. The article kept showing Magic getting abused by Barkley. Barkley abused everybody. Still, Magic is the greatest floor general of all-time. Also, the most fun highlight reel. I remember perusal one of the Olympic teams with Chris Paul at point. The team had Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Durant, etc. But, the team was beating teams like Argentina, France, Serbia(?) by only 10 points. The US offense seemed constipated despite there being no overlap in talent. I believe that if you replaced anyone on that team with Magic, and just handed him the keys to the car, the US would have won every game by 25.
I once saw a stat about Magic that said, if we count assists as 2 points (even though sometimes they are more than that), Magic was the greatest offensive player of all time besides Wilt Chamberlain, because he was responsible for 41.9 ppg (compared to Jordan’s 40.7). His defense wasn’t bad either. I’m a bit biased but I’d say he’s the greatest of all time.
I consider him the best player ever. Everyone that compares to him, who is said to have better defense, only contributes perimeter defense to the team. Comparing those individual defenders to Magic, we must remember that defensive rebounding is part of defense. If the people compared to him we’re shutting down the lane with shot blocking and controlling the defensive glass then we could give them a lot of extra points for their better defense. Early on in his career Magic Johnson led the NBA in steals. Knee injuries affected his lateral mobility. But even without the “what if” I think he edges these other players. No player ever controled the tempo of the game the way Magic did. Both teams played the game HE decided they would.
Magic Johnson is 6’9″ PG; no one comes closer. The closer it has ever been was Reggie Theus at 6’ 7″ and once he got traded to Sacramento from Chicago Reggie immediately became a shooting guard and never look back. I don’t know anybody in the history of this game that is 6’9″ and move like he were a 6’ 2″ guard. That’s just remarkable!
Magic could literally play 4 positions and even play Center in a pinch. The guy was a total Maestro and before him was there ever a guy at 6″8 who could play point guard like that? I guess Oscar Robertson was similar but did he play PG? Magic was a once in a generation talent and this is coming from a 54 year old man who grew up in Massachusetts perusal “The Hick from French Lick” himself!
ERVIN “MAGIC” JOHNSON CHANGED THE NBA BASKETBALL GAME, FOREVER. That’s why he’s a TOP 5 “GREATEST OF ALL TIME.” One of the Greatest ball handlers & passers, EVER. His first NBA Coach didn’t want him to be the “POINT GOD” that he is. That coach was fired & MAGIC JOHNSON was blamed for getting him replaced by, Pat Riley. MAGIC was far ahead of his time. MAGIC JOHNSON created the EURO – STEP. The European coaches encouraged their bigs to learn from the American players like, MAGIC JOHNSON. Give credit where credit is due. Look at Porzingas, Detlef, Luka, The Gasols & the list goes on….. MAGIC didn’t play great Defense, because he couldn’t afford to FOUL OUT. He was trying to WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS (5X), not make YouTube articles. RESPECT!
I found the summary interesting Great offensive weapon But whose on ball requirements meant he would only fit well with a great Centre (Kareem is #1) or efficient Wing (Worthy is in Jordan’s all time 5) James Harden will go down with a negative wrap But imagine him next to the efficient Kevin Durant… KD actually got better with Steph (Ben has a article about that) Those 2 could have really gelled like late 80s Johnson and Worthy What could have been…
IT IS JUST WSO AMAZING HOW HE COULD POWER MOVE IN SO MANY DIRECTIONS, STUTTER STEP, WEAVE RUNHEAD ON LIKE A CRASHING TRAIN & YET ALMOST EVERY TIME THROW UP A SHOT THAT5 GOES IN . LARRY BIRD WAS THIS WAY TOO, BUT MAGIC WQAS SO STRONG & FAST!!!! YOU NEVER REALIZED WHAT THESE GUYS WERE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG & COULDNOT AFFORDTO GO TOTHEIR GAMES IN PERSON . pww
This episode was weird because it seemed you spent 70% of the article looking for and discussing his rather few weaknesses. I will watch the Bird episode to see if you spent as much time nitpicking him by comparing his weaknesses to Magic’s strengths. I understand you are discussing peaks, but, like LeBron, it’s hard to pick Magic’s peak, because a young Earvin Johnson, before his two knee surgeries, was one of the most potent DEFENSIVE weapons, leading the league in steals two straight seasons, and almost averaging a triple double. His SPEED was the primary reason why they beat the Sixers in 1980.
It wasn’t to preserve his body, it was to preserve fouls. Valuable players like Magic were expected to be extremely mindful of not getting into foul trouble. Talk about exaggeration, he is nowhere close to the greatest offensive player of all time. He played with some great finishers inside and sufficient outside shooting support for that era. If he played on a lesser team that didn’t have all those great talented finishers, you wouldn’t say such a dumb thing like that. Honestly the dumb shit you posers say while pretending to be knowledgeable is laughable. Yes he is one the great playmakers of all time. But greatest offensive player of all time? Stop, please. You are killing me.
Whats absolutely incredible here when talkin about BIRD AND MJ’S passing tho is that Magic was the pure PG his entire career,bird was just a SF picking his moments to pass the ball like he did,but magic had an opportunity every trip down the floor,so imo that really tells how F’N scary good LARRY BIRD really was,if his career was longer and he didnt come up in one of the most competetive eras in NBA history we are talkin BIRD the GOAT,PERIOD!!
I think Magic is the most gifted bball player ever. 2 reasons why he isn’t counted as the GOAT: His career was a lot shorter (if you only compare his 11 peak seasons with the 1st 11 of MJ and LBJ, Magic leave them dust), and the 2nd that people tend to forget – he (and Bird) are the only 2 “top 5 candidates” who have another competing with them through all their peak years. Magic would have been way more dominant, if he didn’t have another historic player on the other side.
I was surprised by this article, as it significantly lowered my view of Magic. It did the opposite of Clayton Crowley’s making the case article (m.youtube.com/watch?v=sp3qAXOzY5k) which raised my opinion of Magic. Both are good articles though and compliment each other as this article takes a more play analysis view while Clayton’s takes a more records and success view.
He was generally a great passer. But he wasn’t that great. He was a master at making things look harder than what it really was. That’s why he had a lot of hard passes turn into turnovers, even though a touch pass would have worked better. Can’t blame him for trying to put on a show though. He wasn’t much of a threat without the ball at all. Basically, he got a lot of fast breaks, made them look harder than what they were, which led him to being consistently overrated in the all time greatest players list.
Jordan was the best due to his huge hands, Kobe is a very close 2nd due to work ethic and almost perfect footwork. They all idolized Magic Johnson to get where they got. Magic is the ultimate team guy. And plain winner. His first knee injury slowed him and eventually his knees slowed him more in future. But still probably the greatest fast break game general.
7:19 One step travel is right! Funny to see that called a travel but Harden can back up 4 steps after picking up the ball lol. Magic is one of the greats that I’m not sure would be a great in this era. He just didn’t have the tools to be elite today. If he dribbled left he was likely to pick up the dribble or was going to the hole. Could not create a jumpshot and was a mediocre shooter when left open. Not to mention fewer fast-break opportunities cause there are fewer players in the paint…hanging out by the 3pt line ready to get back on D. Now Jordan and Bird would undoubtedly be more dominant today than they were in their eras….but Magic, unfortunately I just don’t see it. And that makes me sad.
One could argue that Magic was a better offensive player than Jordan. I looked at minimum PRF (points responsible for,) Which means pts + ast x2, though it is actually more because some were 3s but I don’t have the data of all their assisted 3s so this is at minimum what they scored or assisted on. Along with that true scoring % and usage rate. Basically how many points did they contribute to, how efficiently they shot, and how much of their teams shots did they use. Magic per 100 possessions: Season- 54.4 minimum PRF on a 61 true scoring % and a 22.3 % usage rate. Playoffs- 54.1 minimum PRF on a 59.5 true scoring % and a 21.2 % usage rate. Jordan per 100 possessions: Season- 54.4 minimum PRF on a 56 true scoring % and a 33.3 % usage rate. Playoffs- 58.1 minimum PRF on a 56.8 true scoring % and a 35.6 % usage rate. Ratio of PRF to Usage and TS gap: Magic 2.44 vs Jordan 1.63, Magic +5% in TS Magic 2.55 vs Jordan 1.63, Magic +2.7% in TS
He made the scrubs look good too. His points responsible for were higher than the scorers. Basketball is the only sport that doesnt look at all offense. The “Great One” wasnt the points leader. Beckham, wasnt the scorer. Its not about you shooting 50 shots to get 30 points and no helps, when you can get 22 and 12 assist making every player involved is better.
We always say Jordan would be a monster in today’s league, but it would be Magic Johnson they couldn’t handle in transition. Think about Magic playing the PG in a Mike Dantoni 7 secs or less offense. He would smoke the league. Then put 3pt shooters all around him. Believe or or not, I also wanted to see LeBron in that offense as well.
At 14:14 you say he wasn’t aware and had tunnel vision but on this play he fights through a pin down to stop a 3-point shot from BIRD!?! Maybe there’s other footage of his “occasional tunnel vision” but in this one, Magic has to defend BIRD – maybe the most deadly shooter in NBA history next to Curry
Love Coach Riley but if he would’ve pumped the breaks a bit on the practice intensity leading into the ‘89 Finals the Laker backcourt of Magic and Byron Scott would not have been hamstrung. My $$ will always be on Lakers pulling out the series if everyone is healthy. The narrative of Magic’s greatness would have been dramatically enhanced with a 6th ring thus tying MJ. Remember the ‘89 Lakers were red hot going 11-0 into the Finals with the league MVP whose all time greatness was peaking. Funny Magic story. I would imitate Magic when I first started playing organized basketball at age 9 going so far as holding up numbers with my fingers while dribbling up the court as our team’s PG. Holding up numbers didn’t mean a damn thing to anyone- teammates, coaches etc.. We didn’t even have 1 play in our “offense”. I just thought that it was cool because Magic did while running half court sets.
To be honest his ball-handling wasn’t that fancy compared to some other players of his era, let alone today’s Globetrotters-style point guards. But he played better, and made fewer mistakes than any of them (except Stockton IMO). He used what he had with 100 % capacity. He protected the ball with his body perhaps better than any other guard I’ve seen. You simply couldn’t rob him. And that court vision was matched only by Larry Bird.
What younger people dont get, because they only watch highlites, is? The flow of a game, when Magic would or could do this, at times the Lakers would get outscored 8-0 most teams call a time out, Magic would ignite a run of his own at will and be tied in 2 minutes. Magic is the GOAT. He can play all 5 positions, and win. He made teamates better, and anyone who remembers 80s Basketball will tell you. He was MAGIC!