The POP-EXPOSE ‘Magic vs Bird’ by Mitchell Smith!
Earvin Magic Johnson was born 8/24/59 in Lansing Michigan. He was dubbed Magic at the age of 15 playing for Everett High School where he averaged 28 points and 16 rebounds.
Larry Bird was born 12/7/56 in West Baden Springs Indiana. He played high school ball at Spring Valley High where he averaged 31 points and 21 rebounds per game.
They first met in college. Magic was at Michigan State and Bird at Indiana State. Both teams reached the NCAA finals in 1979 and this became the most watched college basketball game ever. Indiana State went into the championship game coming off the school’s best year ever with a 33-0 record entering the final game. Indiana State tore through the regular season and pretty easily won the conference tournament and had a couple close wins in the NCAA tournament, but rolled into the championship game looking as good as any team. Michigan state had somewhat of a shaky season dropping 4 of 6 when they entered conference play. Once in the tournament they had a relatively easy way to the final game with Notre Dame giving them the closet game only loosing by 12 points. Michigan State entered the final game with a 25-6 record. The final game drew a large viewership mostly do to Bird and Magic. Magic would best Bird and give Michigan State it’s first NCAA championship by a score of 75-64.
Both were very talented players, Bird was drafted to the NBA as the 6th overall pick to the Boston Celtics in the 1978 draft. He played from 1979 to 1992 and retired a Celtic. Magic was the number 1 pick in the 1979 draft to the LA Lakers where he played his entire career as well. They grew up 360 miles from each other and now separated by 3000 miles, they were to become the best rival matchup in NBA history.
The Celtics and Lakers have dominated the playoffs over the past 60 years but the rival was made from 1957 to 1969 where the Celtics beat the Lakers 7 times in the championship game. The Bird Magic rivalry which began in 1979 now was on the biggest stage in basketball with the biggest team rivalry. 1984 Magic and Bird get ready for round 2 of Championship games. Boston who earned home court advantage was the favorite, but in game one Magic got the best of Bird as they won 115-109. Luckily this was the best of 7 and it would take all 7 games. Bird got his revenge as the Celtics won 111-102. In 1985 it was Deja vu , Celtics had home court advantage and it took all 7 games to decide a winner, Lakers fans finally got there first championship against the Celtics winning game 7, 111-100. 1986 Boston won the NBA championship, but the Lakers were ousted by Houston in the Conference finals, so the world would have to wait till the following season for the next Bird Magic matchup. This time LA got the home court and with a deadly team lead by Magic they were able to defeat Boston in 6 games. They would go on to win the 1988 championship and got swept by the Detroit Pistons in a magical run of their own lead by Isaiah Thomas.
The rivalry which spanned over 13 season was a neck and neck run by Bird and Johnson. Playoff games, All star games, and MVPs were close and won mostly by one or the other. Although Larry held the edge on overall points per game Magic ended up with 5 titles as opposed to Bird’s 3. It was an electrifying time for the NBA and mainly because of 2 of the all time greatest players to play the game. During the 1992 Olympic games Johnson and Bird got a chance to be teammates on the first dream team. Once rivals now played as teammates to bring the USA a gold metal. The two have been etched into the NBA’s all time greats and their legendary rival may never again be matched.
Did you grow up a fan of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? Let us know your thoughts AFTER THE JUMP!
