The Ultimate Magic Johnson Video

[Music] if you go online and search around social media you'll quickly find out that Steph Curry has so many fans it's very understandable the guy is the greatest shooter that the game of basketball has ever seen he spaces the floor like no one else has before and with him leading the way he has pushed the NBA into a new era focused almost entirely on three-point shooting he's also a 63 player who isn't an athletically gifted freak like many modern-day Superstars yet he still finds a way to be an elite ball player year in and year out many people find this quality admirable no matter how you slice it Steph has firmly established himself as one of the greatest basketball players to ever live now with that being said many of his fans online many modern athletes and much of the mainstream media are anxious to put him into the top spot of the greatest point guards of all time and my response to that is stop it get some help it's not that I think Steph isn't on his way to the top he's still very elite and by the end of his career he might just be the consensus pick over magic John but in my opinion this is the perfect example of recency bias and way too many people being a slave of the moment it's so premature to already put him in the top spot but many people forget just how dominant Magic Johnson was in such a short period of time unlike many of today's modern Legends magic wasn't blessed with a long and healthy career in 1991 he shook the world with his announcement that he had obtained HIV you need to understand when magic played his last game before that announcement he was only 31 years old think about other NBA greats if they retired at that same age Dirk novitzki would no longer be an NBA champion LeBron James would only have two rings instead of four Shaq would have three titles instead of four Duncan would have four titles instead of five Michael Jordan would only have three titles instead of six and Steph Curry would only have three titles instead of four Magic Johnson had five championship rings when he had to retire at such an early age and there was still a second half of his career in store that we never got to witness who knows magic may have ended up with seven or eight championships if he wasn't forced to retire early now don't get me wrong my point isn't to give magic credit for things that he actually didn't accomplish but what what you certainly can't argue is the fact that magic built a goat candidate resume in roughly half the time that it took everyone else to build theirs also consider this in the last two seasons leading up to that retirement magic was the league MVP in 1990 and he was the MVP runner up in 1991 in game five of the 91 finals which was the last game of that season magic had 16 points 20 assists and 11 rebounds he got 20 assists in a Finals game while his two best scoring options were out with injuries which were jamesw worthy and Byron Scott not only were there no signs of him slowing down but you could argue that he was just as good as ever Steph has already significantly passed magic in Seasons played yet he's still trying to catch him in terms of every major Accolade including MVPs championships finals MVPs and all NBA teams this is because magic was incredible from the start of his career until the very end the greatest playoff performance in NBA history was when a 20-year-old rookie guard replaced an injured Kareem Abdul Jabar at Center and won the championship clinching sixth game with a total of 42 points 15 rebounds seven assists and three Steals on 61% shooting and what people often fail to consider is how a rookie Magic did that against the Philadelphia 76ers who were the number one ranked defense that season that was Magic's impact in his first season while on the other hand Steph Curry wasn't even considered as an elite player in the league until his fourth or fifth season again I just can't emphasize enough how magic didn't have the luxury of a full career like many other greats did in this modern NBA LeBron James is entering his 21st season and the League Chris Paul is entering his 19th and Kevin Durant is entering his 16th John Stockton was another great point guard from Magic Johnson's era and he played 19 seasons in the NBA magic only played 12 Seasons before HIV caused him to retire if he had a career as long as the other greats I previously mentioned then he would have been competing for championships alongside of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in the Twilight of his career in Magic's 12 Seasons before the announcement he made it to the NBA finals nine out of those 12 seasons and in the entire Western Conference he finished the highest in the MVP race nine Seasons straight that is dominance if we're being honest that's a level of individual dominance that Steph Curry can only dream of as his longest streak was just two seasons now some Steph Curry fans will argue in his favor saying that Steph changed the game with his three-point shooting and thus did something that no other great has ever done before I'm going to be honest I hate this argument so deeply because it isn't nearly as unique as they make it seem when you narrow down the list of the top 10 greatest players of all time nearly every one of them did something that completely changed basketball for example Michael Jordan made the game Global Larry Bird and Magic Johnson literally saved the NBA in the 1980s Will Chamberlain changed the rule book because of his dominance as the league office was looking for ways to slow him down and balance the league Bill Russell won more championships than any other player in NBA history other than Bill Russell the longest streak of championships by a player is three straight Rings Bill doubled that and then added two more on top of it Kareem Abdul Jabar uniquely dominated the league as he introduced the most indivisible shot of all time the Skyhook in the history of the game no player has ever had an entire conference gearing up to stop him like Shaquille O'Neal did in the early 2000s I could keep going but as you can see many alltime greats have done things that have changed the game so Curry fans saying my boy changed the game with his shooting isn't swaying anything when you're looking at the select few greatest players of all time early I mentioned how mainstream media is already pushing this narrative one of those people is Colin coward who claims that Steph Curry has already surpassed Magic Johnson due mostly to the fact that Steph is a great shooter and Magic is not I'm not going to lie this is one of the dumbest arguments you could possibly make when comparing greats holding past Legends to the standard of what makes players great in the modern game is ridiculously biased and seems Des desperate for a hot take if you went back in time and during the 1980s you told Magic Johnson he wasn't the best point guard because he couldn't shoot from the perimeter he would probably say what the hell does that have to do with me winning a championship magic was the guy who found his Shooters like Michael Cooper and Byron Scott and at that time that era wasn't defined by screens and three-point shooting but it was defined by fast break transitional baset basetball which no one was better at than magic none of those stars in the80s gave a damn about winning a hypothetical horse competition with players from the future they were trying to win championships in that era based on the style of that era and clearly magic was very good at doing that which should be what truly matters now listen this video is not intended to come across as a Steph Curry slander video my only point is that people are young and overreactive sometimes and they're prematurely trying to put him in a spot that currently belongs to someone else as of now magic has the edge in dominant consistency championships and individual accolades I just don't see an angle where you can legitimately Elevate Steph Curry above him at this current time with that being said Steph isn't showing any signs of slowing down either and shooting ability is one of the skills that aged the most gracefully in the NBA so you would be foolish to say that it's impossible for him to pass magic at some point in the future as in the case of most things time will tell so what do you guys think Am I Wrong has Steph already passed magic as the greatest point guard of all time and if he hasn't what would he have to do in order to secure the number one spot let me know in the comment section below Irvin Magic Johnson one of the greatest players in NBA history and many people still believe he's the greatest point guard of all time magic obviously had a historic beginning to his career but what I believe isn't talked about enough is the iconic farewell to his NBA career which was a roller coaster of emotions for the basketball Community finishing off with a satisfying ending that I personally will never forget in order to understand the impact of Magic's beautiful moment we first have to understand his journey to get there let's go all the way back to early June of 1991 at this time Magic Johnson is just 31 years old he's the runner up for the league MVP and he was the MVP in the previous season he's coming off of a regular season where he averaged nearly 20 points and 12 A2 assists and he's about to make his ninth NBA Finals appearance as a five-time NBA champion to summarize it all Johnson had just entered his early 30s and appeared to be every bit as good as he ever was before even without the recently retired Kareem Abdul Jabar as a teammate Johnson was still able to lead his Lakers to the NBA finals yet again he had already built a resume worthy of being called the greatest point guard ever and he seemingly still had a second half of his career ahead of him when the 1991 finals began magic was going toe-to-toe with the prime Michael Jordan and although Michael ended up being the finals MVP magic displayed a remarkable effort of his own many people believe that the Lakers never really had a true opportunity in this series since Magic's two best scoring options James Worthy and Byron Scott both dealt with injuries throughout and missed a significant amount of time even without his two best weapons in the elimination game magic still put up 16 points 20 assists and 11 rebounds Downs what he didn't realize and what none of the audience had realized either is that this would be his last NBA Finals game of his entire career because a few months later on November 7th 1991 magic held one of the most shocking press conferences in the history of sports it was at this moment that the world became aware that the face of the showtime Lakers was now HIV positive at the time little was known about the disease so the assumption from almost everyone was that in a matter of months he would lose a tremendous amount of weight and then pass away along with the horrific news of Magic's Health he also made it aware to the world that he was retiring from the Lakers effective immediately imagine your favorite basketball player being at the peak of his abilities and in a matter of seconds he goes from one of the best players in the game to a retired player who could pass at any moment needless to say this was a jarring pill to swallow for basketball fans as seemingly everyone had their hearts broken for Magic on that day over the next several months and years people would begin to learn a lot about living with HIV and the various details like how it's transmitted and who's at risk but many were still scared about the idea of being in contact with someone who had it then in February of 1992 things got really interesting for joh son and the basketball world the NBA All-Star Game is an exhibition event where the fans vote and determine who will play for each conference despite the fact that magic had retired from basketball the fans still voted him in to be the starting point guard of the western All Stars after receiving approval from doctors and from the league for magic to play the hype train was officially underway the thing is not everyone was so enthusiastic many players were concerned about their own well-being even Magic's former teammates like Byron Scott and AC Green said that he shouldn't participate the player who was the most vocal about his displeasure with magic competing was the Western Conference Allstar Carl Malone who had this to say before the game was played if I get in collision with a guy it don't have to be magic it can be Joe smoke but the fact of the matter is if you got the a virus it'll be hard for me to play as hard as is I'm capable of playing although there was plenty of drama heading into that night there was also plenty of teammates and competitors who encouraged magic to participate just as a spectator you could tell that there was this awkward unspoken tension in the air but you could also sense the excitement and the magnitude of the moment as the Orlando crowd gave Johnson a standing ovation during player introductions everyone understood that the ideal outcome was the West WI winning and Magic securing the All-Star game MVP but regardless of how badly the crowd wanted that he still had to go out there and perform well seeing that magic hadn't played a game in nearly a year and seeing how he was now dealing with a life altering disease many people were concerned that he wouldn't have the conditioning or stamina to hang with the best players in the world but all of those concerns were quickly put to rest soon after tip off commenced although he buil a legacy for himself as mainly a distributor magic was looking to score early on and he did so with tremendous efficiency throughout the night the West played with more energy and effort and a 10-point lead quickly became a 20-point lead and then a 20-point lead suddenly became a 30-point lead the outcome was never really in question but the MVP of the game appeared to be up for grabs and the Western conferences Clyde Drexler appeared to be the favorite heading into the second half with a monstrous statline after looking to score for a while magic finally got his first assists of the game with just under 9 minutes left in the third quarter and then he got on a roll with his flashy Showtime passes that we were accustomed to with less than 3 minutes left in the game magic suddenly hit the switch and displayed one of the most beautiful finishes in All-Star game history just so you can sense the gravity and energy of this inspiring moment I'll let you guys watch the final sequences of this game with no voiceover and please pay attention to how magic was at the center of it all 135 106 with 246 to go no doubt about this one there it is there's the three magic got it three for that moment to shoot the three who has all the NBA three point marks most attempts most made Johnson two in a row for magic he's going for the MVP the Atlanta Hawk has eight Chris Mullen for three it's out shooting the east in every quarter and will be around the 60% Mark and another great pass and Marley has his first [Applause] points magic raises this well this is a mismatch and magic would be the first to admit it Michael kind and that's two magic said bring the next one on six five three-pointer yes oh by ladies and gentlemen you just can't orchestrate it better than that when magic hit that final Falling Away three-pointer there was still 15 seconds left on the clock yet no no one on the court seemed to even care as they all surrounded and congratulated the Lakers Legend the game ended on the spot it was a perfectly fitting and poetic way for the game to end with a Magic Johnson jumper any question of who was the game's MVP now had an obvious answer as magic finished the game with 25 points nine assists five rebounds and two Steals on 75% shooting what started as a somewhat traumatic and awkward event ended up as one of the most uniting and inspiring conclusions in the history of Sports at the time everyone believed that this was the last NBA game that he would ever participate in and up until Kobe's farewell game in 2016 this exhibition contest stood alone as the most incredible farewell game by a Los Angeles Laker amazingly over three decades later magic is still going with the same smile and with the same enthusiasm that he was famous for the 1986 to 87 Los Angeles Lakers who many people consider as the strongest Championship group of the showtime Lakers era the Lakers organization has an incredibly strong and Rich history with many greats represented by some of the greatest players of all time even with all those great teams considered many people still recognize this 887 group as the greatest slaker team or even the greatest basketball team of NBA history no team greater represents the Lakers brand culture and identity than the showtime Lakers whose fast-paced and exciting style of play helped def find an entire era of NBA basketball leading this group at the point guard position was none other than the incredibly Dynamic Irvin Magic Johnson the 69 point guard had the first of his three MVP Seasons as he was the engine that drove the Lakers high octane offense with his sudden and pinpoint decision- making all of his teammates had to be ready at all times for the easier scoring opportunity I ities that magic would provide for them it was another remarkably productive Year from Magic as he averaged about 24 points a league leading 12.2 assists 6.3 rebounds and over 1 and 1 half Steals on 52.2% shooting simply put it was one of the greatest dual threat Seasons the league has ever seen as magic wasn't just the NBA's leader in assist per game but he was also top 10 in points per game which is easily the highest anyone has ever ranked in scoring while averaging at least 12 assists per game his support in the backourt was the underrated 63 shooting guard Byron Scott Scott loved to be on the finishing end of Magic's fast break and had a solid mid-range pull-up jumper he didn't shoot a tremendous amount of Threes but when he did he was one of the most efficient Shooters in the entire league as he hit 43.6% from that distance which was the fourth best percentage in the entire league his offensive impact should get more credit for his team success as he put up 17 points per game during the 86 to 87 regular season starting at small forward was the 69 star big game James Worthy James is one of the most overlooked great of basketball history and was the perfect running mate for Magic Johnson James loved to run the floor and score and transition and was the most frequent beneficiary of Magic's no look passes that wasn't the only way he scored his points though James was great with his back to the basket and in face up situations with the opponent as he had one of the quickest First Steps the game has ever seen his unique ability to find his way to the paint led him to have have an Elite field goal efficiency especially at his position as he shot 53.9% on the season he was selected to be an Allstar for the second straight season and on the year he averaged nearly 20 points and six rebounds starting at Power Forward was the young AC Green who always played with hustle and Hart and he was a couple rebounds short of a double double average in only 28 minutes per game AC certainly wasn't one of the major stars on the Lakers roster but his contribution shouldn't be downplayed as he was solid defensively in the interior and he was very reliable as securing the boards he's also the most Dependable player of all time when it comes to availability as AC is easily the all-time record holder for consecutive games played and only missed three games throughout the entirety of his career then of course starting at Center was the captain kareim Abdul Jabar at 39 years old Kareem certainly wasn't anywhere near his prime anymore but his age didn't stop him from being one of the better centers of the NBA as he poured in his 172 points Point per game and 6.7 rebounds on his typical incredibly efficient field goal percentage despite his age Kareem was still very capable of finishing in the fast break but the majority of his production came in half court sets with his iconic sky hook shot which coming from the 7 fo2 in Kareem is probably the most indefensible shot the game has ever seen accompanied with their all-time great starting five was a powerful bench especially concerning the first three players of the second unit first off is Michael Cooper Co Cooper is probably the greatest perimeter Defender that no one talks about he was incredibly tenacious with his on ball defense and was usually the player who was assigned to contain the opponent's best perimeter score for his career Cooper made an astonishing eight all defense teams and his 1987 campaign was even better as he was that season's defensive player of the year he was one of the original Three indeed type of players as he shot 38.5% from three-point range on 2.8 3point attempts per game which believe it or not was actually a lot of attempts in the 80s and he attempted the second most three-point shots that season among all NBA players Midway through the season the Lakers acquired Michael Thompson in a trade he was a 610 Center SL power forward who was a finesse type of player he was a solid scoring threat in his days before Los Angeles averaging as many as 20 points per game but with his all-time great Lakers Squad he would simply need to be a spark Off the Bench and that's exactly what the 32-year-old did as he chipped in with over 11 points points and five rebounds on only 23 minutes per game also in the heart of the rotation was the 68 Kurt rambus who didn't have a pretty style of play but he was another one of those players who did the little things well he would fight for loose balls help defend the Celtics bigs and was always a sure thing to give 100% effort this powerful roster of incredible individual players was a team that seemed tailor made for Magic Johnson skill set as every member of the roster including Kareem was excellent at running the floor and pushing the tempo I know I've alluded to this several times so far in this video but I can't emphasize enough how uniquely fast this group was as they treated every gain possession like it was the start of a track meet sometimes it almost seemed like they were completely forcing a fast break Tempo but even then they still found ways to make it work if they had to slow things down they could as magic sometimes orchestrated the offense like a quarterback from the top of the key and there's not many players who are better scoring options than the post than Kareem and James worthy under Pat Riley's strong leadership and insatiable desire to win this Lakers team had the League's best 65 and 17 record throughout the regular season in the playoffs no one was a challenge for them throughout the Western Conference as they swept the Denver Nuggets in three games defeated the Golden State Warriors in five games and then swept the Seattle SuperSonics out of the Western Conference Finals waiting for them in the NBA Finals was their rival and true Challengers the Boston Celtics this was simply Los Angeles's time though as they controlled the pace of the series and imposed their will upon Boston defeating them in six games to go along with Magic's iconic game-winning baby Skyhook in game four he also put up an incredibly monstrous statline nearly achieving the first triple double average in NBA finals history it was a series performance that was so impressive that by the end of it even Larry Bird was conceding that Magic Johnson had become the best player in the NBA looking at the results of this group over the 1987 season we see that the Lakers finish with a league best 65 and 17 record they statistically had the League's best offense and the seventh best defense overall That season they beat teams by a strong average of 9.3 points over the course of the season and they coasted through the playoffs with a 15 and3 record represented by that season's MVP and finals MVP Magic Johnson there's many goatworthy teams of NBA history but in a seven-game playoff series this team may very well be the best of the best as as far as how they would match up against the other all-time great teams well I think the key would be for them to control the game's Tempo and if they were able to do that then there's a decent chance that no one would beat them in a seven game series as a high-scoring and free flowing style plays too much into the hands of this team the key would be to get them to play in a physical halfcourt game which is something the 96 Bulls or 89 Pistons may have been able to do successfully in a hypothetical matchup so what do you think is the 87 Lakers the greatest team of all time are they even the greatest Laker team of all time let me know in the comment section below he's known as the captain Kareem Abdul Jabar for many years he was the NBA's all-time leading scorer and before Michael Jordan won his six championships most people considered Kareem as the greatest player in basketball history to this day some still do heading into the 1988 to 89 NBA season kareim was 41 years old he was a six-time League MVP a six-time NBA champion and a two-time Finals MVP alongside of Magic Johnson and James Worthy Kareem and the Lakers were looking for their third straight title it was an extra emotional time in Los Angeles though because Kareem had announced that this would be his last season in the NBA long before the regular season had concluded with this in mind the Lakers were motivated to win the championship yet again for their Star Center sending him out on a highe note and delivering a storybook ending but now we fast forward in time in June of 1989 the NBA finals were about to take place between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons at first glance it seemed like a colossal battle between two dynastic teams but to understand the shocking results of this series context is needed the Detroit Pistons were a strong team who had finished the regular season with a 63 and 19 record the team was rich in Talent with veterans like Isaiah Thomas Joe Dumars Bill ambir Mark aguire Dennis Rodman and Vinnie Johnson they had an all-time great defense and one of the deepest rosters the NBA had ever seen all of this team was incredibly talented and appeared on paper as if they were Championship ready but the Pistons were yet to prove it in the postseason and many were skeptical about their abilities to Dethrone the defending Champions just one year earlier the same two team teams met in the 1988 NBA finals and after a long hard-fought seven game series the Lakers had come out on top like they had many times throughout the 1980s the Los Angeles Lakers were heading into the 89 finals as the defending back-to-back NBA champions who were seeking the NBA's first three Pats since the 1960s all of the momentum was clearly on the Lakers side the 1987 and 1988 Los Angeles Lakers are still recognized even even to this day among the greatest teams in NBA history the Lakers had begun the decade with the championship and were looking to finish off the decade with their third straight championship and sixth championship in the 80s they seemed poised to do it too Magic Johnson was arguably the NBA's best player at the time and led the Lakers to have the best offense in the NBA That season while securing the league MVP award he was accompanied by his usual Hall of Fame Supporting Cast like James Worthy who was in the prime of his career and was coming off of last year's finals MVP award and of course he also had Kareem Abdul Jabar that would be retiring at the end of the season so the still productive captain of the Los Angeles Lakers was anticipating a fairy tale ending for his career securing a legendary 7eventh NBA championship ring as he rode off into the sunset the story of the Season appeared to be indicating that Destiny was in fact on the Lakers side Not only was the narrative supporting the Lakers but so was the ey test the Lakers were an absolute Juggernaut throughout the 1989 Western Conference playoffs the Lakers began the first round of the playoffs by sweeping The Talented Portland Trailblazers three games to zero the second round they swept an even better Sonic Team four games to zero and then they destroyed the powerful 55 win Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals four games to zero the Lakers were undefeated did throughout the Western Conference playoffs they were heading into the NBA finals against the Detroit Pistons looking to make history and become the only team ever to go undefeated in the NBA Playoffs as a quick recap the Lakers were going for their third straight title against the team they had just beat the previous year looking for the exclamation point of a six championship in a decade that they had already claimed as their own led by The League MVP on the final year of arguably the greatest player of all time with a chance to declare themselves as the greatest team of all time by finishing out an undefeated postseason run which had never been done before in the history of the NBA both of these finals teams were incredibly talented and Championship worthy so a sweep wasn't necessarily expected but it was presumed that if a sweep was going to happen it was going to be the Lakers who were doing the sweeping but as we like to say in the sports world that's why they play the game as a footnote the Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Byron Scott would be missing the series for his team after popping his hamstring and practice the day before the finals began with that being said Michael Cooper was replacing him in the starting lineup Cooper was a former Defensive Player of the Year and a quality three-point shooter in the NBA during his era so the Lakers still appeared to be in great shape when the games began the Pistons got off to a hot start and never relinquished it the the absence of Byron Scott was beginning to be felt in this series with Scott unavailable the Lakers rotation suffered and defending all of the Detroit Pistons perimeter scoring guards became even more difficult the Pistons took the first game 109 to 97 leaving the Lakers hopes of an undefeated postseason run in shambles the Lakers were poised to bounce back in game two despite Joe Dumars taking advantage of the Lakers being short-handed on guards and dropping 20 24 points in the first half alone the Lakers still managed to have a 62 to 56 lead at halftime if the Lakers could hold on they would be tying the series at a game of Peace while taking homec court advantage with the series heading back to Los Angeles but that's when disaster struck with only several minutes left in the third quarter the Lakers were up by a bucket and Detroit was on a fast break when Magic Johnson started hobbling he had pulled his hamstring and the pain was clearly seen on his face magic wanted to push through it but eventually he had no choice but to sit out the rest of the game with their MVP gone the Lakers fought valiantly but ultimately came up short falling to the Pistons 108 to 105 with game three being played back in Los Angeles the Lakers found themselves in a must-win situation with the season on the line Magic Johnson started game three but he wouldn't last very long after just 5 minutes of play Magic left the game with severe pain in his hamstring the still talented Lakers stepped up to the challenge and tried to win at home without their best player but despite James Worthy's 26 points and Kareem's vintage effort of 24 points and 13 rebounds the Piston's healthy Talent still prevailed in a close one 114 to 110 at this point the writing was on the wall for the Lakers Magic Johnson didn't even try to play in the fourth game of the NBA Finals James worthy was one Superstar who wasn't going out without a fight and dropped an efficient 40 points in game four despite the Lakers good start to the game the Pistons overall healthy Talent eventually wore them down winning the fourth and final game of the series completing what is now known as one of the most stunning sweeps in NBA history Kareem closed out his final game at the age of 42 while his iconic co-star was forced to watch from the sidelines in that last performance Kareem finished with just seven points three rebounds and three assists on two of eight shooting ultimately it's not the worst way for a legend to end his career but considering how things deteriorated in the NBA finals and how the Lakers won the championship just a year prior Kareem went down as another example of a player Calling it Quits just a little later than what would have been ideal so what do you guys think what is the most brutal ending to an NBA stars career I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comment section below magic was a savant with a basketball as he's arguably the greatest passer that the game of basketball has ever seen this was his bread and butter and he's famous for being the successful flashy leader of the Lakers Showtime offense there's no question that Magic's natural preference was being a distributor but with that being said magic could have been a leading score whenever it was necessary he was very reliable with his back to the basket as he used his size over the smaller guards to be a fantastic post scorer he also had a very dependable baby hook shot which he used frequently throughout his career magic had six games in his career where he scored at least 40 points and specifically in the 1987 NBA Finals he led all players and points outscoring even the legendary Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul Jabar as he averaged 26.2 points over the series while still getting 13 assists per game the 89 to 90 season was the first year after Kareem Abdul jabbar's retirement and because of this magic had to take on a heavier load as a score and he did that extremely well in the 1990 postseason magic averaged 25.2 points per game which was the third highest scoring average of all players in those playoffs trailing only Michael Jordan and Patrick Ying if he wasn't so unselfish as a giver he lik would have been one of the best scorers from the80s so there's been many different eras in basketball history and in specifically the'80s that decade is known for a few major aspects Magic Johnson and Larry Bird's rivalry the beginning of Michael Jordan's career and of course the bad boy Pistons but outside of that there's still many talented teams and players who don't get the attention they deserve today upon viewer request I'm diving into the Western Conference in the 1980s as we evaluate how good and how deep that conference was at this period we're starting off with the most obvious team the Los Angeles Lakers they were a legitimate super team led by their Trio of Magic Johnson Kareem Abdul Jabar and James Worthy we already know a ton about the first two Magic Johnson was the greatest point guard of basketball history who led the Lakers fast-pace and high octane offense to earn the nickname Showtime kareim Abdul Jabar known as the captain was still an elite Center in the league although he was past his prime days of the 1970s still he fit in beautifully as a big man in Magic's fast break and when the Lakers chose to slow it down there was no better way to get a sure bucket than dropping it into the post where Kareem can use his indefensible sky hook shot the guy who's the most underrated one in this mix is Big Game James Worthy whose nickname was very fitting considering the fact that he was one of the most clutch performers the game has ever seen he averaged around 20 points per game during his Prime and the 69 small forward had one of the quickest First Steps the game has ever seen I've said this before and I'll say it again James Worthy deserves his own statue outside of staple center without him the Lakers certainly don't win the 1998 NBA championship over the Pistons in seven games in that seventh and deciding game James Dropped 36 16 and 10 on 68% shooting and was named the finals MVP of that series along with that all-time great Trio they also had a significant amount of death including their 65 shooting guard Michael Cooper who was a part of all five of their Championship runs that decade Cooper was one of the the original 3 andd type of players and he's one of the great defensive players that most young viewers have never heard of he made eight straight all defense teams that decade and was the 1987 defensive player of the year they also had a quality transition scorer and Byron Scott and they also had a six-man of the Year candidate Michael Thompson in the second half of the decade considering how overpowered this Juggernaut was it's no wonder they represented the West in the NBA Finals eight out of 10 seasons the second team we're looking at is the Houston Rockets they were not great in the first half of the decade but after acquiring hakee elijahwan in the 1984 draft that all would quickly change the Twin Tower combination of Ralph Samson and aim elijuan quickly made them prominent contenders in the west they also had keyc scoring Sparks like Lewis Lloyd and Robert Reed they made it as far as the NBA finals in 1986 and after they had defeated the favored Lakers in the west finals the hype around this team was immense with hem at the age of 23 and Samson at the age of 25 it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before the league was theirs unfortunately their success was shortlived and so was the career of Samson as he began dealing with significant back and knee problems that had him out of the league by the time he was barely into his 30s the next team is one of the less talked about and fascinating gems of the 1980s and that's the Denver Nuggets they were led by two solid and relatively unknown Stars Alex English and fat lever of all the players in the entirety of the 1980s no one scored scored more total points than Alex English who averaged as high as 29.8 points per game in 1986 he was an incredibly efficient 67 small forward who had a lethal mid-range jump shot with an extremely high release point that was rarely blocked which led him to make eight straight allar teams in that era his co-star was the 63-point guard/yi-ju this Duo Leading The Way Denver had an extremely fast and potent offense in six out of the 10 seasons that decade Denver LED all teams in points scored they were a contender and they had a potential championship team if it wasn't for one major problem they were terrible defensively and when I say terrible I mean excruciatingly awful the concept was basically that the best defense was more offense every season that decade they finished as a bottom five team in points allowed including four straights Seasons where they were the worst in the entire league despite all of their defensive wos this team still made it to the conference semifinals four times and they made it to the Western Conference Finals in 1985 where they lost in five games to the eventual Champion Los Angeles Lakers then there was the Utah Jazz who were among the worst teams in the league for the first half of the decade but around the mid 80s is when they added Carl Malone and John Stockton and their fortunes began to shift Malone and Stockton are most famously known for their two trips to the NBA fin finals in 1997 and 1998 but their best season statistically actually came in the late 80s nobody really reflects on the 80s Jazz as a big three team but you could considering the underrated big man they had down low the 7' 4 in Monster Mark Eaton despite not being very well known Mark was one of the greatest offensive players to ever live to say that it was difficult to score over Mark in the paint would be a massive understatement as he made five all defense teams was the defensive player of the year twice and he led the league in blocks four times including the 1985 season where he averaged 5.6 blocks per game officially that's the highest blocks per game average for a season in NBA history they also had one of the Forgotten great leapers of years past the 6'4 shooting guard Daryl Griffith Daryl could score and he had a reliable jump shot but what he was known for more than anything was his incredible dunks which earned him the nickname Dr dunkenstein he wasn't a great defensive player but he scored over 20 points a game for his first five seasons unfortunately injury shortened his career and he began having those injuries right around the time that Malone and Stockton joined the team so their Prime didn't quite overlap as he was only a 10 to 15 points per game score by the time that Malone and Stockton broke out as Superstars despite being rich in Talent they still were not able to get past Magic Johnson's super team getting as far as game seven of the 1988 West semifinals where the eventual Champion Lakers closed it out another team who was making deep runs in the west playoffs was the well-balanced Dallas Mavericks their leading star was the elite scorer Mark aguire who spent his prime eight seasons with the Dallas Mavericks before he eventually won two championships with the bad boy Pistons he put up strong numbers in his years as a Maverick averaging as high as 29.5 points per game in 1984 his co-star was the reliable and consistently good score Rolando Blackman the 66 guard was another one of those great mid-range Shooters of the80s and his prime Prime year saw about 20 points per game on over 50% shooting some great role players got their start there as well like one of the original Stretch four Shooters the 69 Sam Perkins and a future six-man of the year the 610 dlf shrimp at their best three-year stretch with their many weapons this unit was seen as a legitimate threat to the Lakers and in 1988 they made it to the Western Conference Finals where they pushed magic Kareem and wor these Lakers to seven games before Los Angeles closed it out the last one to highlight is more so a player than an entire team and that's the 610 power forward Tom Chambers he was a four-time All-Star and one of the Premier scores of that decade his greatest performance was a 60-point explosion in a Revenge game against his former team he was an incredible athlete who could play Above the Rim and has one of the most ridiculous looking dunks of all time he spent most of his years in the'80s with the Seattle SuperSonics but it wasn't until he joined the Phoenix Suns that he got his first taste of competing in 1989 Chambers and Kevin Johnson led the Suns to a 55 and 27 record while Chambers was averaging over 25 points per game they then cruised to the Western Conference Finals before they were swept by the defending Champion Lakers these were pretty much all of the competing teams in the Western Conference during the'80s although I do think there was some pretty solid teams and you could certainly argue that the West 80s was underrated they certainly weren't as strong as the fiercely competitive Eastern Conference in the 1980s there were 25 - win teams in the the Western Conference in the 80s for the Eastern Conference there was 35 50 win teams which pretty much sums up the balance of power during that decade and that's certainly interesting because it's arguably the last decade we've seen where the East was stronger than the West the West in the80s certainly wasn't one of the greatest conferences we've ever seen But due to the rich Eastern Conference in that decade and due to the overpowered Lakers representing the West in the NBA Finals eight out of 10 years there have unfortunately been some nice teams and quality players who become lost and overlooked in the game's history hopefully this video helped shine a spotlight on some of them thanks for watching as always make sure to like And subscribe for more basketball content and I'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Jonny Arnett

Views: 12,643

Keywords: NBA, GOAT, Boston Celtics, Highlights, Magic Johnson, Jxmy Highroller, Andy Hoops, Dom2k, Mike Korzemba, Chris Smoove, afunkydiabetic, BSolz, Legend of Winning, Basketball Time Machine, Austin Sweatt, Nonstop Sports, Secret Base, Swish Out, Heat Check, Golden Hoops, First Take, Undisputed, Bill Russell, Nick Smith NBA, Flight Mike, MDJ, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Basketball, Lakers, Kareem, Showtime Lakers, James Worthy, Shaq, Wilt, Kobe, Magic, Steph Curry, Troydan

Id: YPXVHOxAEP4

Length: 46min 23sec (2783 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 11 2023