The TRUTH About Bird and Magic's Finals Matchups
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- A dive into Larry Bird and Magic Johnson's three finals matchups in 1984, 85, and 87, and the details that aren't always talked about by fans.
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#nba #larrybird #magicjohnson #lakers
1985 wasn't the first time they used the 2-3-2 format in the Finals. They used it in 1953, 1954 and 1955.
Thank you for the correction!
Imagine bird doesn’t break his back and magic doesn’t get aids. One can only imagine how the story continued in another world
Prime Bird and Magic vs Prime Jordan 🤩
@@Glide9441 the east is a lot better with an old prime bird in the 90s ngl
Imagine Pat Riley gets Drexler as a second scoring option for Ewing.........
@@stanleyrogouski when would that have happened?
-- If Magic never got AIDs, maybe he wins 1 more chip. The debate of greatest PG would be Magic 1, Curry #2. But it's a toss up between the two.
Bird? Maybe he beats the Lakers in '87 (without the bad back) but still McHale was hobbled in the Finals.
If Bird played deeper into his career as a superstar, instead of being Top 7-12...maybe he's Top 6-10.
The 87 Celtics were wounded warrior's, fighting with everything they had, right to the last drop of blood, it's amazing they even played at that level, goes to show that winning the championship is what they were all about
Probably the most battered team ever to make the NBA Finals. That itself is quite legendary, something modern NBA teams could never compare.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth McHale: broken foot, Bird: chronic back pain, Parish: a lot of people didn't know this, 2 sprained ankles from the Detroit series and Walton was all done, he just took up a roster spot
Bird was also playing all those years with an afib heart. It's a miracle he's still alive.
That is so true. Bird had said during those years he would sleep more than usual and he thought it was because he was getting older and played so much basketball between games and practicing when it was his heart ailment that was making him tired and sleep more
Celtics Lakers in the 80s might have been the most exciting basketball ever played.
No doubt, today's NBA: 🤮
Other than Houston, there was little competition in the Western Conference back then. While Boston had to battle through a stack of future Hall of Famers every year. Any wonder their tank was empty by 87. The Legend of Larry Bird will live forever.
The Eastern Conference in the 1980s was stacked with Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia waging classic playoff wars.
LARRY LEGEND IS A UNICORN AND THE TRUE GOAT!!! 🐐 ☘️
I love your channel!
The three greatest finals of all time hands down. They will be remembered forever.
I so wish the Lakers had made in 86. I think it would have been tied 2-2 then.
@scorchogrey2385 i wish the Lakers made it in 86, and Len Bias survived his draft party. Boston might be 3-1
They should had never cancelled Winning Time.
No shit!? The portrayals of several characters (West, Kareem, Westhead) were over the top, but I grew to enjoy the series (though the accomplished actor Adrien Brody is a lousy Pat Riley). Now, we won't get to see the Lakers beat the Celtics in Boston Garden to win it all in 1985. That would have been the finest climax to this final season.
People forget about the tragic death of Len Bias. Michael Cooper has even said if Len Bias had lived = Boston would have won the championship in 1987. Bias was 6 foot 8 and would have brought speed and athleticism and youthful energy to the team. And with Bias playing a lot of minutes, this would have given rest to both McHale and Bird. And McHale could even play as a center and give rest to Parish and Walton. Even without Bias in 1986 Boston beat LA both times these teams played. With Bias in 1987, I think Boston would have repeated and won the championship. It is so hard to predict what would have happened ( perhaps LA wins in 1988) but Len Bias was a terrible tragedy!
i'm Jordan's biggest fan but got lucky with Bias, Bird and Mchale injuries and Magics HIV. Even if older maybe both the celtics and the lakers would made trades to keep the ball rolling a few years more.
@@luciusv5765 Jordan crushed magic and 91, the Lakers were never gonna beat the bulls. And even though I love Bird I don’t see the Celtics competing with the bulls in the 90s.
@@yukondeighton8075 gotta remember it wasn't just Bias that died, they lost another very good player in Reggie Lewis, that's two star players and Reggie Lewis when they played the bulls was assigned to guard Jordan and Reggie blocked his shot 4 times in one game, Jordan said Lewis was tough to shoot over because of his defensive posture and had long arms, if those two didn't die, the Celtic's are competing against the Bulls and giving them a run for their money
@@luciusv5765TBF, Jordan did beat Magic in 91. So he proved he could. He didn't beat "prime" showtime obviously but he did beat them. I think we have a tendency as fans to do the "what if" thing too much. Things unfold as they unfold. All teams deal with injury and life happens to everyone. Had things played a little differently here or there maybe it changes some things but ultimately Jordan was gonna get there regardless. He was too good not to. Mchale and Bird were just too broken down by the 90s. Bias would have had to become the focal point and they would have had to build around him. And that's assuming he became as great in the NBA as he was in college (and I'm a Marylander saying this so I know all about Bias). I think the Lakers had the better chance to stay dominant in the West. Still had Magic and Worthy and solid role guys. The fact they got to the finals in 91 shows they could still compete. But I don't think they would have beaten the Bulls at that point. The Bulls just became too good.
They SHOULD'VE met up in 1986 when both teams were at their absolute peak. L.A. should've never lost to Houston in 5. Sucks Boston was injured in 87.
Lakers got too predictable in their half court offense in 1986. Magic had really bad tendonitis that year. Riley also went too far on the bruiser / enforcer end of the spectrum with guys like Lucas, Kupchak, Rambis, and the rookie Green. It was an overreaction to the physicality of Boston. He did a 180 the next offseason and decided to just win by being a fast break team.
But I guess it also forecasted how Riley eventually wanted to run his 90s teams: A bunch of tough bruisers.
If Hakeem had beaten both the Showtime Lakers and the 86 Celtics 2 years into the league, he'd be in the GOAT debate.
@@eddieG667Really?? The Lakers who were healthy lost to Houston in 5 games bc they had to many "bruisers". Once again if David Stern didn't give lifetime bans to Mitchell Wiggins & Lewis Lloyd & John Lucas the Lakers would have been done in 1986. David Stern did that to Houston so his cash cow Lakers could resume their "dynasty". That's how crooked David Stern was. Bruisers. Smh
Nice video! These injuries are actually typical as these are 80s teams. That's why I laugh when younger fans say the 1991 Pistons and 1991 Lakers weren't "old" by their standards. Careers were much shorter for marquee players for many reasons: It was taboo to lift weights because it was thought that it hinders flexibility and your shooting. Knee injuries often meant end of careers as the surgeries were primitive. Offseason workouts were almost non existent and players often reported to training camp out of shape. Nutrition was crap. PEDs were nowhere near what they are today and were largely underground.
This video does a great job of detailing things like Bird's back, Parish's legs, McHale's foot, Wilkes' stomach issues, etc, but one thing many people don't realize is how bad Magic's knees were by 1986. Just look at the way he moves in 82 and 83 vs how he moved in 87. In the former years, he led the league in steals. By the time the Lakers and Celtics met the 3rd time in 1987, he was no longer assigned to any quick guards, steals numbers dropped to barely 1 a game, and almost never blocked shots -- which is really telling for someone 6'9" guarding smaller players. Just watch his first NBA game on RUclips vs the Clippers and he's guarding World Be Free. He blocked him at least 3 times.
This...young Magic had some hops
You ever lifted weights then shot a basketball?
@@kalebslagle9972 WTF lmao -- that's not how weight training is supposed to work in conjunction with any sport. Either you're trolling or have zero clue on strength conditioning methods. It turned out pretty well for Michael Jordan.
@@eddieG667 you never answered my question. Have you ever lifted weights then shot a basketball? Considering I was a D1 athlete on scholarship I’d say I know enough about strength conditioning
@@kalebslagle9972 just pretend I gave the answer you want so you can take this somewhere nobody was referring to
Awesome job Unc as always! Keep it up!
Their rivalry will never be topped. In any sport. Past, present, or future. I was definitely a once ever.
Magic, had Kareem who was the ultimate difference maker
Wow, the Celtics got really beat up. Four straight finals and basically everyone was done. goes to show how hard it is to keep winning for a long time.
I like the way you mix in video game music, I wonder what it sounds like to younger people that never played these games
I grew up on these games. My neighbors always had the newest Xbox or PlayStation, and there I was with my nes and Super Nintendo haha
@@unclehays750Is that where your MIDI opening comes from? I'm old enough to have lost too many quarters playing Pong, but never became a 1980s-and-beyond gamer.
8-bit tunes rule, I'm 45 and grew up on them. They make great ringtones.
@@unclehays750 Same here, I never evolved beyond the Super Nintendo
@@Defender78 The reasons why MIDI caught on make no sense in a world of 64-bit processors and 64G flash drives. The amount of RAM in early 1980's microcomputers (not called personal computers or PCs as yet) had no more than 16k in some of the earliest models. The first game system I encountered was the Atari 2600, with a whopping 128 bytes of RAM. Never built an interest in video games, though a friend purchased a MIDI sequencer for his Commodore 64 around 1983, found a sounds library on cartridge and programmed a passable version of "Whole Lotta Love" for kicks. It sounded like hard rock for a PAC-MAN world.
The missing link for the Celtics was the untimely death of Len Bias
Thanks buddy
We all know David Stern and the NBA narrative those battles by keeping those decks stacks
1984 is the best final.
Many games are rigged..... People bet on them... Money talks. Coaches in on it, owners, players and refs....
The way I see it, the better teams didn't win in 84 and 85. In 84, even though it was even, the Lakers were the better team through three games. But once the Celtics clotheslined Rambis, the series changed in Boston's favor. In 1985, despite the Celtics lack of play from their depth, they killed the Lakers in Game 1. But when Kareem started to play, the Lakers had the momentum and once they won game 5, the momentum carried into Game 6.
For 1987, the Lakers were the better team. A healthy Celtics squad could've won that championship. But the injuries were just too much to overcome.
Stop lying to yourself the truth is Boston couldn't beat LA at all in any series 84 was pure b.s by the refs all the dirty tactics from Boston was completely out of order from the over heating the arena the cold showers Boston is a complete disgrace
Its a shame they didn't play at least two more finals those were good games
The 89 Pistons definitely deserve an Asterisk in my opinion, going into the 89 Finals the Lakers were 11-0 that postseason straight steam rolling teams ! But the day before game 1 starting shooting guard Byron Scott goes down and is lost for the series , then in game 2 early in the 3rd they lose Magic to a hamstring pull !! The Lakers were in control of game 2 till that happened , Magic tried to play game 3 but only lasted a few minutes , so L.A. didn't have their starting backcourt the whole series and without Magic LA didn't stand a chance
Especially the way Magic was doing basically whatever he wanted on the offensive end. It was a huge problem on the other end defensively, but Riley seemed to have found a rotation with Tony Campbell who played well that game
In the 1988 Finals Detroit was in control until Isiah sprained his ankle. Remarkably he scored 25 points in the 3rd after rolling his ankle. If Isiah doesn't get hurt & if that phantom foul wasn't called on Laimbeer, the Pistons win in 6 games. The what if scenarios should go both ways
@@mongoslade277 that was definitely a foul on Laimbeer. You can’t jump into an offensive players body.
Pistons likely weren't going to sweep a healthy Lakers team in '89, but they were on quite a run themselves entering those finals. Their 11-2 run to the finals may not have been as impressive as the Lakers' 11-0, but one team played a series against a healthy Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Heck, from the midway point of the season up to those finals, the Pistons were on a 48-8 run, with the only home loss in that stretch being an ECF loss to the aforementioned Bulls.
And of course, if we're putting an asterisk on '89, you have to look at '88. You can argue the validity of the Game 6 phantom foul, but then you also have Isiah getting injured in Game 6, fans storming the court during the Pistons' last possession of Game 7, and Magic tripping Isiah during that same possession.
The Lakers needed all of that to win Game 6 by one and Game 7 by 3, and I'm supposed to act like the Lakers were robbed when they got swept by a red-hot team in '89?
@@Rodanguirus I don’t know why the end of the game “trip” is all of a sudden coming under scrutiny when the Pistons themselves have never complained about that incident. Isiah ran into Magic who was already in the spot.
Then the so-called phantom foul where Laimbeer jumped into Kareem’s body. I guess people only think if you hit their shooting arm is a foul and you can do whatever down low. Regardless, Kareem’s skyhook always had natural separation between him and the defender with the use of his off arm. It wouldn’t push off, but the pivot of his body creates the space where his arm is already out. Laimbeer made it an awkward play and refs will call anything that looked different than how you played the prior 40 skyhooks in that series
Great videooooo!!!
Glad you liked it!!
In the 1984 Finals the Celtics never led at the end of regulation in the first 4 games yet it was tied 2-2. Instead of a sweep the Lakers lost in 7
in the 1984 season the Lakers won 54 games in the 1984 season the Celtics won 62 games in the 1985 season the Lakers also won 62 games and 1985 season would see the Celtics go 63 in the 1987 season the Lakers won 65 games in the 1987 season the Celtics won 59 games so it’s fair it’s even
1987 Lakers might be the fastest team in history?
*2023 Sacramento Kings have entered the chat*
Why the re upload on the video?
One of the Scott wedman clips didn’t render properly I suppose, because there was a 3 second part where the screen just cut to black. Just a minor thing, but it drove me crazy lol
@@unclehays750that makes sense. I got the notification on my phone and thought it was a late notification or something. Then I just checked to see my comment on the first video and it was missing. At that point either the video was reuploaded or i was in the matrix
WATCH
Fantastic video
Bird breaks his finger in a bar fight and spreads conspiracy theories about David Stern. Kind of funny that the sainted Larry Bird wasn't really that much different from Ja Morant.
The difference is that Everything that Bird said about David Stern was true. It started in the 1984 Finals. Then the 1985 Lottery. Then the 1987 western conference playoffs. Then the 1988 western conference finals. Then the 1988 Finals. Then the 1991 season when he changed the rules for Michael Jordan. The 2000 western conference finals game 7 was obvious & the 2002 western conference finals was a farce. Stern did that his whole 30 year career
I really wish I grew up to seen this rivalry, even though I didn’t grow up to witness the 80‘s I definitely know that it was a very entertaining time to be in 🥲