Magic Johnson's 1991 playoff run was his greatest performance ever..

[Miggs]

Wasnt that series where Vlade did that infamous penguin shuffle into Magic's arms

 

[Michael's Black Son]

This is how a quality thread should be made

Very good points about Magic and the Blazers.

Insane how much changed in that time period
- Blazers not winning a chip
- End of the Bad Boy Pistons
- Magic retirement
- Beginning of Bulls dominance
- Celtics were basically finished
- Dream Team rebuilding USA basketball
- Shaq coming on the scene in 92

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

He got down for real... but no one knows for sure how his career would've wen after 91... that may have been his last hurrah... that knee was borderline shot.... which makes his run in 91 really special.... .Divac was a 1st year Euro that was too passive.... and Magic stayed in his grill for it..... but nonetheless...... it was the Bulls year.... Jordan was freakish and Dunleavy's lack of big game coaching showed up at an opportune time for the Bulls.....

 

[Hersh]

its crazy how all potential goats have some shyt that literally took years away from there career...

 

[Take It In Blood]

isn't this the year before he caught aids too?

it's possible he did all that with HIV which would be an even greater feat

Imagine Lebron getting diagnosed with stage 4 terminal lung cancer right now

that's what having HIV was like in 1991

a death sentence, and he beat it

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

Imagine Lebron getting diagnosed with stage 4 terminal lung cancer right now

that's what having HIV was like in 1991

a death sentence, and he beat it

That's not the same

 

[Take It In Blood]

That's not the same

now its not

but back then

it was

 

[mbewane]

Blazers

Anyway throwing that ball down the court is indeed genius. You have to get it right though

 

[Hey_zeus]

YUP WOULDA WON THE TITLE HAD WORTHY NEVER BEEN INJURED

MAGIC WOULDA HAD ANOTHER 4-5 GOOD YEARS HAD HE NOT CAUGHT HIV IN HIS PRIME AND BEEN FORCED TO RETIRE EARLY

DEFINITELY WOULDA HAD A BETTER CASE FOR GOAT AND MAYBE WOULDA WON ANOTHER 1-2 TITLES

Nah it was MJ/Bulls time. Worthy ain't helping run the offense once Pip locks Magic up. Bulls had reached their prime.

 

[KING WILL]

smart play

 

[McPiff]

GOAT.

Magic had Michael shook in the first game so he had to call for help and got pippen on him

Still mad that dunleavy didn't know how to coach. Magic was something else man.

Glad to see that nobody posted some cac jokes about the HIV too

 

[FAH1223]

Averaged close to a triple double for the series....He had no help unfortunately.

Kareem was still trying to help


NOTES : Kareem Helping Divac

By CHRIS BAKER
JUNE 10, 1991
12 AM
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Former Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who sat on the end of the Laker bench during the Bulls’ 97-82 victory over the Lakers in Game 4 Sunday at the Forum, says Chicago’s edge in the individual matchups have enabled it to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals.

“The matchups are not working in the Lakers’ favor,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “They’re not getting any scoring from their bench and the guys that they need to score other than Magic (Johnson) and James (Worthy). Vlade (Divac) had a great game today, but no one has been able to contribute.

“Chicago’s defense has done too much to inhibit what the Lakers do.”

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Abdul-Jabbar has worked with Divac, who has scored 51 points in the last two games.


“I just gave him some general guidelines,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I tried to show him some things on film.”

Chicago assistant John Bach, the architect of a defense that has held opponents to less than 100 points in 14 of 16 playoff games, was even surprised at how effective the Bulls’ defense was in limiting the Lakers to 82 points.

“In your fondest hopes you think, ‘could we hold a team at 82 points?’ but it’s almost unattainable in the NBA game,” Bach said. “We may have helped put it together, but it’s a tribute to the team and to Phil Jackson, who calls the defenses.

“Phil has made those decisions and he’s sold the team on it since the first day we were on the floor. The team believes in Phil and they believe in what he’s asking them to do and we’ve seen the results.”

Chicago guard Craig Hodges has a lucky hat, a Muslim Kufi cap, presented to him by a friend.

“After our first loss (of the playoffs) in Philadelphia a fan gave it to me and told me, ‘Craig, if you wear this, I assure you of victory your next game.’ ”

The Bulls won their next game and Hodges has worn the hat after every game.

If Chicago clinches the NBA title Wednesday at the Forum, the Bulls will become the third consecutive team to win the NBA title on the road. Detroit wrapped up the 1989 title at the Forum and the Pistons clinched the 1990 championship at Portland.


It was the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss in an NBA finals game at the Forum, tying a record for most consecutive home losses in the finals set by the Baltimore/Washington Bullets in 1971 and 1975.

The Lakers lost two consecutive games to the Detroit Pistons in the 1989 finals before dropping two consecutive games to the Bulls.

Laker guard Byron Scott went 115 minutes and 23 seconds between baskets. Scott, who had missed 10 shots in a row, made a jumper with 10:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Although no team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA finals, four teams have recovered from 3-1 deficits to win an NBA playoff series.


Boston came back to defeat Philadelphia in the 1968 Eastern Conference finals, the Lakers overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Phoenix in the 1970 Western Conference semifinals, Washington came back to defeat San Antonio in the 1979 Eastern Conference final and Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Philadelphia in the 1981 Eastern Conference final.

Mike Dunleavy, on the play of James Worthy: “Seeing the game and how he was playing, I took him out. The trainer (Gary Vitti) said there’s no way he could go back in. We’ve been going with it each day, trying to nurse him back into health, but it’s getting worse instead of better.”

Times staff writer Scott Howard-Cooper also contributed to this story.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Blazers were the biggest chokers of that era. Good lord.
Even in Game 6 vs. the Lakers, the play prior to Magic throwing the ball down court, the Blazers had a two on one fastbreak and for no reason young Cliff Robinson fumbled the ball out of bounds.

They were the biggest pretenders of that era.

 

[mitter]

The 1991 Finals were such a letdown.

Byron Scott was completely ineffective, averaging 4 ppg.

James Worthy hurt his ankle badly in the WCF and was a shell of his usual self. The box scores show that he still got his points, but it was mostly Magic working extremely hard to get Worthy decent shots. Worthy was not putting pressure on the Bulls defense the same way he would have if he was 100%.

So what did that leave Magic with? Sam Perkins, young Vlade Divac and Elden Campbell. Terry Teagle.


The entire offense was dependent upon Magic. There was nobody on his team who could help take the pressure off him.



To put things in perspective, Magic was playing 45.6 mpg.

 

[UpAndComing]

Early 90s NBA (1990-1994) was an underrated time