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

[K-Apps]

 

[mitter]

I really miss that version of Magic. I think seeing him operate for the "slowtime" Lakers in half court without much of a supporting cast gave us the best glimpse of what an all-around talent he really was. There was so much to his game that gets lost in the typical retelling of the Showtime era.

It really makes me feel sad that we didn't get several more years of him backing opponents down and shooting his hook shot. I appreciated his abbreviated comeback in 1996 just for a few more moments of that kind of play.

He was really the last great practitioner of the traditional hook shot

 

[mitter]

Not exactly breh. Kareem, Duncan, LeBron, Kobe. All LONG ass careers with relatively few hiccups injury wise. It's really just Michael, Larry, and Magic (Michael moreso gave years away rather than had them taken away).

Kobe had decent longevity, but the achilles tendon tear effectively ended his career. He was 34 at the time, and he definitely lost a few more elite/near elite years.

Duncan hung around for a long time, but his tendonosis took a huge toll. 2007-08 was his last year as an MVP-caliber player. The health issues prematurely ended his prime.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Bulls fans enjoy lying to themselves that they beat “the Lakers “when this was a completely different Laker team, not the illustrious of 1988.
No Pat Riley. No Kareem. Magic did it all.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Magic was the most dominant player in the NBA from 87-91

He was winning titles and had the highest I.Q. in the game

Sorry

 

[MooseMouthMthafuga]

My favorite athlete of all time.If you called him the GOAT, I wouldn't argue with you

 

[who_better_than_me]

funny that you mentioned Divac

if Divac had done the EXACT same thing in the Kings series against the Lakers (Horry shot)..................would have changed the course of NBA history

Take note of Magic camped down in the paint to grab the rebound and then BOXING out Duckworth to grab the rebound

there was a Suns/Lakers series years later where the Lakers missed the go ahead basket with seconds left........ALL Jason Richardson had to do was lean back and box out Artest for the rebound.....you either get the board or you get the foul call as the other guy climbs your back for the rebound..
no box out....Artest grabs rebound and the rest is history


Magic was just a special player who played better when the money was on the table, by that year he had so much playoff experience that there was NOTHING he hadn't seen before. People pay attention to the flash and no look passes, but they ignore the fundamentally sound way that he played the game.

GOAT

Man that’s the nba today. Dude so dependent on their own athleticism nobody really fundamentally boxes out anymore.

 

[badboys11]

I remember the anticipation for the 91 NBA finals like it was yesterday

I was in elementary school and learned about gambling profits for the first time

Everyone wanted Magic Johnson and the Lakers win, I still remember getting teased, "magic about to have ring #6, Jordan still gonna have none"

I bet against everyone that said that to me. Even though I'm a die hard pistons fan, Jordan and the Bulls played on another level from the rest of the league that year and it just never stopped it felt like

Magic was very impressive leading a Lakers team that lost to Phoenix in the second round back to the finals, but to be fair we all expected the Lakers to be in the 90 finals as well, that was a huge upset.

 

[NYC Rebel]

I remember the anticipation for the 91 NBA finals like it was yesterday

I was in elementary school and learned about gambling profits for the first time

Everyone wanted Magic Johnson and the Lakers win, I still remember getting teased, "magic about to have ring #6, Jordan still gonna have none"

I bet against everyone that said that to me. Even though I'm a die hard pistons fan, Jordan and the Bulls played on another level from the rest of the league that year and it just never stopped it felt like

Magic was very impressive leading a Lakers team that lost to Phoenix in the second round back to the finals, but to be fair we all expected the Lakers to be in the 90 finals as well, that was a huge upset.

No. We did not expect the Lakers to be in the finals. That is a complete lie. The Blazers were expected to be in the finals as they were the year prior.

Everyone believe the Lakers window closed in 1990. No way did anyone expect them to go to the finals. That is flat out false.

 

[Boonapalist]

No. We did not expect the Lakers to be in the finals. That is a complete lie. The Blazers were expected to be in the finals as they were the year prior.

Breh he’s talking about the 1990 finals not 91. The Lakers were in the finals prior to that in 89.

 

[badboys11]

No. We did not expect the Lakers to be in the finals. That is a complete lie. The Blazers were expected to be in the finals as they were the year prior.

I said the 1990 finals breh, Detroit vs Portland

All 89 90 season we expected round 3 of the pistons vs Lakers

Portland was the favorite out west 1991

 

[NYC Rebel]

I said the 1990 finals breh, Detroit vs Portland

All 89 90 season we expected round 3 of the pistons vs Lakers

Portland was the favorite out west 1991

My bad.

 

[K-Apps]

 

[Ku$h Parker]

 

[NYC Rebel]

the smartest play to end a 1 point game and end a playoff series in NBA history

When I saw him do that live I just shook my head at his genius.