Said the same on a Bird passing video...we were definitely desensitized to how good of a passer these guys were. When they got older and we saw these absolutely insane passes all the time it was almost expected....but NOBODY passes like this!! The players may be more athletic these days but NOBODY has this kind of court awareness consistently! Im so happy I can watch these old highlights, especially thru this virus its really helping pass the time with a smile! Thank you Magic
ABSOLUTELY, during Magic's 1st 10 seconds as a Laker, I went to every game played with the home team (Washington Bullets/Wizards). Never did I leave that arena disappointed. He was always coming up with another ooo/aah in his bag of tricks. Lakers 4ever💜💛💜
Same, I grew up watching Magic, but some people think Magic only passed the ball, not true, when his teammates for some reason weren't hitting their shots or he needed to take over the game Magic would do that too, he was simply the Magic Man to us fans.
In Magics 1st yr , Before the Season Began , During Practice , they were Running the Fast-break and Magic Passed the Ball to one of his Mates , not Expecting the Pass , it Bounced off His Chest , Then Magic Told Everyone , " OK From Now On , When Were Running , Be Ready for My Pass to You , or Anyone on the Floor ", This was All New to Everyone , including the Fans and Magic's Team Mates , the Speed , Flexibly , the Wraparound , the Unpredictability of Were the Next Pass Was Coming From , After Magic Warned Them , " It Was On From Then On " Show Time " , Magic's Teammates Did Good on Catching His Passes and Following Thru , Sometimes Like Standing There Waiting for a Bus , then Boom , the Ball Is Rite in Your Chest under the Basket , Assist Man at His Best to Get His Teammates Involved, the " MAGIC MAN "
I love that these are all real assists that lead straight to a bucket. None of the “assists” today where a player passes to the wing and the player takes 3 dribbles and does a step back. That’s not a real assist. Magic’s passes led directly to a basket
Magic 🎩Johnson was the original 6 feet 8 inches point guard ;& pat Riley his coachn;; showtime/ fastbreak offense;; ;; LeBron James like another magic;; machiel Jordan vs kobe Bryant;; machiel Jordan was like moviestar/ nba basketball with commercials etc etc ;; machiel Jordan had a higher scoring average his best nba xeason ;; ; just did score 91 points :: LeBron James era 6 feel 8 inches point guard was not new anymore
And on top of Admin-level passing Magic would give you 18-25 points and 6-12 boards a game. He’d also guard centers and power forwards for good measure. Simply the greatest.
He didnt guard the PFs and lesser centers for good meaasure...he did it because he was often a liability on defense...with all due respect altho Magic was the best passer and imho the best PG of alltime and is 1 of the 3 most important if not greatest players in league history, he wasnt a good defender at all...he was tall and strong enough to put in front of a big man defensively but he wasnt shutting any1 down and was a defensive liability some if not most of the time...He admitted in his autobiography that he was giving up about 40ppg to whoever he was guarding from 1 night 2 to the next during his rookie yr...Magic also admitted during the HBO documentary "Kareem: A Minority of 1" that Kareem helped compensate for Magics defensive shortcomings...The 1989 Detroit Pistons in game 1 of the finals their offensive gameplan during a significant portion of that game was to have whomever Magic was guarding from 1 play2the next do the scoring...At 1 point during that game the Pistons hit 13FGs in a row while doing so, and they blew the Lakers out... Defense is the reason why Bird was a better player when comparing each at their peaks...At his peak and while healthy Bird was a relatively good if not a very good defensive player...People dont realize/know L.Bird career stats he actually avgd slightly more steals per game and slightly more blocked shots per game than Lebron James averages for his career...Magic led the league in steals a few times early on but was always kind of a flat footed defender, was nowhere near the shotblocker that Bird was while healthy... Magic avgd 0.2 more steals per game than Larry avgd, but Bird avgd twice as many bocked shots per game as Magic avgd....Magic avgd significantly more TOs per game also... Magic won 2outta 3 of their head2head finals battles and more championships than Bird because Magic played with Kareem and the Lakers who generally stayed healthy and recovered from the few injuries they were set back by at times...Magic injured his knee in 81 Worthy was lost to an injury as a rookie in 83 and altho on each occasion they ultimately lost in the playoffs that yr both players fully recovered from those injuries and became better players afterwards for many yrs, whereas Birds back and body absolutely broke down on him and increasingly limited his ability to compete, and McHale broke his foot in 87 after achieving legit league MVP candidate status for the only time in his career and then after playing an entire postseason on his broken foot was never quite the same MVP caliber force hed only just ascended to in 87...I mentioned playing with Kareem...The fact is Magic wasnt even the best player on the Lakers until more than halfway thru his career...It wasnt until about the 1986-87reg season that Pat Riley had Kareem hand the keys over to Earvin...Magic was a better passer and ball handler than Bird but Bird was a far better rebounder, scorer/shooter/post player, and defender. Unlike Magic, Larry was always the best player on his team...Magic only won 2championships as his teams best player-same as Kobe...Bird won 3of em. Birds Celtics were besieged by injury and horrid luck after 1986...Both the Lakers and Celtics during the 80s at 1 pt won the NBA championship and then got to select the 1st player in the draft a few weeks later...The Lakers won the 1982NBA finals then drafted Worthy and altho he got injured as a rookie and they got swept by Philly in the 83finals without him, he came back healthy in 1984 and by 1988 had steadily ascended into his prime, helping the Lakers compensate for Kareems decline and winning bak2bak titles while earning the 1988finals MVP award...The Celtics meanwhile won the 1986 NBA finals then had the 1st pick in the draft like LA had 4yrs earlier, but they drafted Len Bias, a player pundits to this day compare to M.Jordan...He died b4 playing a game and then Bill Walton and Scott Wedman suffered career ending injuries while McHale-who might have been able to compensate for the decline due to Waltons and Wedmans absences breaks his foot at the tail end of the 87reg season and due initially to a repeated misdiagnosis by team doctors plays the 1987postseason with that broken foot and was never the same player again even if not esp during that 1987postseason...Bird already had back problems had just won 3consecutive league MVP awards and was now being asked to carry an even greater load at a time when he needed his suporting cast to at least carry their own weight...They had no bench once they lost Walton and Wedman...Waltons injury was sheer bad luck...He broke it riding a stationary bicycle and it was the other foot that got broken not the foot hed previously broken and then spent about 8yrs nursing back to health while missing games due to...Birds back injury also wasnt caused by basketball he blew his back out digging fencepost holes in his mothers yard during the 1985 offseason...Just in case any1 still wants to disagree about bad luck the best player they drafted after Len Bias-Reggie Lewis, who once blocked 4M.Jordan shots in a single game, also dropped dead unexpectedly...Magic on the other hand contracted a virulent disease that we all thought was a death sentence at the time he announced he had it, and 31yrs later is actually significantly healthier than Larry Bird, who had to have spinal fusion surgery and also deals with some kinda heart condition. Not complaining because I love Magic and am eternally grateful to see him doing well25yrs after I expected to see his televised funeral, but it is worth pointing out that unforseeable luck-good and bad-is perhaps the most noteworthy factor in how their legacies and lives have played out...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that I’m gonna hear from all the Air Jordan-greatest of all time truthers out there that will never change their minds, or have a different opinion,…But Magic Johnson in my opinion is the greatest basketball player of all time!
NOt only was Magic a show time passer, he always delivered the pass in perfect timing for the recipient. Just great, love watching these old videos. Lakers of 80's best of all time.
you had to have an announcer like the legendary Chick Hearns to call the play by play for a team like the Showtime Lakers. nobody else could talk fast enough!
I don't know...the GOAT discussion centers around Jordon, Kobe and Lebron, but the video clearly shows Magic Johnson was better at getting the whole team involved to win games and entertain us fans than the others. So much more fun to watch him too ..and I am admittedly an MJ fan.
4:30 min an none OR few pick and roll plays, all off ball movement plays and fast breaks post play Great basketball here cool video PD man Larry and magic dishes some amazing asistsx
Magic Johnson was a genius & in my opinion best passer of all time! But let’s give James Worthy credit aswel he knew what route to run, where to be at the right time & damn sure knew how to finish! #Showtime
He just gets you the rock when you're open & in a position to score. That's great to have on your team. It looks almost too easy on many occasions, somebody leaves his man to help out or doubleteam boom, ball gets to the man left unguarded, score. Really what any PG should do.
Magic is the greatest all time in my eyes because he made everyone around him better.. if you were good.. he made you great.. if it was impossible.. he made it possible!! And to me that is the true sign of greatness;to make everyone around you better.. to maximize the potential of what your team can do and he did that better than anybody to ever lace them up!! The goat!!💯💯💯💯💯
The epitome of Showtime; Magic doing his razzle dazzle and making a no look pass to Worthy for a fast swooping slam dunk with Chick Hearn (Chicky Baby) doing the play-by-play.
In those debates about assembling the greatest teams, I skip the brainstorming about player fit and skill and start with Magic Johnson. With Magic, who the other four guys are doesn't matter as much. Prime Magic would make the 2023 Rockets a problem in the West. He'd average 20 assists with those bunny hoppers. You've never seen a player in your life so skilled at being unselfish. If you truly appreciate that despite all the great and talented players, basketball is a TEAM sport, how does Magic Johnson not get the nod as the game's greatest player?
!["The Magic Man" Magic Johnson mix (made by NPZ) [ULTIMATE MIX]](/img/n.gif)
Said the same on a Bird passing video...we were definitely desensitized to how good of a passer these guys were. When they got older and we saw these absolutely insane passes all the time it was almost expected....but NOBODY passes like this!! The players may be more athletic these days but NOBODY has this kind of court awareness consistently! Im so happy I can watch these old highlights, especially thru this virus its really helping pass the time with a smile! Thank you Magic
This is a pure legend: quality 10/10, intelligence, physical advantage over guards, unselfish-minded tactics... and the best player ever to watch.
ABSOLUTELY, during Magic's 1st 10 seconds as a Laker, I went to every game played with the home team (Washington Bullets/Wizards). Never did I leave that arena disappointed. He was always coming up with another ooo/aah in his bag of tricks. Lakers 4ever💜💛💜
Oops it should have read "his first 10 seasons"
My All-time favorite player, and I was lucky to grow up when I could see him on TV every once in awhile in the 80s....
Same, I grew up watching Magic, but some people think Magic only passed the ball, not true, when his teammates for some reason weren't hitting their shots or he needed to take over the game Magic would do that too, he was simply the Magic Man to us fans.
He is my favorite Laker, 2!
@@vtownboxingfan exactly
Magic Johnson - the real GOAT....
The Magic Man!
In Magics 1st yr , Before the Season Began , During Practice , they were Running the Fast-break and Magic Passed the Ball to one of his Mates , not Expecting the Pass , it Bounced off His Chest , Then Magic Told Everyone , " OK From Now On , When Were Running , Be Ready for My Pass to You , or Anyone on the Floor ", This was All New to Everyone , including the Fans and Magic's Team Mates , the Speed , Flexibly , the Wraparound , the Unpredictability of Were the Next Pass Was Coming From , After Magic Warned Them , " It Was On From Then On " Show Time " , Magic's Teammates Did Good on Catching His Passes and Following Thru , Sometimes Like Standing There Waiting for a Bus , then Boom , the Ball Is Rite in Your Chest under the Basket , Assist Man at His Best to Get His Teammates Involved, the " MAGIC MAN "
Yeah.. there was no one like him before and no one like him since. A true living sports God.
I love that these are all real assists that lead straight to a bucket. None of the “assists” today where a player passes to the wing and the player takes 3 dribbles and does a step back. That’s not a real assist. Magic’s passes led directly to a basket
We already have another Jordan call Kobe, but you will never have another Magic!
You are right, and also with his charisma
That is indeed true, the goat for sure in that respect.
Dave Ton Penny Hardway would have been the next Magic Johnson with more athleticism!!!!!
@@dwightlove3704 lol.. even Penny hiimself would laugh at that.
Magic 🎩Johnson was the original 6 feet 8 inches point guard ;& pat Riley his coachn;; showtime/ fastbreak offense;; ;; LeBron James like another magic;; machiel Jordan vs kobe Bryant;; machiel Jordan was like moviestar/ nba basketball with commercials etc etc ;; machiel Jordan had a higher scoring average his best nba xeason ;; ; just did score 91 points :: LeBron James era 6 feel 8 inches point guard was not new anymore
And on top of Admin-level passing Magic would give you 18-25 points and 6-12 boards a game. He’d also guard centers and power forwards for good measure. Simply the greatest.
He didnt guard the PFs and lesser centers for good meaasure...he did it because he was often a liability on defense...with all due respect altho Magic was the best passer and imho the best PG of alltime and is 1 of the 3 most important if not greatest players in league history, he wasnt a good defender at all...he was tall and strong enough to put in front of a big man defensively but he wasnt shutting any1 down and was a defensive liability some if not most of the time...He admitted in his autobiography that he was giving up about 40ppg to whoever he was guarding from 1 night 2 to the next during his rookie yr...Magic also admitted during the HBO documentary "Kareem: A Minority of 1" that Kareem helped compensate for Magics defensive shortcomings...The 1989 Detroit Pistons in game 1 of the finals their offensive gameplan during a significant portion of that game was to have whomever Magic was guarding from 1 play2the next do the scoring...At 1 point during that game the Pistons hit 13FGs in a row while doing so, and they blew the Lakers out...
Defense is the reason why Bird was a better player when comparing each at their peaks...At his peak and while healthy Bird was a relatively good if not a very good defensive player...People dont realize/know L.Bird career stats he actually avgd slightly more steals per game and slightly more blocked shots per game than Lebron James averages for his career...Magic led the league in steals a few times early on but was always kind of a flat footed defender, was nowhere near the shotblocker that Bird was while healthy... Magic avgd 0.2 more steals per game than Larry avgd, but Bird avgd twice as many bocked shots per game as Magic avgd....Magic avgd significantly more TOs per game also...
Magic won 2outta 3 of their head2head finals battles and more championships than Bird because Magic played with Kareem and the Lakers who generally stayed healthy and recovered from the few injuries they were set back by at times...Magic injured his knee in 81 Worthy was lost to an injury as a rookie in 83 and altho on each occasion they ultimately lost in the playoffs that yr both players fully recovered from those injuries and became better players afterwards for many yrs, whereas Birds back and body absolutely broke down on him and increasingly limited his ability to compete, and McHale broke his foot in 87 after achieving legit league MVP candidate status for the only time in his career and then after playing an entire postseason on his broken foot was never quite the same MVP caliber force hed only just ascended to in 87...I mentioned playing with Kareem...The fact is Magic wasnt even the best player on the Lakers until more than halfway thru his career...It wasnt until about the 1986-87reg season that Pat Riley had Kareem hand the keys over to Earvin...Magic was a better passer and ball handler than Bird but Bird was a far better rebounder, scorer/shooter/post player, and defender. Unlike Magic, Larry was always the best player on his team...Magic only won 2championships as his teams best player-same as Kobe...Bird won 3of em.
Birds Celtics were besieged by injury and horrid luck after 1986...Both the Lakers and Celtics during the 80s at 1 pt won the NBA championship and then got to select the 1st player in the draft a few weeks later...The Lakers won the 1982NBA finals then drafted Worthy and altho he got injured as a rookie and they got swept by Philly in the 83finals without him, he came back healthy in 1984 and by 1988 had steadily ascended into his prime, helping the Lakers compensate for Kareems decline and winning bak2bak titles while earning the 1988finals MVP award...The Celtics meanwhile won the 1986 NBA finals then had the 1st pick in the draft like LA had 4yrs earlier, but they drafted Len Bias, a player pundits to this day compare to M.Jordan...He died b4 playing a game and then Bill Walton and Scott Wedman suffered career ending injuries while McHale-who might have been able to compensate for the decline due to Waltons and Wedmans absences breaks his foot at the tail end of the 87reg season and due initially to a repeated misdiagnosis by team doctors plays the 1987postseason with that broken foot and was never the same player again even if not esp during that 1987postseason...Bird already had back problems had just won 3consecutive league MVP awards and was now being asked to carry an even greater load at a time when he needed his suporting cast to at least carry their own weight...They had no bench once they lost Walton and Wedman...Waltons injury was sheer bad luck...He broke it riding a stationary bicycle and it was the other foot that got broken not the foot hed previously broken and then spent about 8yrs nursing back to health while missing games due to...Birds back injury also wasnt caused by basketball he blew his back out digging fencepost holes in his mothers yard during the 1985 offseason...Just in case any1 still wants to disagree about bad luck the best player they drafted after Len Bias-Reggie Lewis, who once blocked 4M.Jordan shots in a single game, also dropped dead unexpectedly...Magic on the other hand contracted a virulent disease that we all thought was a death sentence at the time he announced he had it, and 31yrs later is actually significantly healthier than Larry Bird, who had to have spinal fusion surgery and also deals with some kinda heart condition. Not complaining because I love Magic and am eternally grateful to see him doing well25yrs after I expected to see his televised funeral, but it is worth pointing out that unforseeable luck-good and bad-is perhaps the most noteworthy factor in how their legacies and lives have played out...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that I’m gonna hear from all the Air Jordan-greatest of all time truthers out there that will never change their minds, or have a different opinion,…But Magic Johnson in my opinion is the greatest basketball player of all time!
💯!!!
I totally agree 💯
All day, every day
Magic, himself is one of those truthers🤷♂️
NOt only was Magic a show time passer, he always delivered the pass in perfect timing for the recipient. Just great, love watching these old videos. Lakers of 80's best of all time.
I like rivalry BIRD & MAGIC from media stand point of view. They were unique each in their own way. I liked an will like both of them.
This is such a tiny sample of all the funky passes that he did from a few select games. There are literally thousands more.
Every game, every quarter.
M.J. is the best guard in the NBA. He's truly no selfish. Been Lakers fan 38 years !!!!
The sense of timing, the catchable quality of the passes on the run...genius.
Lakers were a pinball machine with Magic Johnson running the point.
you had to have an announcer like the legendary Chick Hearns to call the play by play for a team like the Showtime Lakers. nobody else could talk fast enough!
EARVIN MAGIC JOHNSON passing genius is really a phenomenal beauty the purity of it really seems like it is a gift from GOD!
I don't know...the GOAT discussion centers around Jordon, Kobe and Lebron, but the video clearly shows Magic Johnson was better at getting the whole team involved to win games and entertain us fans than the others. So much more fun to watch him too ..and I am admittedly an MJ fan.
That's right and he could get u buckets and score clutch shots when the team needed it.32 the best all around@
Now this is what I'm talking about!!! Pizzazz!
Happy 60th birthday, Magic!
4:30 min an none OR few pick and roll plays, all off ball movement plays and fast breaks post play Great basketball here cool video
PD man Larry and magic dishes some amazing asistsx
Best nickname in any sport ever
RIP Chic Hearns
Magic Johnson Was A Great NBA Passer Like Bob Cousy .
Magic would have been a good if not amazing quarterback...think about it
GREATES BBIQ of all time, Magic
Showtime!
I miss those days. We'd be down by 20 at haltime and up by 10 at the end of the 3rd.
Only 57k yall youngsters who want to be a pgs should watch this. Facts of ball life.
Zo gonna learn alot
Lebron in the 80’s
THE BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME ,AFTER JORDAN.........JORDAN FIRST , MAGIK SECOND !!!!
I would switch, but that’s cool too
Magic Johnson was a genius & in my opinion best passer of all time! But let’s give James Worthy credit aswel he knew what route to run, where to be at the right time & damn sure knew how to finish! #Showtime
Worthy was Magic's deadliest weapon on the Showtime Lakers' Fast Break; one of the finest finishers ever.
Big Game had great hands.
Of course it is team game and Magic was the best a team ball.Greatest team player ever@
best passer ever
He just gets you the rock when you're open & in a position to score. That's great to have on your team. It looks almost too easy on many occasions, somebody leaves his man to help out or doubleteam boom, ball gets to the man left unguarded, score.
Really what any PG should do.
3:30
A switch handed no look over the shoulder pass
How in the flying hell did he pull that off?
Magic is the greatest all time in my eyes because he made everyone around him better.. if you were good.. he made you great.. if it was impossible.. he made it possible!! And to me that is the true sign of greatness;to make everyone around you better.. to maximize the potential of what your team can do and he did that better than anybody to ever lace them up!! The goat!!💯💯💯💯💯
The epitome of Showtime; Magic doing his razzle dazzle and making a no look pass to Worthy for a fast swooping slam dunk with Chick Hearn (Chicky Baby) doing the play-by-play.
In those debates about assembling the greatest teams, I skip the brainstorming about player fit and skill and start with Magic Johnson. With Magic, who the other four guys are doesn't matter as much.
Prime Magic would make the 2023 Rockets a problem in the West. He'd average 20 assists with those bunny hoppers.
You've never seen a player in your life so skilled at being unselfish.
If you truly appreciate that despite all the great and talented players, basketball is a TEAM sport, how does Magic Johnson not get the nod as the game's greatest player?
great hearing Chick Hearn announcing. He was as a big a Laker as any of them.
Jesus Loves you and wants you to accept him as your Lord and saviour
Magic could have easily averaged 30 points if he wanted to. Be he was a passer first. Still the Goat
It’s crazy they all look wide out
Imagine Magic playing point for warriors no Green.. surrounded by shooters!