There are great performances in the NBA Finals, there are legendary performances there and then there is the one Magic Johnson had on May 16, 1980.
The Los Angeles Lakers were engaged in a terrific and classic matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers for the world championship. After Julius Erving and crew tied the series at 2-2, the two squads headed back to L.A. for the pivotal fifth game.
At The Forum, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 40 points and the game-winning shot in Game 5, but he sprained his ankle and was unable to make the trip back east for Game 6.
Was the old Lakers jinx from the 1960s and 1970s coming back to haunt this iteration of the Purple and Gold?
Abdul-Jabbar wasn’t just the league MVP that year, but he was also the game’s most dominant player at the time, and one could make a strong argument that he is still the greatest player in basketball history.
Lakers coach Paul Westhead asked Johnson to play some center in Game 6 and told him he would need to spring loose and be more of a scorer. Johnson happily complied, saying that he had played center just a few years ago – in high school.
The team thought it was going to Philly merely to compete, and that a Game 7 back in L.A. was pretty much an inevitability. But would Abdul-Jabbar be able to play in that contest?
Instead, Johnson stepped into the center position for the opening jump ball, played all five positions at one point or another and scored 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists as the Lakers won it all, 123-107.
In about three years, Johnson had won a state championship in his native Michigan, a national championship at Michigan State University and now an NBA world championship, not to mention the Finals MVP.
His Game 6 performance was likely the greatest single game any human being has ever played in NBA history, given the totality of the circumstances.
It gave birth to the concept and ethos of Showtime, as well as the era of basketball that forever defined Lakers mystique and the team’s brand.