Easier said than done obviously but shit…ignore the ball and his eyes.

[Kblaze8855]

Guard his jersey or he will **** you up every time.


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Sure he was more nimble and athletic than he appeared but even when he was old fat Magic(Fagic? Probably not ok) he was faking his way right past people:




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I know years of him finding the open man conditioned people to buy the pass fake but know what I say about that open man?


**** em(**** em **** em
….even if he celibate). Give the open man a jumper before you give up the layup.

I say that knowing human instinct doesn’t work that way and that if it did things like Dwyane Wades pump fake would have eventually stopped working….but still. I don’t fully accept that you can’t coach that out of someone. And I say that having personally fallen for 300 pass fakes from people who also came up watching Magic Johnson.

[Airupthere]

The first gif is sick. The defender was already at the right spot and Magic was still able to manipulate him to move to the wrong direction.

Secondly, kblaze this is the second thread where you seem to have slipped in some gifs that take either a subtle jab at MJ or to silently instigate and provide ammunition to get the branstans going. You sly dog.

[Akeem34TheDream]

Fat Magic looks like Shaq out there

[Kblaze8855]

Speaking of Wade had anyone with a less reliable jumper ever had such an effective pump fake?


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Not to say Wade couldn’t shoot but he had an all time elite pump fake without the jumper on the same level. For a while Kirk Hinrich defended him better than anyone just off almost never leaving his feet.

[Kblaze8855]

The first gif is sick. The defender was already at the right spot and Magic was still able to manipulate him to move to the wrong direction.

Secondly, kblaze this is the second thread where you seem to have slipped in some gifs that take either a subtle jab at MJ or to silently instigate and provide ammunition to get the branstans going. You sly dog.


Believe it or not my ultimate point was going to be about both Magic and Wade….and to say….


Im pretty sure Magic and Wade win more than 2 titles in those 4 years.

Id bet anything they win 2011.

Wade extends his primary scorer years, Bosh gets 2-3 bucks a game he wouldn’t deserve from Magic, and I think it makes up for the lesser defense and outside shooting.

Some people just make teams click. Magic is one of them and that team could have used one.

[Kblaze8855]

I never get tired of watching the completely over the top things he did in the break to freeze people


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[Kblaze8855]

I really never understood how Magic had haters in his day. Opposing teams with a rivalry sure. But just unaffected fans?


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He should be on the unhateable list.

[RogueBorg]

Best PG ever

[r0drig0lac]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GrotesquePalatableKarakul-size_restricted.gif good lord

[Kblaze8855]

Leaves you wondering what happened doesn’t it? I’m still not entirely sure if it went behind his back or not.

[Kblaze8855]

Lamelo gave me some Magic feels on this one:

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[ArbitraryWater]

Speaking of Wade had anyone with a less reliable jumper ever had such an effective pump fake?


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Not to say Wade couldn’t shoot but he had an all time elite pump fake without the jumper on the same level. For a while Kirk Hinrich defended him better than anyone just off almost never leaving his feet.

that one was always a mystery


his pump got EVERYONE

meanwhile kobe had a shitty ass pump

[TheCorporation]

The same Magic that has only scored above 22 ppg ONCE for an entire playoffs?

[La Frescobaldi]

The same Magic that has only scored above 22 ppg ONCE for an entire playoffs?

Averaged 11 assists per game and more than 12 apg in the playoffs.
Kblaze is correct but doesn’t go far enough. Replace james with johnson & Heat win four. Straight up. Mavs lose. Those Spurs teams can’t compete with Magic Johnson on that Heat team.
He led teams better than any guard ever.
No matter what NBA team I’m running, I’m taking Magic Johnson ten times out of ten over any player since 2000.

[aj1987]

Averaged 11 assists per game and more than 12 apg in the playoffs.
Kblaze is correct but doesn’t go far enough. Replace james with johnson & Heat win four. Straight up. Mavs lose. Those Spurs teams can’t compete with Magic Johnson on that Heat team.
He led teams better than any guard ever.
No matter what NBA team I’m running, I’m taking Magic Johnson ten times out of ten over any player since 2000.

This is a really really dumb post. You do know that Magic has to play on the other end as well, right? LeBron's defense was one of the reasons why Miami was an elite defensive team and they won. Magic is mediocre on that end. Would be fun watching Magic trying to guard Rose. Miami's trapping style defense worked because of LeBron. They're not making the Finals for sure in '11 or '12. Don't see them beating the Spurs in '13 with an injured Wade. They get wrecked even worse in '14, as defense was Miami's biggest problem and not offense.

Magic wouldn't work on a lot of teams, which needed their best player to be a defensive anchor as well.

[La Frescobaldi]

This is a really really dumb post. You do know that Magic has to play on the other end as well, right? LeBron's defense was one of the reasons why Miami was an elite defensive team and they won. Magic is mediocre on that end. Would be fun watching Magic trying to guard Rose. Miami's trapping style defense worked because of LeBron. They're not making the Finals for sure in '11 or '12. Don't see them beating the Spurs in '13 with an injured Wade. They get wrecked even worse in '14, as defense was Miami's biggest problem and not offense.

Magic wouldn't work on a lot of teams, which needed their best player to be a defensive anchor as well.

Every single player since 2000.

[aj1987]

Every single player since 2000.
This is a really really dumb post. You do know that Magic has to play on the other end as well, right? LeBron's defense was one of the reasons why Miami was an elite defensive team and they won. Magic is mediocre on that end. Would be fun watching Magic trying to guard Rose. Miami's trapping style defense worked because of LeBron. They're not making the Finals for sure in '11 or '12. Don't see them beating the Spurs in '13 with an injured Wade. They get wrecked even worse in '14, as defense was Miami's biggest problem and not offense.

Magic wouldn't work on a lot of teams, which needed their best player to be a defensive anchor as well.

[La Frescobaldi]

This is a really really dumb post. You do know that Magic has to play on the other end as well, right? LeBron's defense was one of the reasons why Miami was an elite defensive team and they won. Magic is mediocre on that end. Would be fun watching Magic trying to guard Rose. Miami's trapping style defense worked because of LeBron. They're not making the Finals for sure in '11 or '12. Don't see them beating the Spurs in '13 with an injured Wade. They get wrecked even worse in '14, as defense was Miami's biggest problem and not offense.

Magic wouldn't work on a lot of teams, which needed their best player to be a defensive anchor as well.

All of them. Including the guy you’re on here defending pretty much frantically.

[Im so nba'd out]

My favorite player that I never got to see him play. I didn’t respect magic until my friend use to beat my ass in 2k over and over with him on like a 40 game win streak vs me. Made me look up none the less to say. Then I fell his love with his game from highlights

[aj1987]

All of them. Including the guy you’re on here defending pretty much frantically.

This is a really really dumb post. You do know that Magic has to play on the other end as well, right? LeBron's defense was one of the reasons why Miami was an elite defensive team and they won. Magic is mediocre on that end. Would be fun watching Magic trying to guard Rose. Miami's trapping style defense worked because of LeBron. They're not making the Finals for sure in '11 or '12. Don't see them beating the Spurs in '13 with an injured Wade. They get wrecked even worse in '14, as defense was Miami's biggest problem and not offense.

Magic wouldn't work on a lot of teams, which needed their best player to be a defensive anchor as well.

[Kblaze8855]

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The unhateable one.

[j3lademaster]

that one was always a mystery


his pump got EVERYONE

meanwhile kobe had a shitty ass pumpYou can't be serious.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZnYJ3-R0c He's giving the business to premiere perimeter defenders like Kawhi, Raja Bell, Sef, AK47

[j3lademaster]

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The unhateable one.Unfortunately I wasn't there to actually see the man in his prime, but I can definitely see why the nickname suits him. I imagine playing against him in real time game speed the ball is literally disappearing in front of your eyes as he leaves you there looking stupid.

[eliteballer]

Look at Magic and Bird's head to head Finals stats, with the knowledge that he was actually 3 years younger than Bird and tell me Bird was better.

[bullettooth]

Speaking of Wade had anyone with a less reliable jumper ever had such an effective pump fake?


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Not to say Wade couldn’t shoot but he had an all time elite pump fake without the jumper on the same level. For a while Kirk Hinrich defended him better than anyone just off almost never leaving his feet.

**** Wade. Guy was a ref baiting POS. That jumping into the defender garbage was effectively cheating.

[Kblaze8855]

Look at Magic and Bird's head to head Finals stats, with the knowledge that he was actually 3 years younger than Bird and tell me Bird was better.

That isn’t a valid way to rank anyone much less those two. Besides the great majority of people watching them felt he was better. None of the serious basketball fans around me back then thought Magic was better and I lived a thousand miles from both fanbases.

I did know kids who had Magic though. Some people we would call casuals these days. But the real ball fans? Including the ex nba player? Bird was more respected.

[Stephonit]

Look at Magic and Bird's head to head Finals stats, with the knowledge that he was actually 3 years younger than Bird and tell me Bird was better.

Look at Bird's and Magic's paths to the finals and tell me who you think would be more drained getting there.

[Axe]

Look at Magic and Bird's head to head Finals stats, with the knowledge that he was actually 3 years younger than Bird and tell me Bird was better.
With kareem or without kareem?

[eliteballer]

With kareem or without kareem?


You talking about near 40 years old Kareem?

He was still good, not the 6 time MVP.

[mr4speed]

Look at Magic and Bird's head to head Finals stats, with the knowledge that he was actually 3 years younger than Bird and tell me Bird was better.
Bird was better in 84 and Magic was better in 87 and in 85 it was a virtual tie and the difference in 85 was Kareem. Now look at the roster and injuries and tell me who had the better team? ( IMO LA) And which team had the easier path to the Finals? (IMO LA).

[eliteballer]

You guys don't realize the gap in their head to head Finals production...

[Kblaze8855]

You guys don't realize the gap in their head to head Finals production...


You mistake it with simply not caring.

Nobody much cares now nor did anyone care then.

[mr4speed]

You guys don't realize the gap in their head to head Finals production...
Here is a quick measure for Magic and Bird in the 85 Finals. Add up the per game of points, reb, assists, steals and blocks, and then subtract turnovers per game. Magic was at 37.97 and Bird was at 37.94 = an almost identical number. Magic had a drop in his shooting percentage ( from the regular season) of 6.7% and Bird had a drop of 7.3% again an almost identical number. The best player was clearly Kareem, who after having a terrible game one, put up a per game in the next 5 games of 28.4 points, 10.2 reb and 6.0 assists on 61% shooting. Bird FMVP in 84, Magic FMVP in 87 and Kareem FMVP in 85 = that is in a nutshell how the 3 Finals went.

[eliteballer]

Here is a quick measure for Magic and Bird in the 85 Finals. Add up the per game of points, reb, assists, steals and blocks, and then subtract turnovers per game. Magic was at 37.97 and Bird was at 37.94 = an almost identical number. Magic had a drop in his shooting percentage ( from the regular season) of 6.7% and Bird had a drop of 7.3% again an almost identical number. The best player was clearly Kareem, who after having a terrible game one, put up a per game in the next 5 games of 28.4 points, 10.2 reb and 6.0 assists on 61% shooting. Bird FMVP in 84, Magic FMVP in 87 and Kareem FMVP in 85 = that is in a nutshell how the 3 Finals went.

Here are the numbers:


Magic Johnson 20.7 PTS 7.5 REB 13.5 AST 53.3 FG% 40.0 3PT% 83.8 FT%

Larry Bird 25.3 PTS 11.1 REB 4.6 AST 46.0 FG% 47.8 3PT% 86.4 FT%

Magic has major edges in efficiency and assists, averaged more steals too.

This was also partially pre-peak Magic vs fully Peak Bird.

[Kblaze8855]

Those are some similar ass numbers for you to be making such a big deal of them, especially when both of these people are among the worst players to judge by numbers in the history of the game.

[eliteballer]

Those are some similar ass numbers for you to be making such a big deal of them, especially when both of these people are among the worst players to judge by numbers in the history of the game.

They aren't similar with the massive gap in assists.

[Kblaze8855]

Pretty similar. I expected an actual gap. Magic having more assists just means it’s Magic compared to someone else.

He had more assists this game when he forgot how to play basketball and dribbled out the clock and lost:

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Also had more in this one 2 games later where his 17 dimes didn’t keep Larry from hitting the game winner in his face:


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He had a bunch of assists most of that finals as he personally threw away like 3 games and earned the “Tragic” nickname and was left crying on a hotel mattress in front of Mark Aguirre and Isiah as Bird took the ring and finals mvp.

We on here talking numbers 40 years later…

I don’t care if you want Magic or Bird but we both remember Bird was more respected and whatever numbers you think make the case against it the people watching didn’t care about then and I don’t care about now.

Magic and Bird weren’t numbers to begin with.

Cuttino Mobley was his numbers.

Magic and Bird were forces of nature.

[eliteballer]

Couple things...

1. I can go and nitpick bad play from Bird too, but it's about overall production.

2. More importantly, all you're doing is reiterating my point that this wasn't generally Magic at his best/peak. Like I said Magic came into the league at 20 and Bird 23. Imagine if this was 87 or 88 through 1989 or 1990 Magic instead of 84-87. The gap would be bigger..

[Kblaze8855]

If I wanted to nitpick, id just post it quite a few of the ridiculous late game turnovers that directly lost them that finals. I already have them prepared from a discussion years ago, but I wasn’t looking to be anti-Magic which this topic should make clear. Just showing that no matter how many times you wanna say it the production difference(small as it is) doesn’t actually matter. Magic was putting up tremendous statistical games while straight up losing his team the finals. You’re talking about the assist difference in games he personally lost and isn’t over even 40 years later. Magic himself would tell you he’s ashamed of some of the very games you’re talking about numbers from.

Dont go all Lebron fan talking 2014 averages.

That shit doesn’t matter.

I genuinely don’t need to see the numbers for either of those players most of the time, especially if I’m trying to accurately gauge how good they were. The numbers are…whatever. I’ll look at them but they don’t tell the story for guys like them.

And like I said the very same people watching them didn’t have trouble deciding who was best. NBA coaches had Larry Bird as the best player in basketball history in his first and second season. Magic never caught Larry in the eyes of most till Larry was almost done. While all the numbers you post were being put up all but a loud minority had Bird as the best. So why talk about them now?

Nobody gave a shit then. It doesn’t decide anything at all much as you would like it to.