Original subtitles

Tonight it'll be game number six.

The Lakers against the 76ers. The Lakers going without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,

still in Los Angeles taking treatment for that sprained ankle.

I told Coach Westhead-- I said, "Let me play center."

"They're not gonna know what's gonna come at 'em."

He said, "I played center in high school," which was only, like, two years ago.

He's gonna play smack-dab in the middle right from the start.

He is our offensive center.

The big one tonight, game six.

Lakers can win it all, or we go to a seventh game at the Forum on Sunday.

You are looking live at the sold-out crowd

at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

I think that Magic's gonna jump.

Philadelphia is gonna have

a hard time defensively in who's gonna guard who.

I talked to my father the night before, and I told him,

"Dad, I'ma go-- just go out here and play like I did in high school."

And he said, "All right. Well, go do your thing."

Here comes the 20-year-old rookie down the middle.

From the left-hand, Magic Johnson going inside on Julius.

Two quick assists and a field goal,

and Magic Johnson drives the Lakers to a six-point lead.

He was making everybody better. Jamaal Wilkes had a career-high 37.

Magic comes inside. Dishes one to Wilkes. Beautiful pass.

This is the best game I have ever seen Magic play.

Championship within reach.

Whip it inside to Magic. Check that pass.

There it is. It's over.

And the most valuable player is Magic Johnson.

Forty-two, 15 and seven.

The greatest performance, as far as I am concerned, in NBA Finals history.

We don't have to wonder about who he is anymore,

you know, or his value to the team. We know that now.

And I just said, "Man, this dude Earvin Johnson,

he's gonna be the greatest player of all time."

And here's the man of the hour, Magic Johnson.

Magic, there's a lot of ballplayers around who haven't made it this far

in a long career.

This is your first year, and you're here.

How many more of these would you like to get under your belt?

About 20.

And I want to present the world trophy

to the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jerry Buss, it's yours.

For my dad, it was overwhelming to him.

It was, you know, I think his proudest moment.

I'm excited. I'm just happy for everybody.

You wanted to buy a ball team. Look what you got.

A world champion. Would you believe it?

A world champion.

-Right. -It's just unbelievable.

Jerry Buss and I hugged each other and said, "Can you believe it?"

In our first year together we win the NBA championship.

They shared that moment, and that was intoxicating for both of them

because a star was born.

When we got home and the plane landed,

Kareem, the big fella, got on the plane with his cowboy hat.

Didn't even wait for your boy.

I got everything waiting for y'all, man.

-All the ladies, all the champagne. -For us.

Are you afraid that you might lose your job for next year?

Well, if I lose my job, I can always play guard,

and we'll just trade positions.

Why, after we won that championship, even Kareem kinda like, "Okay."

He knew Magic was gonna be our leader.

He's our new guy. He was Kareem and Magic put together.

We didn't set off to win the ch-- We just wanted to play good basketball.

But once we won that championship,

that changed the whole dynamic of what Laker basketball was about.

The first piece of merchandise I wanna show you is my Lakers championship trophy

that match my tattoo.

It has "Lakers" across the top of the ball because we own this motherfucker.

When the Lakers win a championship, this city has a different glow to it.

From the fan's standpoint and bringing them a championship

where everybody thought, here in LA at least, you know,

that this was gonna be very hard to do without Kareem.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson went in there and delivered

one of the most memorable games I have ever seen in my life.

I mean, everybody was in awe.

Magic! Magic! Magic!

You know, every once in a while, an athlete comes along who brings new life

and energy to a team and a sport.

Here is the rookie sensation Earvin "Magic" Johnson!

At only 20 years old, Earvin "Magic" Johnson

has not only captivated

the city of Los Angeles but has boosted the Lakers morale

along with the team's box office figures.

You're a celebrity in this town.

My hero.

It was one of those star-studded Hollywood premieres.

And towering over stars and admirers alike was Earvin Johnson,

known as Magic, a man-child in the promised land.

The instantaneous success, celebrity endorsements,

you know, all of those things-- Money came to us quickly,

you know, when Magic showed up.

Magic Johnson, yeah.

Came to Earvin too.

Who's Earvin Johnson?

Who is Earvin Johnson?

Never heard of her.

Who is she?

When you have a name like Magic, you gotta succeed.

And so this whole transformation began

when Dr. Buss realized, the key to everything was Magic Johnson.

And Jerry used to take him with him a lot of places

like his beautiful diamond ring.

"Here's my big great basketball player. I want to show him off."

We went to Disneyland and he saw, "This is the Magic Kingdom."

Then he said, "They didn't have to do that."

If you're Dr. Buss, of course you're gonna gravitate to Magic Johnson.

Magic has taken Los Angeles by storm.

Eight million that live in the Southern California area idolize this man.

You're making me money. You're elevating my popularity.

You're taking this Lakers brand to another level.

I'd be a fool not to cultivate a relationship with you.

The Los Angeles Lakers have given him a new contract

covering 25 years,

far beyond his playing career, for a reported $25 million.

That much? Twenty-five years?

The contract that left the athletic world gasping

was the one Magic signed with the Lakers,

making him the highest-paid professional athlete in the world.

Who is this guy?

How long has he played? What has he done?

It certainly made headlines, which is the way my dad likes to do things.

There was chatter amongst the players, "What does this mean?"

We were all wondering if Earvin was a player or management.

When you get a contract like that, you're management.

Man, you… They've adopted you.

I think, you know, there was a little tension. Matter of fact,

I'd be lying if I said there was a little tension. There was a lot. It was big.

The Laker guys were not happy. Kareem was not happy.

And then we get to training camp and Coach Westhead decided to change all the plays.

I made some changes, and if that caused ruffles with the players,

then I can live with that.

The question flying around the Fabulous Forum

after Friday night's loss to Phoenix, "What's wrong with the Lakers?"

We weren't playing right.

We weren't utilizing our best asset which was our ability to run.

And Johnson has it with 19 seconds to go.

Every time Magic got the basketball and head down, Coach Westhead was on the side.

"Hold! Okay, and run this."

And Magic spent most of his time looking over his shoulder.

-Magic checks the clock. -Time-out!

Paul had his own ideas. Those ideas didn't work out as well for us.

So, you know, Magic started complaining about it.

So we're playing in Utah, and-- So Utah calls a time-out.

And I went to Coach and said, "Listen.

Everybody's frustrated because we're not performing well.

We're not shooting well. We're not playing well."

Coach Westhead turns to me. "Shut the hell up."

And I'm like shocked. Like, "What?"

Yeah, well. So, I'll give you my version.

Late in the game, at a time-out, he had drifted away.

Like, whatever you're saying, it's okay but, you know, I'm not here.

You know, right after the game,

he called Earvin into a private room across from the locker room.

And he just started, just, "I'm tired of your shit,

and I'm tired--" And…

I said, "Magic, this cannot happen again."

He barely said a word, like,

nodding that, like, basically, "Are you finished?"

I just can't take it no more, you know. So it's coming down to me or him.

Last night, after the game, Magic Johnson said

he was unable to play for Westhead any longer

and wanted to be traded.

I haven't been happy. I'm not happy.

I just, you know, wanted to get out the situation.

As soon as we landed, Jerry West and Dr. Buss told me to come in and see them.

Earvin talked to Jerry about it because they were so close.

And, "Jerry," he said, "we're going to make a change."

I came back to have a conversation with Jerry Buss

and tell him we need to discipline Earvin "Magic" Johnson right now.

So then I go in and see Buss, and he…

he tells me right away.

He didn't mix any words.

Paul Westhead has been fired as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers

after the team's star, Magic Johnson, said he wanted to be traded.

Dr. Jerry Buss insists he was not playing favorites

with his million-dollar player.

It really has nothing to do with that.

Buss went on to say

that Pat Riley will move from assistant to head coach.

You know, when Paul was fired, we were 7-3. And we were winning.

Did it ever come down to a situation where you told management,

-"Either he goes, or I go?" -No, I never told them that.

It was clear he had more power than me.

When the media blamed Earvin, Earvin became a villain.

Fans don't like what they call, you know, "coach killers."

You know, the-- And Magic got booed.

Starting for Los Angeles. At guard. From Michigan State.

Number 32. Magic Johnson.

My first game as the head coach,

Earvin was booed heavily when he got on the court.

Man. It was like nobody liked me.

"Don't speak to him. Don't say nothing to him."

All that. Man, it's like I didn't have a friend in the world.

And every time he got booed, I would say to him, "Just play harder.

Just play harder. Just show 'em. They'll forgive you."

Him and I bonded right away.

I said, "Okay. Then I'm gonna just have to play great."

When Coach Riley took over,

we just went back to emphasizing the fast break,

which is our best style of play, and we start to win again.

That's the time. The Lakers will be crowned champions.

And so, when we won the title again in 1982, it was electric.

Pat Riley allowed Magic to be Magic.

He allowed Magic to institute that showtime persona.

The magic has returned. The Lakers' image gleaming again.

Showtime.

And welcome to the Fabulous Forum.

I got to go to the Great Western Forum in Inglewood

one time before Earvin came to Hollywood.

It was a different building.

It was the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad, you know what I mean?

There will never be anything like the atmosphere of The Forum.

Showtime at The Forum meant, like, opening night at the biggest concert.

The amount of famous people that would come to the games

was jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring.

And you had a great owner, Dr. Buss, who consciously created this spectacle.

There may not be another sports franchise owner

who outwardly enjoys his lifestyle more than Jerry Buss.

The atmosphere that he wanted to create.

It was really melding of sports and entertainment.

His whole thing was changing things.

And he felt there had to be more besides us playing against our opponent.

Dancing Barry. Who thinks of that, you know?

Got the neck going like this.

When the team took a time-out, he wanted a dance team to entertain.

And he named them the Laker Girls.

I started my whole career becoming a Laker Girl.

Here was this brand-new team of dancers,

and I turned these girls into a real fierce dance squad.

And everyone knows Jack Nicholson was one of the most avid fans.

Whenever the Laker Girls had to go up and perform, he'd take out his binoculars.

It was all Dr. Buss's ideas.

Dr. Jerry Buss, he was like the Hugh Hefner of basketball.

Some people would say that

it's almost as if you made a Faustian deal with the devil

because everything seems so perfect. Is this a perfect lifestyle?

Well, I certainly enjoy it.

It was seducing. It was seductive. It was magical.

You're a winner on the court. Are you also a winner with the ladies?

And how's your sex life?

Have you thought about what it would be like

to play the heavy schedule that you do and get married?

Really, you're doing so much.

You just wanna come home to that one special lady.

I was living in Toledo at the time, working in fashion merchandising.

And he lived in Los Angeles.

You know, I had this dream, so I wanted to pursue that.

She was doing her thing, she was--

She was doing her career and doing her thing.

And we know how she felt. We knew her heart, and--

But we also know Earvin wasn't really going too far.

We-- 'Cause we knew Earvin knew what he had.

We were not together,

but we were still talking and staying in touch with each other.

It was just nice to be able to call and hear a friendly voice on the other end.

'Cause I, you know, I was still in love with him, of course.

But I kept thinking maybe we'll get back together.

And he was like, "Well, you ought to just come out here and visit."

I remember the first time I ever went to a game in LA,

and I remember sitting in the seat going, "Oh, my God."

I've never seen dresses so tight or so short.

Heels so high. Clothes so see-through.

I never saw that before. It was crazy.

For the most part, when I came to visit him,

we just quietly stayed in his apartment a lot.

Because I worked so hard,

I don't like to do nothing, you know, after I'm done.

So we don't have to go out somewhere to have a good time.

You know, when he was playing, he was very intense.

You know, being the top player on the Lakers,

and they were a very tight-knit unit.

Pat Riley's rules were that the family couldn't travel with the team

during the playoffs or during championships. The players would get fined

if one of their wives were caught on the road with them.

Pat told me that, you know, we're 12 plus two plus one.

We're 12 players, two coaches, and me.

Everyone else is a peripheral opponent

who could distract you from your job.

That included your family.

You take responsibility for your greatness

by making sure that these things aren't going to get in the way.

I don't like to be bothered during game days. I'm moody. I'm cranky.

So, how do I give her all of me when I'm giving basketball all of me?

That's when I started seeing, like, there was a difference.

And basically, he-- From the time he started playing with the Lakers,

he had a split kind of personality. There was Magic, and then there was Earvin.

I met Earvin. And that's the one that I fell in love with.

And that's the one I knew.

How do you keep those feet on the ground out here?

-Well. -You're a movie star.

You know, it's fun being Magic Johnson for eight months.

And then it's great being Earvin Johnson for the other three.

Every summer, Magic came back to Lansing

to be around his family, his friends.

And it was like, you know, "Man, that's Magic." You know?

And I'll never forget, Earvin had this gold Benz.

Tires, Armor All. The tinted blue windows.

And I was like, "Wow."

I looked at Magic Johnson as someone who made it.

He used to come from Chicago to hang out, train.

I mean, we loved to hoop.

We would hoop all day to 2:00 in the morning.

Get up. Run. Work out. Hoop some more.

Get something to eat. Take a nap. Go hoop some more.

I mean, we would just play basketball, and that's what I needed.

I needed this friend that loved the game as much as I did.

At guard. 6'1". 185. From Indiana. Number 11. Isiah Thomas.

He ends up getting drafted by the Pistons.

So now we're in the NBA together.

He's one of the greatest point guards to ever play this game.

Coming into the league, my team was starting at the bottom,

and his team was on top.

And fortunately enough for me, you know, and Magic was so open.

Seeing how they did things.

They're in the championship world of the NBA.

And also as friends. As brothers. Those Midwest values that people talk about.

That trust. You know, it's like your word really is like your bond.

If I give you my word, okay, we good. You know?

Yeah, that was there.

We both needed each other because he's the only one

could understand what I was going through.

I'm the only one could understand him at the same time too.

When you talk about Black men and Black boys, you know, in America,

in the game of basketball, that was the pathway out.

And Earvin and I just-- We had a pretty good understanding of that.

Sexton High School was right in the Black community on the west side.

I knew all the players because I played against them since I was a young kid.

And I wanted to be a Sexton Big Red.

Sexton was dominant. That's all we knew growing up was Sexton High School.

And knowing all those players,

'cause a lot of 'em stay-- played in-- lived in our neighborhood.

The gym was packed. The band went… and you be like--

I wanted to come out into that music, you know?

The kid's coming up.

You want him to go to that neighborhood school to keep that tradition going.

I mean, I was waiting for my turn. It was my turn.

And all of a sudden they said, "No, you can't go.

You can't walk ten, 15 minutes from your house.

You've got to get bused across town to go to Everett High School."

A unanimous Supreme Court today affirmed the principle of busing

school children to desegregate school.

The busing issue that has Americans in an uproar, pro and con, across the country

is perhaps nowhere more dramatically present than in Michigan.

I was so mad, I cried for two, three straight weeks.

That I had-- now had to catch a bus across town

to a school that wasn't known for basketball either.

That bus would pull up. They was throwing rocks and sticks at our bus.

They didn't want us. They were calling us names.

That just added fuel to the fire.

When I got to Everett the fights were starting right-- Day one.

There was a couple kids on the basketball team.

The white kids didn't really accept this as well as I thought they should've.

That third week our principal was waiting for the bus as we pulled up.

He just said, "Earvin Johnson, come to my office."

I thought I had gotten into trouble or something.

I didn't know what was going on.

So he said, "Listen, you're gonna stop the Black kids from fighting."

I said, "Wait a minute. I'm 15 years old. I just got here."

He said, "No…

They will follow you."

I was just like, "I wanna fight." I'm-- You know, I'm gonna get my respect.

He did it the other way. He did it on the basketball court.

It is the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird

against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.

It is a confrontation that basketball fans have been waiting a long time for

in the NBA, and now it is here.

The attitude of the country was, the Lakers were Black America's team,

and the Celtics was white America's team.

My advice to the Lakers is, "Beware. Watch out."

You're just gonna get a beating. I'm a Boston guy.

Just gonna get the beating of your life.

I hated Boston. Hated Boston.

Where did this come from? Where'd it come from?

It came from people having bricks thrown

through their windows. It came from the busing footage you see

in the late '60s and early '70s. It came from all that shit.

I knew I had that anger and hate built up in me

for the Celtics. So I was ready to go.

And Bob McAdoo gave me a Malcolm X tape.

Malcolm's speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet."

That's the truth. You know, I wanted the other guys to hear it.

So what you and I have got to do, is get involved.

You and I have to be right there breathing down their throat.

Every time they look over their shoulder, we want them to see us.

Bob McAdoo rebelled against racism and he--

he wanted you to be proud that you were Black

and stand up for other Black athletes, just like all those before you.

And he stayed on me about it.

He said, "Earvin, you're in such a unique position.

Everything that you do, you've gotta be a proud Black man."

On top of that, damn it, I was playing Larry Bird.

He was put up by the media as "the white savior."

And all the fans and everybody that worked

for the Laker organization reminded us that we hadn't beat the Celtics

ever in the NBA Finals.

So, you know, you got all this pressure.

Beat LA! Beat LA!

Already in the background they're starting to chant, "Beat LA."

The buzz and electricity going into them games was

as high as I've ever seen it.

I wanted to shut the crowd up. I wanted to beat them in Boston Garden.

I wanted to beat Larry Bird in Boston Garden.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, they are battling it out.

Magic's been successful so far hitting from outside, and he continues to be so.

It's been all Los Angeles so far.

In Boston, we won that first game, and we've-- Man, we said,

"Okay, we know we can beat this team."

The Celtics will be in white with Kelly green,

and the Lakers in their-- They call Forum blue with gold.

Magic.

Cooper and the fast break. Going to town and--

and they are running the Celtics, at this point,

off the Boston Garden court.

We were about ready in game two to go up 2-nothing.

I think it was about ten seconds to go.

You watch the clock at the lower part of your screen.

They're looking for Kareem.

Magic Johnson keeps looking inside.

I was the guy guarding him. Like, "What is this fucking guy doing?"

I'm looking at the clock and looking at him. He's just dribbling.

Two seconds. One second. And they don't get it off.

The Lakers don't get it.

We didn't even get a shot off.

And we end up losing that game in overtime.

A game that we should've won.

They should have been up 2-0, and we should have been down.

And probably the series would have been over.

But instead, we were going back to LA for game three.

They call it "Showtime" here in Los Angeles,

and the Lakers are putting one on.

He's the magic man, Earvin Johnson.

And the Lakers want more.

So we go out to LA, and they blow us out.

Put it in.

Magic Johnson has set a championship series record

with 21 assists.

Our mentality was, "we gotta do whatever we can

to change the tempo of this game."

And that's probably playing a little more physical

and doing some things they didn't like.

And I remember Kevin McHale and Larry said,

"We've gotta take these guys out.

Someone's gotta take a really hard foul." And I said to Kevin,

"Why don't you foul somebody hard one time?

Like, I do that every game and I'm booed in every city in America."

So what they decided to do, was body slam you and hard foul you,

and play physical and mean.

We gotta wipe that smile off his fucking face.

That's what we have to do.

Cooper to Kareem to Worthy to Rambis.

He should go the distance. Oh! Look out.

McHale clotheslines him and takes him out. All hell breaks loose.

And now the bench is empty.

That's just a dirty play. I was going to find a way to kill him.

When Kevin McHale took Kurt out,

we started fighting instead of playing.

Bird fights. Kareem swings the elbow

and now is yelling at Larry Bird.

"White boy, I'll kick your ass," and--

If we could have clotheslined every last one of them,

we would have done it.

We're in overtime. Tied at 123.

He misses the first.

Johnson misses them both.

My whole life,

I had performed well under pressure, in every championship moment.

And I just don't know what happened.

We went back and they won game five.

The Lakers look like they're exhausted.

Game six, we came home and won.

We're gonna go to Boston for game seven.

That is going to be Magic and Larry Bird.

Larry Bird.

The man the Celtics will live or die with.

With a minute and a half now remaining.

Magic Johnson goes up but lost the ball.

Cedric Maxwell steals the ball from me, knocks it away,

now they go down and score,

and so it just took the air out of the Lakers.

It just really hurt our team.

Now Johnson with the ball. The Lakers try to cut him to one.

And he loses it.

Final seconds.

Cooper going for three.

It's over.

Man, you talking about devastation.

I cost us that series. Tragic.

We really relished that,

the fact that we gave him that label at that time.

To hear "Tragic Magic," to see that in the newspaper,

to see "I don't compare to Larry Bird," "he's a better player."

It was just a huge disappointment.

The trophies and the rings and all that didn't matter.

It was all about beating the Lakers and Earvin.

That's all that mattered.

For me not to execute, not to play well, I'm still mad.

Even as I sit here talking to you about it right now, I'm just upset,

replaying all those moments that I normally excel at,

and I didn't for some reason.

And after losing that game-- I'll never forget,

we were just in the hotel room, and you could hear him crying and sobbing.

And we were just sitting on the floor in silence for, you know,

literally the whole night.

I was devastated.

That was probably one of my darkest moments

as a basketball player.

Emotionally, man,

he was in one of his most vulnerable and weakest positions.

I was first introduced to basketball by my father.

Watching games with him on Saturdays and Sundays.

If four games came on on Saturday, we watched all four together.

I'm getting four hours with my hero,

with the guy that I always wanted to be like.

He would always explain why the play happened

and why the guy made that decision.

So he wanted me to be smart at the game of basketball.

As a kid, was your dream to play someday in the NBA?

Oh, yeah. The biggest dream.

And also my father's dream for me being here. So it's nice.

My father's from Mississippi,

and when I went down south to the place that everybody hung out,

in the city that he grew up in,

these guys were sitting there telling me, "Your father was really good."

And they would tell me the stories of, you know, how he used to score

and he was a pretty good player and--

So all of them said, "That's why we knew

when you started playing and you were good,

we already knew the reason that you were good.

It's because of your father."

And I was like-- I started looking at him, like, "Dad, you didn't tell me."

He said, "Boy, you know, I didn't-- I couldn't continue to play.

I had to work in the fields to support my family.

I had to quit basketball."

And that just tore me up.

Then '84, I wasn't ready.

Mentally, I wasn't tough enough and that's why we lost that series.

But I'm not going to come back and repeat the same mistake twice.

I had to redeem myself, I had to get back to being Magic again.

That summer…

he was on a hundred every single workout.

"I got to work on this shot, I got to work on this shot.

Throw it to me again, right here. No, no, that ain't good enough.

Throw it to me again." It's like, "Damn, man,

we've been out here three hours."

He was just like, "I'm not giving up. I'm not quitting.

I'm coming back."

And finally, you know, one time, you know, we were playing

and he shot me with the ball, and I was like, "Look, I wear number 11.

I don't wear number 33. I don't play for the Celtics.

I don't have on a green jersey right now."

Boston once again hosts Los Angeles

in the NBA finals starting today.

Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics has the ultimate perch,

he's won his second straight MVP award.

This is a great honor for me. I can't say it's better

than the one last year, because I guess they're all the same.

Only thing I wanted to do was beat him. Get back at him in '85. That was it.

They call this one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports,

the Celtics and the Lakers.

It is the most one-sided rivalry in all of sports.

There was an albatross that we were carrying on our back.

The Lakers had never beaten the Celtics.

Eight consecutive losses.

Okay, come on. Bring it on.

We're underway. The championship on the line.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong.

Game one, they get the shit beat out of them.

We get killed. We got beat by 34 points.

It's known today as the Memorial Day massacre.

The media, The Boston Globe, all of the Boston papers were blasting us.

I just have to say we just wasn't ready to play.

And the next day, it's, like, you know, two minutes before 6:00,

and Kareem's not on the bus.

Here comes Kareem, and behind him is Mr. Alcindor,

Kareem's father.

His dad gets on.

And the bus, that's sacred.

Can't nobody get on that bus.

Like, that's a Pat Riley rule, like,

don't even think about entering that bus.

It was an accident, you know.

At the time, my father was dealing with dementia,

it was just starting.

And I saw my Dad wandering around in the lobby.

"What are you doing here?" I went and got him

and put him on the bus.

He looked at Riles and said, "Can my dad ride the bus?"

I said, "Sure, absolutely."

If he needed the solace of his father,

I ain't going to say, "No" to your dad.

When we finally got to the arena,

Riley was working on his pre-game talk.

Kareem getting on the bus with his father,

that changed my thought process about what I wanted to talk about.

My father said to me,

"When it gets tough, you know, when it gets really tough, Pat,

and it will get tough, you know, you've got to plant your feet, stand firm,

make a point about who you are and what you believe in.

And when that time comes, son, you do it."

Those were the last words

that basically I had heard my father say to me.

You know, I think we all felt it.

And we all wanted to go out there and play for Cap's dad,

play for our dads, you know, play for Riles's dad.

I owe everything that I am as a man to my father.

Because of what he gave up for me, and I'm living for him.

Rebounds to McHale, stolen by Magic. Underneath, slam dunk.

McHale and Magic going at it.

And then that's when I start playing Magic Johnson basketball.

Fearless.

Four on one, to Magic. Magic to Kareem. Slam dunk.

It is 3-2 in favor of Los Angeles as we go back to Boston.

By the time we went to game six

and we're heading back to Boston,

there was tremendous confidence.

We're gonna win. I told the team,

"Pack one suit. There's not going to be game seven."

The Lakers are one victory away

from a world championship and ending one of the longest jinxes

in the history of professional sport.

I knew we were better than them.

I knew it. We just had to go out and prove it.

Two-man game. Magic and Kareem. Inside. Kareem.

Well, Magic Johnson.

Magic sees an opening.

And the Lakers can smell it right now.

And their bench is up. The Lakers are winning it.

Three in six years.

LA comes to Boston and wins the world title.

Wow, We finally did it.

Beat them on their home court and to celebrate in their city.

One of the greatest feelings in the world.

You came out here early today ahead of all your teammates,

and you were out taking jump shots, set shots.

The look of determination on your face.

No question about it. It's a long year last year

to wait for this moment right now.

What a great moment for me to redeem myself,

to beat my rival, to do it in Boston Garden.

No team has ever won a championship on that parquet floor.

We're never going to forget that,

'cause we were in that together as brothers.

The run is over,

and that's when Dr. Buss held up the trophy and he said--

It can never again be said

that the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.

You couldn't tell me nothing, man.

I mean, I was too happy.

Some may have thought that the Celtics title was an immovable object,

but does America believe in magic? You bet we do.

After we won that championship, I went to his birthday party.

I hope everybody has a good time and enjoy themselves.

He had Luther Vandross come sing.

You ask anybody they'll tell you,

you come to a Magic party it's going to be beautiful people,

we're gonna be having a good time.

Mr. Dark Gable, Michael Cooper.

I go, "Earv, why don't you have Cookie out?"

He said, "Coop, she's allowing me to be me, but that's where my heart is."

I mean, he's my brother, so I just had to make sure that,

you know, he's with someone who cares about him and who loves him.

So I invited her to the party.

I went to the party and, you know, I remember him,

when I walked in, he goes, "What are you doing here?"

You know, kind of like, "How did you even get here?"

And that whole night it's like he came over and danced with me.

That ignited it again.

I would see him more and more, and spend a little more time with him.

And he would come and visit in the summer.

And that was nice.

That summer, we would go to Cedar Rapids.

To the amusement park.

You know, just like kids.

You know, we wanted to ride the roller coaster…

and then we wanted to win as many stuffed animals

for our girls as we could. You know?

It was just a lot of joking and fun,

and it was just really us just getting back together

and kind of rekindling, you know, our relationship.

Isiah got married, and not just Isiah,

all our friends were married, the circle,

and I was the only one that was not married.

And I used to say to Earvin all the time,

"I know there's a lot of other people out here,

but ain't no one ever going to love you like this woman here."

He was at his parents' house, and I came up

to spend some time with him.

And I walk in, you know, talking to the family and everything,

and then Earvin leaves, 'cause he does that a lot.

He'll just leave and come back, and, You know,

I'm best friends with one of his sisters and I love his mother, so I'm--

I'm just, you know, visiting with them.

And then he comes back and he gets out the car,

and this little boy is with him.

He came in with the little boy and

the little boy's looking terrified.

He's standing there, like…

And they're all like, "This is Andre."

And I'm looking at Earvin, I'm looking at Andre,

and then finally he goes, "Yep, it's my son."

And I said, "It was just a night.

We slept together and I just had never thought,

you know, that she was pregnant."

And so I found out later, and he was mine.

That was important for her to meet Andre.

You know,

it's always still awkward and tough, no matter what.

I was shocked. It was shocking for a minute.

And I told her, I said,

"One thing I'm going to always do is be in his life,

and I'm going to always take care of my son."

And again, this was the point where we were,

you know, just getting back together.

The second thought was,

"Well, he is his son, what can you do?" You know?

You just-- I just decided to see how this plays out.

Right before he was about to go back to go to LA

and get ready for training camp, we were in the living room,

you know, saying goodbye,

'cause I was going to drive back to Toledo.

And he was-- I noticed he was a little nervous-y.

He said,

"Cookie, I love you and I want to marry you."

And I'm thinking, "What?"

You know, and it came out of nowhere.

You know, like he wanted to do it, he didn't know if he wanted to do it,

and then he just did it.

-And we was all geeked and gung ho. -Absolutely.

Like, "Oh, this is great. Finally came around and saw what he had."

And then he left the next day.

We know-- We talked on the phone, we talked about planning the wedding.

"Oh, my God, I've got to plan the wedding, I'm so excited."

And that's when he told me, "I can't do it. I tried. I can't do it.

It's too much pressure on me. It's just too much pressure."

I could get engaged to her, 'cause was the easy part.

The hard part was following through.

And he said, "I just can't do it,

and I just want to break the engagement."

And I thought-- I said, "Well, you know, after all we've been through,

that's not-- I can't do that.

So if you're gonna break the engagement, we're breaking up."

Here's Magic Johnson.

Is there a special lady in your life yet?

No. Not anymore. Remember the last time,

we talked about how I was thinking about getting married,

but I took your advice.

What are you going to do now, with time now, before the next season?

I'ma relax. Just have some fun. Party.

-Why not? Fun, party. -Yeah.

In sports, this year's MVP award in basketball goes to Magic Johnson

of the LA Lakers.

Johnson averaged a career-best 23.9 points a game and led the league in assists.

This is a special award,

and I dedicate it to my dad, and I hope he's as proud and happy as I am tonight.

The Lakers are looking for their third title of the past five years.

The Celtics are making their fourth consecutive appearance in the finals.

First time in ten years, the Celtics have not had a home-court edge

in the playoff series.

Eighty-seven. It was nothing they can do with us.

Five seconds left. Magic Johnson… a hook shot at 12. Yes!

The Lakers take the lead on Magic Johnson's stunning sky-hook.

It was the baby sky-hook. The invention, they said, of the baby sky-hook.

…Pat Riley, as the Lakers dance off the court.

One of us was gonna take the Championship lead over each other.

That's between Larry and I, right?

And I had to make sure that was going to be my team being up 2-1.

'Cause I had to have the edge.

Man, we were a fine-tuned machine.

And that was our best team, if not the greatest team ever in NBA history.

Jerry, around the world more people saw this Finals than any other in our history.

They saw quite a show.

And all I want you to do, like we've been doing, is just party and have a good time.

And there aren't any more people in this world

that deserve a World Championship again,

more than the people in Inglewood here.

And I'm guaranteeing everybody here, next year we're gonna win it again.

Magic was a champion. You know, the MVP of the league. He was the best player.

And, for me as a friend,

watching the championship path to winning

confirmed in my mind, in '88 I wanted to win.

The Lakers and Detroit Pistons begin their NBA Championship series.

I think in the first game what we're going to see

is going to be like a heavyweight championship fight.

…the fact that Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas are the best of friends,

except when they compete against each other.

Now, we saw you go over

and give your good friend Isiah Thomas a little kiss on the cheek.

Is that kind of a ritual you guys have gone through.

You've been friends for many years.

Yes, we always greet each other, any time we see each other,

we greet each other with the kiss on the cheek.

I don't think our players liked that. I know I didn't like it.

I don't like fraternizing or any of this stuff.

You have no other friends.

If they don't have a purple and gold jersey on, you have no other friends.

And he was serious about that.

Pat Riley did not like that friendship.

He came to me, he said,

"Hey," would I go after Isiah if that situation presented itself?

And I remember everybody looking like, "We're going to see what he going to do."

They're friends before and after, not during.

Thomas… Magic Johnson.

And Magic went after him there with the forearm.

That was a bad play by Magic Johnson.

Before I knew it, he was-- Boom.

I was like, "Okay. All right."

He jumps up and swung at me. So, that's when it started.

And now we see Magic Johnson getting an in--

When we talk about winning, we talking about dominance.

Can I mentally break you?

That elicits emotions and passion and love and hate.

That was the start of us not being friends.

And not, you know, really talking anymore.

Our relationship,

it came apart because

the Championship journey is about

the insatiable appetite for wanting to win.

No mercy.

The game ends.

The Lakers have won it.

For me it's just-- it's always been winning at all costs.

If it costs me friendships, it just cost me that.

It's party time once again.

I always followed him, of course, and, you know, was always happy for him.

How do you like us now?

Whenever he won a Championship or something,

I would call him and congratulate him.

I started dating a guy in Chicago,

but then Earvin was always in the back of my mind.

By that time, we started talking a little more on the phone.

One day he called and the guy was over, he was like, "Well why can't you talk?"

I'm like, "'Cause I have company." He's like, "Why do you have company?"

I'm like, "What? We're not together, what are you talking about?"

So, I think that really, kind of, snapped him back.

Like, "Wait a minute,

she might not just be sitting there waiting all this time for me."

It's hard seeing somebody you love be with somebody else, right?

And we got back together.

Their song was like--

-"Reunited"? Was the-- -"Reunited." Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I think that was their make up song.

I know I used it before, so--

A lot of making up that went on too.

He rented out, like, this little soul food restaurant. The entire restaurant.

He had all the family come.

And I was trying to do the right thing. I'm always trying to do the right thing.

Then he had this ring in his hand in the box,

and he said-- He turned to me and he said, "Cookie, will you marry me?"

I just jumped up and ran over and hugged him, and he gave me the ring.

So part of me thought, "Is it the same ring?"

But it wasn't. It was definitely bigger.

Engagement number two became

planning the wedding around the season,

practice, early practice, getting to-- getting ready for the season, the season.

It just became, "Well I think-- Okay, we're going to do it this time,

but I can only fit it in--"

-We had to get it in here. -"…this week or this week."

I call it the roller coaster, because it was just up, you know.

Up and it's like, "Whatever."

And if I'm going to be completely honest, Earvin and I had had a conversation,

and I don't know if he remembers this, but he was-- He wasn't sure.

And I had told him, I said, "You know what, if you're not sure, don't do it."

I didn't want him to hurt her.

Once I got the plan again, it just became hard

to get me to the aisle and to the church, right?

And walk down that aisle.

After going back and forth, I said, "Well, I tell you what.

We can postpone the wedding, but we're not breaking the engagement.

So, we're staying engaged."

"Cookie, you know, stop playing. Give me the ring."

I opened the door at the same time and I said, "No, this time is different."

And I just slammed the door.

I was getting ready for Isiah.

The Pistons were so good, we had to be at full strength to beat them.

So now we play them again in '89.

Magic Johnson may have pulled a hamstring.

It was bad. I cried in the shower.

They had to basically pull me out of the shower.

By the time we went home, he tried to play. He just couldn't play.

It was like blood in the water and they just wore us down.

We were a little beat-up, a little older and, you know, that era was over.

Yeah, we ended up getting swept.

For a long time I've always wanted to say, number one.

You know, it was Kareem's last year.

One of the most memorable careers in American sports history

ended last night when the Pistons beat the Lakers.

It was the final game for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

That's when I kind of knew that the-- Like the Celtics had done,

had made them early runs in '80, ours was just coming to an end.

In the next year, I could see this thing unwinding.

And that was it.

Speculation laid to rest, Pat Riley, of his own doing,

resigned as coach of the Lakers.

Riley said he's ready for a new challenge after more than meeting the old one.

I remember the day he came to my house to tell me that he was leaving,

and I said, "No, you can't." And we both just started crying,

and I told him,

"I'm not going to be Magic without you."

This is the Forum.

You may not recognize it. The Lakers don't, but in fact,

the Lakers are having a hard time recognizing themselves these days.

The sounds of silence this time of year are rather eerie here.

Showtime is gone, the magic is over.

The real worry is, will it ever return?

Riley's gone and Kareem's gone,

and now '91, here come the Bulls.

Jordan to the hoop. Big in the air. Score!

I got into the league in '84.

In the '80s it was only the Celtics against the Lakers.

As big a star as Magic Johnson was, Michael Jordan was coming on the scene.

Nobody like him. Point-blank, I never seen nobody play like he plays.

He comes in and he got all the endorsement deals.

He's Air Jordan on the court and a bona fide commodity for brands.

Jordan now rakes in the richest commercial earnings

in the history of team sports.

You better eat your Wheaties.

Magic Johnson should've had that way before me.

You know, his personality, his persona,

and I think that's where the jealousy grew between me and him.

Yes, I was mad. Yes, I was jealous, you know.

Yeah, I'm a competitor, I'm gonna be mad.

You know, I may have had my McDonald's commercial, Jordan brand,

you know, blah, blah, blah.

But in terms of winning, which is to me the most important part about it is,

he had that.

And I wanted it, and I wanted to go through him,

I didn't want to go around him. I wanted to go through him.

We had heard a lot about Michael Jordan and what he was doing,

but you want to take on Magic and you want to start winning championships.

You're looking for rings?

Okay, all right, let's see what you can do.

In '91, when people had doubted us, that got me motivated.

Without Riley and Abdul-Jabbar, the showtime era might be over,

but Magic's leadership of the Lakers continues.

The team has the best record in the league this year.

I wanted to prove to people that, you know,

we could still be successful without Kareem.

And I wanted to face the Chicago Bulls.