All language subtitles for They.Call.Me.Magic.S01E02.720p.WEB.h264-KOGi

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.