Magic still Tragic

December 11, 1984

UNFAIRLY BLAMED, MAGIC JOHNSON CARRIES ON

Think back to the historic Celtics Lakers playoff series last spring. Recall who was the consensus goat? Remember which Laker entered the series as a mythic figure and left it with a tarnished reputation? Magic Johnson can't forget. The trashee was himself.



I caught up with him the other night in Philadelphia. Same body, same smile. Same game (21 points, 17 assists in a loss to the Sixers). Not, however, the same psyche. He's still recovering from the media savagery he was subject to when he reached into his top hat a couple of times against the Celtics and came up with an armadillo instead of a rabbit.

"I sat back when it was over," says Magic, "and said, 'Man, did we just lose one of the great playoff series of all time, or didn't we?' This was one of the greatest in history. Yet all you'd read was how bad I was. I've just got to roll with that, but the thing that hurt me the most was that everybody just wrote anything they wanted.

"It got to be pretty bad during that series. I'd be standing in the shower following the game thinking about what I was going to say to the press. I couldn't even tell people exactly how I felt, really. It was almost like I felt I had to lie, just to say something different that would satisfy them."

And what did Magic do to deserve this censure? In Game 2 he dribbled the clock down too far and was unable to get off a shot with the score tied at the end of regulation. The Lakers lost in overtime. In Game 4 he missed two key free throws late in overtime as the Lakers dropped a key contest. For this he should be hanged?

Magic's seven-game numbers reveal his impact on the series. He set a playoff-series record for assists with 95, accumulating 21, 17, 13, 10 and 15 in the final five games. He averaged his usual 18 points a game. And while it is true that he never took over a game, and that Larry Bird was the dominant player on either team as the series wore on, Magic was hardly a washout. He was good, but in this series he was simply not heroic.

Magic was victimized by his previous level of accomplishment. Before his 23d birthday he had won two playoff Most Valuable Player awards. His performance in Game 6 of the 1980 finals, when in the absence of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar he came up with 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists while playing all five positions, is considered to represent the creme de la creme of individual playoff outings. People had come to associate Magic with greatness in the clutch. When he demonstrated mortality in certain situations during the Celtics' series, some members of the press reacted as if they were personally betrayed.

"It took me about a month to get over it," he contends. "But in a sense I'm never going to get over it. It will always be there. We could have won in four straight. We didn't. But I still think it was great to be in it. If we were going to lose, it's better to have lost in a series like that. It's a series that's never going to be forgotten."

Incidentally, any chance Magic had of getting the thing out of his mind completely vanished during the summer. "I went on vacation in the Caribbean," he says. "I walked into the hotel, and who of all people do I have to see? Cedric Maxwell. Just what I needed."

The Lakers, meanwhile, need something. While not exactly floundering, they are a bit askew. Coach Pat Riley can't even decide on a lineup. At present, Larry Spriggs has replaced Kurt Rambis at one forward spot. Michael Cooper is starting with Magic in the backcourt. Neither Jamaal Wilkes, Rambis nor guard Byron Scott have played well coming off the bench. There is a suspicion that LA as a unit lost more than just a final series last June. Some believe they also lost their fight.

More than ever, Magic is carrying the team. He is averaging his 18 points and 11 assists a game. He is shooting his 57 percent from the floor and he is submitting his patented triple-doubles. But he is a bit wary of praise now, because as a result of last spring's negative publicity he understands how fickle the judges can be. He realizes that the press all too often likes to devour its creations.

"To sum it up," Magic says, "I guess somebody had to take the blame for what happened, and it was me. I can deal with that. Now I'm back. I'm just trying to play the way I always have and have fun doing it. And that's what I'm doing."

What he's not doing is paying much attention to the good things people say about him. He now knows how quickly a guy's image can go from swell to hell overnight.