Happy 50th, Magic

Video / Aug 14, 2009 / 12:00 pm

Today is Magic Johnson‘s 50th birthday. (It’s also my brother’s 21st. Have fun in Vegas, kid.) NBA TV has been running classic Lakers games all week to honor the greatest point guard of all-time, including some of the highlights you’ll see here…

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16 Responses to “Happy 50th, Magic”

August 14th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

dh says:

He was the best.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

K Dizzle says:

Greastest point of all time. Had a string of teams since tryin to find that oversized point guard from Steve Smith, Walt Williams, Penny Hardaway and nobody got close…
August 14th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Celts Fan says:

@KDizzle – Penny had a chance to be close before all the injuries.

Magic is, IMO, the 2nd best player ever. He could play all 5 positions, ran what I consider the best team ever (87 Showtime Lakers,) and pulled off the biggest upset in sports history (take that AIDS!)
August 14th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

Sacto_J says:

An honor to have watched and admired one of the top all-time greats in his prime. Happy Birthday Magic….
August 14th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

deeds says:

Amazing highlight reel….that music gets me jacked up every time.

Not to take anything away from magic, but that is some ATROCIOUS fastbreak D on most of these clips. Not sure he could get away with a lot of that stuff in today’s game
August 14th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

the_don_mega (representin' the 3 stars and a sun) says:

he was way ahead of his time…
August 14th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

sh!tfaced says:

Damn straight. His greatest accomplishment was kicking HIV’s ass and winning his life back.

And oh yeah, he didn’t do too bad at playing the point…
August 14th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

karizmatic says:

That’s awesome!!1 GREATEST POINT GUARD OF ALL TIME and my favorite player of all time! Yeah!!!
August 14th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

karizmatic says:

@ Deeds

I don’t know what you’re smoking if you don’t think Magic in his prime couldn’t have gotten that same shit off. If J Kidd and Nash can do what they are doing in today’s game Magic could have got all that same stuff off. The D was atrocious? Yeah Magic had a way of making it look that way. Hence the nickname “Magic”
August 14th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

mike says:

no wonder he had so many assists, you don’t see Lebron passing the ball to someone 2 feet from the hoop when he is 2 feet from the hoop
August 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

SJ says:

Definitely the greatest PG of all time, and IMO, the greatest player of all time. That was a great highlight reel.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

Kermit The Washington says:

So dope. His fast break passes were so ILL. Lots of buzzer beaters too; you don’t hear too much talk about him being “clutch” but he definitely was.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm

Dagomar says:

Amazing. Makes me remember how great he truly was. It’s astonishing how he manages to be so flashy yet not a single movement is wasted. Top-3 player ever.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

Ace says:

My all time favorite player. Def most entertaining of all time. Nobody could see the whole floor like he did. I read a article about how he played pickup ball with some NFL players and they were in total amazement with his vision. They said it was like a pro quarterbacks.
August 15th, 2009 at 8:49 am

Amar says:

no offense to all the logo and mamba lovers out there, but magic is the best Lakers guard of all time. the things he was doing — forget the guard concept, he was a once in a lifetime player. 6’9 post up point guard who was bringing deceptively good handles and a pass first mentality. Magic could have easily shot the ball a lot if he wanted to, but he was making guys like vlade and kurt rambis nba players. who has kobe made better? magic would have had the balls to make luke walton a 12 ppg guy.

biggest thing about magic, on the court: that first scene where larry legend gives him daps at the beginning of a game. magic was loved and respected by his peers. i wonder if kobe’s own team mates even like him? (or liked him back in those bad old, 1st round losses to phx days where he used to hit his team mates on the bench — if they like him now that they won a ring)

something that no one else did that magic did: come back out of retirement and start for an NBA playoff team at a different position than the one that you played as an NBA champion. magic came back into the L as a PF. no other great player who came back did something like that.

off the court, magic gives back to the community way more than richer guys like jordan do — magic stands up for issues, jordan gets divorced and parties during spring break while not knowing how to draft players.

Magic is awesome — this is coming from a utah jazz fan who lives in detroit.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

doc says:

2nd best player ever.Could be 1rst and the only dude who when in his prime would not just lose to mike.He might actually whip his ass.