Just finished watching that one too. It was brilliant, and I knew that Johnson and Bird had a good rivalry but didn't realise where it all started.

Makes you wonder if he didn't contract HIV how his career could have got even stronger.

A crazy 138 triple double games - nearly 1 in every 6 games played

Not sure, but DVD is fine - remember the footage is at least 20 years old.

Another great part of the DVD was the singlet retirement ceremony.

Good point Jack Toft - forgot to mention the singlet retirement - it gave me goosebumps!

Just on Magic I remember reading comments from him in an article that he begged Jordan not to make a comeback with the Wizards. I wonder if this suggests that Magic has some regret about his comeback when he returned to play for the Lakers in 96?

FWIW, the only comment from Magic I've read in recent years about his 1995-96 comeback was that it was important for him to walk away from the game on his own terms and with peace of mind that it was his decision not to keep playing into 1996-97. I guess that makes sense since the decision to originally retire (when he was only just past his peak) wasn’t his and was thrust upon him by his diagnosis.

He did say that, but his comeback in 95/96 ended pretty badly.
Van Exel got suspended for bumping a ref, Magic chewed him out for it, then got suspended for the same thing. Ceballos went M.I.A and Magic chewed him out for it. When they played the Rockets in the first round IIRC Magic spat it when he wasn't the initiator of the offense even though he was playing PF.

Rockets won the series, Magic retired.

The comeback was always going to be flawed. Can you imagine coming back after 4 years out of the game?

The games featured on that DVD show some sweat action from him. He was my favourite player after Abdul, but after watching the Bird DVD, I am actually leaning a bit toward the Hick. I always thought Bird was overrated, but probably only because when I was watching the games he had his back injury and at the end of his career.

And no doubt those kinds of things - generation gap within the team, lack of professionalism amongst team members, the fact he was playing for a decent but not great coach Del Harris (he was no Pat Riley), the early playoff exit, the fact he played most of his comeback injured because of a lack of conditioning early in the comeback – all fed into his decision not to keep playing into 1996-97. What I was talking about in my previous post was what I interpret to be Magic saying it was worth it and he has no regrets because he walked away from the game on his terms, which I imagine was very important to him.

Averaged 14 pts 6 rebound and 7 assists in 32 games that last year.
1st game back in 4 1/2 years he dropped 19 pts 10 reb 8st against GSW.

Still remember that game against the Bulls as well. MJ all game screaming at Rodman "don't you dare let up on him, not one bit!".
Got it at home, might bust it out tonight before 'ball I reckon.

I tend to think Magic comments about Jordan were based on his experience making a comeback with the Lakers in 96. In the article Magic said he begged Jordan not to make a comeback and then the article suggested that Magic knows from experience about failed comebacks but it was written in a respectful way.

My memory from Magic's comeback was that Magic was not happy coming off the bench as a reserve power forward. And after the season he suggested that if he didn't start next season at point guard he would look for another team but he retired anyway.

I think you would have to view Magic's comeback as a bit of flop. Remember that Lakers team had advanced to the 2nd round the season before. Magic joining the Lakers with 30 odd games left in the season messed up the chemistry a little bit.

David, they went 29-11 after he joined the team. I don't think he messed up the chemistry. That team had Van Exel at point, Eddie Jones at SG, Ceballos at SF, Elden Campbell at PF (before Magic came back) and Vlad Divac at Centre. That was just a shit team IMO.

I think this was more the problem for Magic, both playing and coaching after 1991.

Following the game, Michael Jordan - who was in the middle of a triumphant comeback but would eventually attempt his own ill-advised one - proved something of a prophet when he said he told Magic he had a killer instinct look in his eyes but his teammates didn't.

It wasn't at shit team at all. They won 48 games the season before (and won a playoff series) and were basically on track to repeat the same amount of wins before Magic came back. It was a middle of the road playoff team to be sure but far from shit.

The Lakers chemistry was a mess by the time the playoffs started. It wasn’t due so much to Magic coming back but instead to a number of players doing a series of boneheaded things in the last six weeks of the season. These included Nick Van Exel’s 7 game suspension for shoving a referee, Magic being suspended 3 games for a less extreme version of the same thing, Ceballos (co-captain and leading scorer) being suspended by the team and benched for bailing on the team and taking an unannounced holiday. So it was a very young team, fighting through a bad patch with team chemistry going up against the veteran, two time defending champion Rockets in the first round. Not a good scenario in the end for the Lakers.

I don’t remember Magic ever being upset about being bought off the bench. He started a few games when Ceballos was suspended and benched but returned to the reserve role when Ceballos was reinstated, as far as I know, without any issues. He was upset during the playoffs and got into a bit of war of words with Del Harris about the offence not going through him enough and not being initiated with him in the post. But I don’t recall him complaining about being the 6th man.

I also never remember him complaining about not playing point guard full time. He was far too slow to defend young point guards and was seriously bulked up in 1996. He didn’t even play point guard on any of his international touring teams, so I’d be surprised if he wanted to play that position in the NBA.

He hinted at what he wanted to be paid for the 1996-97 season and it was fairly unreasonable - especially since the Lakers were protecting cap space because they were about to start courting Shaq who signed a then record contract with the Lakers a few months after Magic retired. A contract the Lakers couldn’t have fit under the salary cap if they had signed Magic for what he was apparently asking. He did openly flirt with the idea of signing with the Heat and finishing his career under Pat Riley but eventually just retired.

good read up with footage of some games here people :
http://shawnfury.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/magics-1996-comeback-not-complete.html

D85 You do realize that four out of the five players you mentioned ended up playing in the All-star game at some stage during there career. So much for it being a "shit team"

Gordon Liddy your last post on Magic was excellent I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and there were some points there about him flirting with the Miami Heat that even I didn't know.

I will say though I am certain that he mentioned wanting to play point guard after the season. He mentioned the possibility of playing for another team but no one in the media seemed to take the threat seriously as his comments were not making big headlines.

Magic playing point guard was not a problem defensively because he likely wouldn't match up on point guards defensively. Magic could have played the role of "point forward" with Van Excel playing away from the ball but guarding point guards on defense.

D8vid
So by making an all star game makes it a great team.
Wow, BJ Armstrong, Dana Barros, John Starks and AC Green must be on your greatest list then!

That team was shit, Elden Campbell was a powerless forward, Divac was servicable, Van Exel was a locker room killer, Jones was good, but at that time averaged 12 per game (awesome!) and Ceballos, well anyone who leaves a team because they don't get enough shots is one hell of a selfish player.

13-13 start, 24-18 when Magic joined them.
29-11 after he joined them. They were crap, he made them better.

DB5, I guess it just depends on what your definition of 'crap' is, because those Lakers don’t fit my definition of ‘crap.’ Last season’s Charlotte Bobcats were crap. And last season’s Cleveland and Sacramento. Most of the 36ers teams in that last 4-5 years. That’s crap.

A young team that the season before won a playoff series and pushed the #1 seed to 6 games in the second round isn’t crap. A team with a 24-18 record isn’t crap. Hell, even a team with a 13-13 record isn’t crap. It’s not world beating material, but it sure isn’t crap. The fact that Magic Johnson made them better doesn’t mean they were crap before he came back. Of course Magic made them better - he’s Magic Johnson, one of the greatest players of all time.

And there is a bit of revisionism in your comments about the players. Jones was coming off an off-season injury, missed almost the entire first month of the season and his athleticism and movement (his two big strengths back then) were badly affected for about 4-5 weeks once he was back playing. Once healthy he was averaging almost 18 points per game the month before Magic’s comeback.

Van Exel did develop a reputation for being a locker room killer which was largely justified, though he did rebuild his image in Dallas and San Antonio. He had a bad reputation coming out of college (it’s why he fell to the second round in the draft) but the stuff that wore out his welcome in LA didn’t really start in earnest until the first two seasons with Shaq. If anything it started to go downhill with the incident with the referee late that season, before then he was mostly known for gutsy performances in the 1995 playoffs. Some of which were spectacular.

Ceballos certainly did the wrong thing by bailing on the team. A very selfish act. But look at what he did on court for the Lakers. Was that crap? He was an exceptionally efficient scorer for the Lakers during his two years there.

And even Elden Campbell, who wouldn’t be on many Lakers fan’s top 20 list of favourite players, wasn’t crap. He was an enigma and a very frustrating player at times. But he was serviceable for the Lakers in 1995 and 1996 and went on to play an important role in 1997 and 1998 by filling in very effectively at center when Shaq was busy missing his yearly allotment of 20 games due to injury.

And BJ Armstrong, Dana Barros, John Starks and AC Green were all very good players. None of those players were crap.

You seem to have two classifications for players and teams – there is the top 5% and the rest are crap. No doubt it’s all up to interpretation. But it’s not how I see basketball at all.

Eddie Jones was averaging 14 a game because he had to take less shot because of Magic. You mention great chemistry because of the Lakers record. MAgic Johnson was not happy because he was not playing point guard, Ceballos was unhappy because he was getting less minutes and less shots as well because of Magic. This team had too many generals and not enough troopers plain and simple. The team before it was more balanced and everybody in the Lakers had a defined role. Trying to keep Magic happy plus Lakers players who minutes took a dive was not an easy task for Del Harris and hence the team flunked out in the first round.