For me, few Christmas gifts are more enjoyable than a good read. This year, my brother and sister-in-law gave me "When The Game Was Ours," the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson collaboration with former Boston Globe sports columnist Jackie MacMullan detailing an epic basketball rivalry turned friendship.
Having grown up in the heyday of the storied Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry of the 1980s, I enjoyed reliving the classic NBA battles of the era through the eyes of Bird and Johnson, their two main protagonists. But better yet, MacMullan recounts what happened behind the scenes to illustrate how the unique Bird-Magic relationship has evolved over the last three decades.
Their story begins in April 1978, when the future Hall of Famers were frustrated second-string teammates on a college all-star squad competing in the World Invitational Tournament. Despite playing behind the stars of the NCAA champion Kentucky Wildcats, Bird and Johnson emerge with admiration for each other's games. But the voluble Johnson and withdrawn Bird did not strike up an instant rapport.
Instead they became bitter rivals, first in the 1979 NCAA Championship final, in which Johnson's Michigan State Spartans defeated Bird's Indiana State Sycamores, and later in the NBA. Each watched enviously from a distance as the other won an NBA title (Johnson as a Lakers rookie in 1980, Bird with the Celtics in '81), and each followed the other's stats in the papers. Looking back, each acknowledges that the other was his prime motivator.
Their rivalry reached a fever pitch in 1984 and '85, when the Celtics and Lakers faced off in consecutive NBA Finals. The Celtics prevailed in '84, with Bird garnering MVP honors, but the Lakers evened the score in '85.
The moment at the heart of the book came three months after the Laker victory, when Johnson and Bird got together at Bird's Indiana home to shoot a TV commercial for Converse basketball sneakers. Ever the competitor, Bird had refused to participate unless Johnson came to him, and Magic, in true Showtime fashion, rolled into rural West Baden with his entourage in three limos. But when the two pow-wowed privately in Bird's basement, they discovered that they had a lot in common.
Although Johnson and Bird never faced each other in another NBA final, they remained fierce rivals while their mutual regard grew. After Johnson was diagnosed with the HIV virus in November 1991, he made sure his agent, Lon Rosen, informed Bird before the press conference in which Johnson announced his condition and retirement from basketball. Told by Rosen that Johnson would be in touch in a few days, Bird insisted on calling his rival right away. "My God," Bird said to his wife, Dinah, after the ever-upbeat Johnson consoled him over the phone. "Magic's gonna die."
MacMullan does a nice job recounting the hysteria, fueled by lack of information, that followed Johnson's HIV announcement. And she's equally adept in relating the tale of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team," on which Bird and Johnson once again competed as teammates, bringing their story full circle.
One of the book's best passages recounts a pre-Olympic scrimmage in Monte Carlo in which an "East" team led by Bird and Michael Jordan comes back to beat a "West" squad anchored by Johnson, David Robinson and Charles Barkley. "It was the most fun I've ever had playing basketball," Jordan said tellingly.
As far as entertaining reading goes, "When The Game Was Ours" scores a three-pointer in my book.