May 16, 1980: It's been 10 years since an injured center had to take the court anyway, to stop the New York Knicks from losing the NBA Championship to the Los Angeles Lakers. This time, it's the Lakers who have the legendary but injured center: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
But Earvin "Magic" Johnson, though 21 years old and "only" 6-foot-9 (the same height as Bill Russell), moves over to the center position, and scores 42 points, an NBA Finals record for a rookie, and leads the Lakers to a 123-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, in Game 6 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, and gives the Lakers their 2nd NBA Championship.
Kareem and Magic will go on to combine for 4 more titles in the 1980s. The 76ers, led by Julius "Dr. J" Erving, will lose to them again in 1982, before finally beating them in 1983.
The really surprising thing about this game is that CBS only aired it on tape delay at 11:30 PM. Such a travesty was never allowed to happen again. That's one reason this game is seen as an NBA landmark. The other is that it took the rivalry between Magic and Larry Bird, which began in the Final of the 1979 NCAA Tournament, still the most-watched college basketball game ever, and raised it to a professional level. In every year of the 1980s, either Johnson or Bird would be in every NBA Finals, and they would play each other 3 times, with Johnson winning of those. From 1980 to 1991, Johnson's Lakers reached 9 Finals, winning 5; from 1981 to 1987, Bird's Celtics would reach 5 Finals, winning 3.
*
May 16, 1980 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 2 and 3, and the New York Islanders went on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 6 games. This was part of a remarkable run for the Philadelphia teams: Between May 1980 and January 1981, each of the city's teams in the "Big Four" North American sports would reach its sport's Finals, but only the Phillies would win, taking the World Series over the Kansas City Royals in 6 games in October. The following January, the Eagles reached their 1st Super Bowl, but lost it to the Oakland Raiders.
On this day, these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy John outpitched former Yankee George "Doc" Medich. Ruppert Jones hit 2 home runs, and Reggie Jackson hit 1.
* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Pete Falcone outpitched Phil Niekro. John Stearns went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Steve Rogers outpitched Tom Seaver. Johnny Bench did not play.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Roy Howell singled Bob Bailor home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Jesse Jefferson of the Jays and Mike Norris both went the distance.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Eddie Murray went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Robin Yount went 0-for-3. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4. The Twins and Brewers never developed the same kind of rivalry as the Vikings and the Packers, or the Universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Rod Carew went 3-for-6 with 3 RBIs. George Brett went 2-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 3-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Pete Rose went 0-for-3 with a walk. Dick Ruthven outpitched J.R. Richard.
Richard had a great 1st half of the season, and was named the National League's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game. But Richard would only pitch 9 more games after this, and 1 more after that All-Star Game. He then had a stroke, and was unable to rehab his way back to major league pitching. Had he been able to pitch, the Astros might have beaten the Phillies in the NL Championship Series. Instead, the Phillies won, and won the World Series.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Randy Jones pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Krukow. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Willie Stargell did not play.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
No comments:
Post a Comment