On the Lakers vs. the Celtics

(This will appear in the Wednesday June 4, 2008 edition of the Business Mirror. It's part of several pieces about the renewed Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry. The entry of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson elevated the NBA and started a bush fire on then dormant rivalry.)

The Game That Changed the NBA
by Rick Olivares

“Right there, boys, you are looking at the team that’s going to win the NCAA championship this year,” announced Larry Joe Bird to his Indiana State University Sycamores teammates. They were watching the Magic Johnson-led Michigan State Spartans decimate the visiting Soviet National Team during the 1978-79 college pre-season. The Russians earlier manhandled Kentucky, Indiana, and Notre Dame, but found a tougher challenge against Indiana State. The Sycamores beat the Russian National Team 87-79 despite Bird fouling out early in the second half, an indication that ISU was more than a one-man team. But when the Eastern bloc team took the court against Michigan, the Spartans blew away the visitors with Magic’s terrific rebounding and coast-to-coast drives.

Notwithstanding Bird’s prediction, ISU had them a pretty good basketball team that year. Despite its small school status, the turnaround of the school’s basketball program and success in recent years (owing to the transfer of Bird from Indiana University in Bloomington to the much smaller ISU in Terre Haute) had shot the school into national prominence. “The Great White Hope” tag was labeled on Bird, after all, there had not been a great and marketable Caucasian basketball player since Bill Walton played for the UCLA Bruins.

The American sports media took notice and Bird made the cover of many a national sports magazine including Sports Illustrated’s annual College Basketball issue.

However, Bird was uncomfortable with the spotlight and adulation heaped on him and he scoffed at the lack of exposure for the rest of his team. His former ISU Coach, Bob King had to convince him to do the photo shoots because it at least gave the school and the team some badly needed media mileage. King used every motivational tool including the Sycamores’ low seeding in the Missouri Valley Conference in their quest for an NCAA championship.

The Sycamores had quite a line-up. Brad Miley and Bird started at forward. Alex Gilbert, despite being listed only at 6’7” yet having a 40” vertical leap was the man in the middle and Carl Nicks and Steve Reed manned the backcourt. Reserves Bob Heaton and Leroy Staley provided quality minutes off the bench.

After disposing the Soviets (whom Bird was fascinated with because they had this aura of mystery about them more so since beating the US in the controversial Munich Olympics), ISU mowed down the opposition to go 32-0 heading into the Final Four. There they met the De Paul Blue Demons led by Mark Aguirre, who was averaging about 25 points per game. The game went down the wire with several lead changes until ISU’s Bobby Heaton put in the marginal basket off an offensive rebound. Indiana State 76. De Paul 74.

The Big Ten Champs, the Michigan State Spartans on the other hand, had no trouble disposing of overachieving Penn, 101-67, who earlier had upset North Carolina in the Big Dance.

And as the final seconds of the MSU/Penn game ticked away, Spartan fans began chanting “We want Bird! We want Bird!” ISU’s supporters responded with an equally boisterous “You’ll get the Bird! You’ll get the Bird!” while flipping them a digit.

So it was for all the marbles in what was shaping out to be game on par with the Super Bowl. Sports fans sensed it and they packed the Special Events Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, to witness a game that little did they know would change the game forever.

ISU was up against the bigger and more athletic Michigan State Spartans who went into the National Championship game with a 25-6 record on the strength of its powerful starting five of Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Terry Donnelly at guard, Mike Brkovich and Greg Kesler at forward and Jay Vincent at center.

It was a dream match-up. It was the Big Ten vs. the Missouri Valley. It was black vs. white. The street ballers vs. the country hicks. It was the Magic Man vs. the Birdman. And the hype caught America’s attention.

Not only were Bird and Johnson the two best college basketball players, but they were also versatile athletes with a keen understanding of the sport. Bird at 6’9” played forward-center while Johnson, at 6’8” was the best point guard in the country and the harbinger of tall playmakers to come. Despite their size, they played the game like players half a foot smaller and placed a premium on team game with emphasis on passing.

Said Michigan Coach Jud Heathcoate, "A lot of guys can find the open man by driving in and throwing the ball out. But few can find the open man in the basket area or can thread the needle like the Birdman and the Magic Man.”

Prior to the championship match, Heathcoate had Johnson mimic Bird’s style of play in practice for the team to know how to handle ISU’s star player. Johnson relished the task. "I'm a fan of Larry Bird," he said. "You've got to be a fan of his if you like basketball."

But the game displayed none of the drama and hype that preceded it. The Spartans took control of the game early on and refused to let Bird take control of the game. “We thought we had proved that we could beat every kind of defense, but we had never seen anything like that zone of theirs,” recalled Bird. “I couldn’t get the ball and make moves anywhere on the floor. They really did a good job on me.”

Playing a 2-3 match-up zone (which was new at that time), the Spartans threw one man at Bird at all times depending on his position on the floor. It was equal parts zone and man-to-man without double teaming. By halftime with the Spartans up 37-28, ISU Coach Bill Hodges (in his first year after replacing Bob King because of health reasons) was still unable to come up with an antidote to Michigan’s stifling defense. With Larry all but contained (he did play superb defense by intercepting Magic Johnson first lob pass for an alley-oop dunk, took several charges from MSU players, and had 4 steals), the Spartans closed out the Sycamores decisively 75-64.

Johnson scored 24 points, hauled down 7 rebounds and had 5 assists to grab the MVP award. Bird, who broke down in tears after the game, had 19 points and only 2 assists.

NBC, which broadcasted the game, produced at 24.1 rating, an all-time high for an NCAA title game. One reason why the game drew so much interest was that Bird was drafted the previous year by the Boston Celtics while Johnson, despite being only a sophomore, had a game that belied his years.

The game captivated America and basketball enthusiasts everywhere. The following season, both Bird and Johnson (who was the first pick by the Los Angeles Lakers who beat out the Chicago Bulls in the coin toss lottery pick) moved on to the pros where they continued their rivalry and helped usher in a an era of greatness for the NBA.