The Flyers lost the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders in overtime of Game 6, eight days after the 76ers fell to the Lakers in their Game 6. Terrell Smith has a diverse writing background having penned material for a wide array of clients including the federal government and Bravo television personalities. Stats-wise Johnson and Barkley's numbers were both very strong: Barkley averaged 25.2 ppg, 11.5 rpg, while Johnson averaged 22.3 ppg and 11.5 apg. Stephen Curry, G, Golden State Warriors. In between, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was acquired, and the Lakers returned to prominence in 1977, but Kareem couldn't do it alone. Johnson, a rookie, became the third player to win an NCAA title and NBA title in back-to-back years. He was an unlikely candidate to be the series MVP - after all, his teammate . But they say that he led his team to the East's top seed despite injuries to two "All-Star Caliber" bigs, while the Heat wound up only the second seed, and Howard's Magic were fourth. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record-breaking sixth MVP season came as the writing on the wall signaled a new heir apparent. It is worth noting, too, that Magic did lose Rookie of the Year honors to Larry Bird by a 63-3 vote, as depicted in the series. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The pundits gave the Lakers little chance of winning without Abdul-Jabbar, given his prolific form in the series. The 1980 NBA Finals TV Mini Series 1980 YOUR RATING Rate Sport The 1980 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1979/1980 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. Jim Chones played strong defense on 76ers center Darryl Dawkins, while Mark Landsberger provided rebounding off the bench, and little used Brad Holland chipped in eight key points. J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. The announcement clearly gets underneath Johnsons skin. His Spurs won 58 games, the same as they'd won the previous year. Over the years, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the 1980 Final MVP award. McAdoo's Buffalo Braves (later to become the Los Angeles Clippers) won 49 games in his MVP year, which was good for only the third best record in the conference. Playing on the road, Johnson (a 6'9" rookie point guard) started the game at center and eventually played all five positions in a dominating performance. The MVP of the 1980 NBA Finals was Magic Johnson, plus that was his rookie season playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood and Jamaal Wilkes. How did he respond? Press J to jump to the feed. The Lakers earned the top pick of the 1979 NBA draft (traded as compensation by the New Orleans Jazz after signing Gail Goodrich in 1976) and selected Magic Johnson from Michigan State. You can see here where Kareem is hurt in the clip below. Free trialHow to Watch Today's NBA GamesToronto Raptors at Washington WizardsThe Washington Wizards (29-32) and Pascal Siakam's Toronto Raptors (31-32) face off at Capital One Arena on Thursday, March 2, beginning at 7:00 PM ET.Game Time: 7:00 PM ETTV Channel: NBC Sports NetworksLive Stream: fuboTV (, The Indiana Pacers (28-35) meet Keldon Johnson and the San Antonio Spurs (15-47) at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday, March 2 at 8:30 PM ET.The Pacers won their most recent game 124-122 against the Mavericks on Tuesday. Certainly Karl Malone had a spectacular year, and he led them withone ofthe best seasonsstatistically of his career. In what was his rookie year. The Sixers, however, had Julius Erving who scored 11 of the Sixers last 13 points to complete an 8-point comeback, and tie the game at 103103 with only 43 seconds remaining. And then Game 6 happened, and Magic played the game of his life, stealing Finals MVP with a single performance, although it sounded like even the voters at the time wanted to give Kareem the award: Sports columnist Bill Livingston publicly confessed that he and others changed votes to deny Kareem the award because CBS did not want to present an award to an empty seat. But, this time, he got very little help as the Laker break never got going. Its cued up here to Game 5, at the 49:36 mark, after Kareem scores a basket to put the Lakers up 67-65. Julius Erving scored the only three-pointer of the series (and first in NBA Finals history) in this game. The 1980 NBA World. The Bulls have secured the top seed in the league and Rose has become the unquestioned leader of the team. A year-by-year list of the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award winners: YEAR PLAYER TEAM. (March 4), HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,", The casting magic of HBO's 'Winning Time' Lakers, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Its been more than 4 decades but this incident still feels like one of the greatest robberies of sports history. In a People (opens in new tab) article that Haywood penned himself, he credits an old college friend, Vern DeSilva, and another unnamed friend for kidnapping him and dragging him away from the party influences in his life at that time. edit: complaint about pts/reb/ast order, changed it universally to pts/reb/ast. Temporary bans may be handed out to users who post memes and other low-effort or off-topic comments in this thread. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has submitted a bid to buy the Commanders, according to a report from Mark Maske and Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. He comes back out at the start of the 4th quarter and he continues to carry the Lakers while hobbling on his sprained ankle. Meanwhile, Barry's team, while winning the same number of games, led Golden State to the best record in the West. Can he be the most valuable player if his team has more talent and experience than the team of another MVP contender? Granted, Derrick Rose has not actually won the award yet, but the general consensus around the league appears to be that you're more likely to see the Mayor of Cleveland declare "LeBron James day" in the city than for Rose not to win the award. Hollyoaks spoilers: Tony Hutchinson calls social services to report Warren! Abdul-Jabbar then limped back onto the floor. In the 197980 season the 76ers finished 5923, two games behind the Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division. Please refresh the page and try again. NBA World Reacts To The Controversial MVP Selection. 1 seed in the East for the first time in franchise history. Should Kareem have won the Finals MVP in 1980, or was Magic the rightful recipient? Heres the cued-up Jerry Buss speech after the game, and he is a bit emotional, as John C. Reilly was in the series (although, the real Buss probably wasnt thinking about his late mother, whose year of death is unknown). Yeah, but in the 5/6 he did he seem to have been the better player? Surprised, he says, because he was certain LeBron. J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. Kareem wasn't totally robbed imo. All rights reserved. No. Hollyoaks spoilers: REUNITED! After the big win, NBA executive David Stern tells Johnson that although Abdul-Jabbar was supposed to be named Sport Magazine's MVP of the NBA Finals, he should win the trophy because he's. So here they are, theeight most controversial MVP winners. Los Angeles opened the third period with a 140 run, keyed by Jamaal Wilkes, who had 16 points in the quarter. The Lakers pulled out a 108-103 victory. Norm Nixon had 23 points and Jamaal Wilkes finished with 20 while the Lakers did an excellent job double-teaming Julius Erving. Abdul-Jabbar was listed as out of Game 6, although 76ers coach Billy Cunningham was quoted as saying "I won't believe he's not playing until their plane lands and he's not on it." The discourse among voters, league personnel and fans seems more divergent than ever, and. Its clear, though, that hes hurt, and he eventually goes into the locker room. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Wilkes had a career-high 37 points and added 10 rebounds. The Lakers countered by collapsing more in the paint and rallied for a 6060 tie at the half. Johnson scored 25 points in the Spurs' win, leading the team.This matchup will be airing on fuboTV.National Basketball Association odds courtesy of. Additionally, Abdul-Jabbar was named the 1980 NBA MVP, reflective of his work from that entire season. He dropped 33 points in a 109-102 home win in Game 1. The show began with the Lakers drafting. A new face of the league after a decade (70s) where the league nearly died, Finals weren't even being televised live iirc. And a rookie Magic pretty much played all 5 positions and won the ring. ", Reilly just enjoyed the ride in 'Winning Time', Stars of new TV show "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty," John C. Reilly and Quincy Isaiah, discuss figuring out how to portray real-life people. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Was this actually the final count? . In his memoir, "Kareem," Abdul-Jabbar cites sportswriter Bill Livingston, who publicly said the voting NBA writers had originally chosen Abdul-Jabbar asfinals MVP but the group waspressured"either by the network (CBS) or the league" to change the vote. It was his first full season without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and he maintained a sustained level of excellence for the Lakers despite the retirement of the team's hall-of-fame center. Malone averaged 27.4 ppg and 10 rpg. Los Angeles took an early advantage in the NBA Finals, but Lakers superstar big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar suffered an injury in Game 5. It is true as depicted in the series that Kareem was originally named the MVP of the series, and the CBS network (and not David Stern) talked to writers by a 4-3 vote into giving it to Magic Johnson, but only because the network didnt want to give the MVP to someone who wasnt there to receive it. He played 5/6 games and was clutch in them too. However, that wasn't enough to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the championship. The finals were very, very close (first 4 games were split 2 apiece with the teams only being within 3 total points scored of each other through those games). Generally, slumps by teams heading into the playoffs hurt MVP candidates, but it did not effect Malone's candidacy in the minds of voters. Elsa/Getty Images. Magic Johnson winning the 1980 NBA Finals MVP over Kareem Abdul Jabbar might have been one of the biggest award robberies in NBA history. Its unclear (and unlikely) that Magic learned that in the fourth quarter of Game 6. Julius Erving scored 12 points in the first quarter on his way to 23, beginning the game with a dunk over Abdul-Jabbar. Love. The first time, we could chalk it up to an NBA that was simply looking to shed its image in the recent wake of the "Malice in the Palice" and clean up the league by highlighting more agreeable faces to spotlight the game. Nate Archibald of the Boston Celtics wins the game's MVP award. Thanks so much for A good well thought out answer! Magic Johnson then asserted himself by scoring six points and added an assist as Los Angeles moved up by eight at the end of the third. The key was Darryl Dawkins, who had one of his best games of the season by scoring 25 points, many of them on outside shots trying to draw Abdul-Jabbar away from the basket. 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