Magic makes Sixers disappear

Who can ever forget 42-15-7?

It's not a winning lottery number, especially if you're a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Those are the numbers posted by 20-year-old Magic Johnson - 42 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists - in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals. It is one of the greatest performances in Finals history.

It was a game the Sixers figured they would win. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar back in Los Angeles nursing a severely sprained ankle, it was a slam dunk. The Sixers, down 3-2 in the series, would be headed back to LA for Game 7. They figured it was a foregone conclusion.

In a game the Sixers had to win, Johnson, the rookie, refused to let his team lose. With Abdul-Jabbar out and with Spencer Haywood suspended, Johnson jumped center and played all over the court.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the play of their big men who let the Sixers down. It was the play of guards Lionel Hollins and Henry Bibby. Their floor game was less than stellar.

The game was all about Johnson, who was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in NBA history. The Sixers were just catching a glimpse.

The glimpse was all about Johnson's leadership. With Abdul-Jabbar out, Johnson, who had led Michigan State to the NCAA title the year before, took over.

"So we get to the airport," Johnson recalled to Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, "and I saw the faces of everyone and I knew right then that Kareem wasn't going to play. So I went over to the guys and said, 'Man, what's wrong with everybody?' And they said, 'Man, didn't you hear? Kareem's not going to play.' And I said, 'OK, but we're still going to win. I know it.'

"And they looked at me and said, 'Damn, rookie, sit down.' "

Johnson didn't sit down. He stood up even higher.

"I saw that everybody was down," Johnson said. "So when we got to the plane . . . and got to our seats, Kareem would always sit in the first seat, so I sat in Kareem's seat. And I said, 'Never fear, Magic is here.' I wanted to just break the ice.

"I told the guys, 'Look, I'm going to Philly to win, so everybody better jump on board because we can beat Philly without Kareem.' And they were sort of looking at me crazy in the beginning. So I had 5 hours to work on them - from LA to Philadelphia. So I was working on every guy. 'Look, man, if we just play our game we can beat them because we can match up against them, but they can't match up against against us because we're going to have a faster, quicker team out there.' "

It worked. By the time the first quarter was over, the Lakers were confident they could beat the Sixers. Jamaal Wilkes went for a career-high 37 points, Michael Cooper played his usual defense while scoring 16 points, and Brad Holland came off the bench to score a key eight points. As a team, the Lakers went 33-for-35 from the line.

Johnson became the youngest and first rookie to ever be named Finals MVP. He would be recognized as one of the greatest leaders of all time, enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He would add four more titles to his resume, but his first one, and most magnificent, came at the expense of the 76ers.