When the Game Was Ours - Larry Bird [101]
Five seconds had elapsed during Magic's drive to the hoop, leaving two seconds for Bird to pull off a miracle for his team.
Boston's final play was simple. D.J. threw it in the corner to Bird in nearly the identical spot where he had drilled the three-pointer seconds earlier. As Bird launched the final shot, he experienced a momentary surge of excitement.
"Oh, God, it's in," Magic thought as he followed the flight of the ball. "He's going to do it to us again."
The jump shot was straight, perfectly on line with the basket. As he released it, Bird fell backward, nearly into the lap of the Lakers bench.
"It had perfect rotation," Bird said. "I was sure I had it."
Bird was only half-right. The ball was perfectly on line, but it hit iron and bounced out. The Lakers won and, with a 3–1 advantage in games, were in complete control of the series. As Bird left the court, he looked over at Riley, who was hugging Magic Johnson as if he hadn't seen him in a month. Bird briefly made eye contact with the Lakers coach, but said nothing.
"Riley knew he was lucky," Bird said. "I guarantee you he thought that shot was dropping."
"I thought it was in," Riley confessed. "We got lucky. But the game ended as it should. It truly was Magic's time."
Mychal Thompson, the number-one pick in the 1978 draft (five spots ahead of Larry Bird), spent seven years in Portland and a half-season with San Antonio gawking at the Lakers and Celtics. He was captivated by the rivalry of Bird and Magic and envious, like hundreds of other NBA stars, that he wasn't able to play a role in their sizzling competition.
"We used to sit around saying, 'When are we ever going to be good enough to pass those guys?'" Thompson said. "We knew the answer. They had Magic. They had Bird. Never."
Following their premature exit from the playoffs in 1986, the Lakers contemplated shuffling their personnel. Their futile efforts against Houston's Twin Towers and their ongoing struggles to contain McHale made acquiring a big man with size their top priority. Just as the Celtics had done two years earlier when they tailor-made their alterations to offset Magic by acquiring Dennis Johnson, the Lakers franchise was tweaking its roster specifically with Boston in mind.
Owner Jerry Buss talked seriously with Dallas about swapping Worthy for rookie center Roy Tarpley and Johnson's friend Mark Aguirre. Strong objections from West and Magic prevented the deal from going through. Tarpley evolved into one of the NBA's great teases: he exhibited flashes of brilliance but didn't excel because he was unable to control his drug problems. Worthy, meanwhile, just kept making the All-Star team. Aguirre eventually landed in Detroit with his other ally, Isiah Thomas.
During one of Magic's junkets to Las Vegas with Buss, his owner asked him what they needed to vault them over the top. Johnson had not forgotten his college visit with Mychal Thompson nearly ten years earlier. He felt that Thompson's personality would mesh well with the team, and he hoped that Thompson, who played at Minnesota alongside McHale, might have insight on how to contain Boston's rapidly improving low-post connoisseur.
On February 13, 1987, Thompson was dealt to the Lakers for Frank Brickowski, Petur Gudmundsson, two draft choices, and cash. Bird noted the transaction with little trepidation. Thompson wasn't someone he feared, although he knew McHale dreaded guarding him, a phobia that stemmed from their days together at Minnesota when Thompson embarrassed the freshman McHale in practice.
The Spurs tried to inform Thompson that he'd been traded, but San Antonio had a game that night, and he had already taken the phone off the hook and settled in for his customary pregame nap. In an era when text messages and cell phones were not yet part of everyday life, Thompson was unreachable.
When his nap was over, he got up, placed the receiver back on its cradle, and drove to the arena. As he jumped onto the table to get his ankles taped, the only two people