Forty years ago tomorrow night in Inglewood, the Forum played host to what Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe called “the single most-awaited game in Laker history”—which, given the franchise’s star-laden past, was saying something. Larry Bird and his Boston Celtics were in town to play Magic Johnson and the Lakers, the first time the two would go head-to-head since their battle in the NCAA title game nine months earlier.
The from-the-hip hot take has long been that the Magic-Bird rivalry saved the NBA. And while from-the-hip hot takes seldom tell the whole story, there’s more than a little meat to this one.