Not So Magic?

As I mentioned the other day, I was glued to ESPN Classic Thursday watching the endless replays of the 80's Celtics/Lakers Finals.

Now, no one romanticizees Bird/Magic more than myself. And while at the time I wanted to to take Magic's face and push it into a wheat thresher so he could never hurt my precious Celtics, as their actual playing days fade I wax about how much I love and respect Magic, a deserving foe blah blah blabbity blah blah. Which I believe. But I'm watching these games, and I start to notice that at the end of the games, there's Magic throwing the ball around, turning the ball over in crunch time. What? THE point guard of all time, I'm thinking, and he seems to fall apart at the end - the capper being of course the game where he dribbles out the clock, not even letting the Lakers get off a shot. I was bewildered, I certainly didn't remember him as a choker, and never thought of that whenever I've sat around thinking of his legacy etc. Before Thursday if you told me "seconds winding down, Magic's got the ball..." I'd groan oh fuck, Celtics are gonna lose. Now I might think well okay, let's see what he does.

And now I just stumbled upon this article.

Late in games during the championship series, the CBS announcing team would make the obligatory comments about how players like Magic love such moments. Yet, time and time again, we saw evidence of Magic 's distaste for them...It has become fashionable to cite as evidence of Magic 's ability to rise to big occasions his 42-point, 15-rebound, seven-assist performance in Game Six of the '80 NBA finals, when the Lakers , without Abdul-Jabbar , who was injured and not even at the game, routed the 76ers in Philadelphia to win the title. Magic partisans also point out Michigan State 's 75-64 defeat of Bird and Indiana State to win the NCAA crown in 1979. But since neither game was close, there weren't any true clutch moments.

Hey, I don't wanna piss on Magic's legacy; even as a Celtics lover/Lakers hater, I still fondly remember going up against Magic, he's still in my top 3 all-time, the point guard on my all-time squad. But learning of his non-clutchness is a bit surprising to me. Disappointing, somehow.