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Los Angeles Lakers: The day that the Lakers’ dynasty started

By Jamaal Artis

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 06: A statue of Los Angeles Lakers' legend Magic Johnson is shown outside of Staples Center before Game Two of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers on June 6, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 06: A statue of Los Angeles Lakers' legend Magic Johnson is shown outside of Staples Center before Game Two of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers on June 6, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most prestigious sports teams in the world. The start of the dynasty can be pinpointed to one day in particular.

May 16, 1980, is the day all Los Angeles Lakers fans should commemorate because it is the day when a dynasty rose. Thirty-eight years ago in a landscape unrecognizable to today’s NBA fans, the seminal moment in team history where a bright-faced rookie gave notice that a star had arrived.

Magic Johnson’s rookie year could not have gone better, a season after leading his Michigan State Spartans to a NCAA basketball title in the game considered as the moment the tournament became “March Madness.”

He brought his brand of exciting energetic basketball to the Lakers, making a good basketball team into a great team. It was no coincidence that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went from being seemingly disinterested in basketball to another MVP season and reclaiming his mantle as the best basketball player on the planet.

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As a 20 year old rookie Magic and the Lakers made it to NBA Finals to face Julius “Dr. J” Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite having two marquee franchises and two of the biggest names in basketball the NBA landscape wasn’t  what it is now.

In the late 70’s the NBA was very much the third league in American sports, franchises were unstable, there were calls bordering on racism that the sport was “too black” to watch, and it was not prioritized in television viewing.

The NBA was so low, playoff games were shown on tape delay in order to accommodate their television partner CBS prime time lineup.

This was where the NBA was when the NBA Finals started.

In a back and forth series that did showcase just how much talent there was Kareem and Dr. J went toe-toe going back to Los Angeles tied at two games a piece. In that game, the Lakers were given a scare when Kareem twisted his ankle in the third period and limped off the court.

Here is where Magic gave people a glimpse of what was yet to come. He scored six points and had an assist over the rest of the quarter pushing a Lakers two-point lead into an eight-point advantage.

Kareem would valiantly return and lead the Lakers to the crucial victory after scoring 11 points down the stretch of the game for a 40 point game and the 3-2 edge in the series.

Unfortunately, Kareem’s ankle was so bad that he would be unable to return for game six in Philadelphia leaving the Lakers without their best player.

With this development, Magic went to head coach Paul Westhead and told him to start him at center for the game. So as game six started the 20-year-old rookie took the opening jump ball against the 76ers center Caldwell Jones.

He lost the jump and that was the last time Magic lost anything that night, behind a 42 point, 15 rebound, 7 assist night Magic and the Lakers ran the 76ers off the floor winning the game 123-107.

The Los Angeles Lakers won their first NBA title in eight years, Magic was named the MVP of the NBA Finals still the only rookie to do so. It was a coming out party that has never been matched again in the NBA.

By the time Magic would announce his retirement in 1991 and again in 1996, the Lakers with Magic would win five titles, rolling out the fast break brand of basketball, filling The Forum with celebrities and the wannabes on a nightly basis.

In two years after that night in 1980, the NBA would never again be on tape delay, due to a re-ignited Lakers-Celtics rivalry and the coming of stars like Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley and a skinny kid from North Carolina named Michael Jordan.

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The NBA would go into the stratosphere, but in Los Angeles, a dynasty was born on May 16, 1980 when a 20-year-old rookie Magic Johnson revealed himself to the world.

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