When most longtime NBA fans think of memorable first-round playoff upsets, a few come to mind.
There’s the Denver Nuggets stunning the Seattle SuperSonics in 1994 with the enduring image of a smiling Dikembe Mutombo on the floor clutching the basketball. There’s the New York Knicks defeating the Miami Heat in 1999 when Allan Houston’s floater dropped in to end the series. And there’s the ‘We Believe’ Golden State Warriors upending the Dallas Mavericks in 2007.
The latest installment of HBO’s Winning Time is a reminder of one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. The episode titled The Magic Is Back ends with the Los Angeles Lakers’ shocking opening-round loss to the Houston Rockets. The Lakers (54-28) were the defending champions. The Rockets (40-42) were tied with the Kansas City Kings for the worst record in the playoffs. The Lakers had just gotten Magic Johnson back after he missed 45 games due to torn cartilage in his left knee. His return was supposed to spark another run to the title.
As Winning Time detailed, things didn’t go according to script.
After some early struggles, those Lakers learned to play without Johnson, going 28-17 in his absence. When Magic came back, he wasn’t in peak form. You just don’t drop out of the sky after a long layoff against the best-conditioned athletes on the planet. And Winning Time is correct in highlighting the friction between Johnson and some of his teammates.
In real life, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar offered this less-than-welcoming quote: “He’s just one guy. He’s special—he has great instincts and ability—but we’re a team.”
Given the benefit of hindsight, the Lakers’ early exit was perhaps not all that surprising. You had a team with chemistry issues, a star player not at 100 percent, and an opponent that wasn’t afraid.
From the Rockets’ point of view, there are some things to consider. First, Houston had talent (Moses Moses, Calvin Murphy, and Rudy Tomjanovich). Second, the Rockets lost the regular-season series only 3-2, including a victory in Los Angeles. Third, in 1981, the first round of the postseason was a best-of-three series. Six teams from each conference made the playoffs with the top 2 overall seeds receiving first-round byes.
As a No.3 seed, L.A. had little margin for error. The latest episode of Winning Time devoted the final 13 minutes to the Rockets-Lakers series. The scenes have plenty of energy, and as the Houston Chronicle noted, most of the details are correct with some exceptions.
You could nitpick a lot in Winning Time—and many hardcore purists have. However, what The Magic Is Back missed out on are opportunities to acknowledge some fun facts. For example, that first-round series included three members of the Rockets who would eventually become L.A. coaches.
Del Harris started his NBA head coaching career with Houston but ended it with the Lakers, working with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant before Phil Jackson took over. Houston guard Mike Dunleavy is best known for following Pat Riley and coaching the Lakers to the 1991 NBA Finals. Also, Tomjanovich had a brief stint as the Lakers coach in 2004-05.
Winning Time skips that. Instead, the focus is on the infamous way the Lakers season ended: Magic air-balling an off-balance shot in Game 3. Houston advanced. The Lakers went home. Again, in hindsight, the defeat doesn’t look as bad when you consider that those Rockets wound up reaching the NBA Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics.
But in many ways, the disappointing outcome set the stage for Lakers coach Paul Westhead’s eventual downfall and the rise of Pat Riley. Winning Time viewers will learn more about that in the next few weeks.
Stay tuned.
