The rivalry began with the 1979 NCAA Championship when Magic Johnson led Michigan State past Larry Bird and Indiana State. It ended 11 years later when Magic retired. In between, fans saw the most compelling "can-you-top-this" Basketball of all time.
As NBA rookies, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird took their respective franchises and personally whipped them into shape. As veterans, they molded the very character of the league. In the first nine yars of their rivalry the two won all but a single NBA title (five for Johnson, three for Bird), and split six MVPs over 11 years. They met once in college and 37 more times in the pros, with Johnson holding a 23-15 edge. But tallying wins, losses, points, and assists doesn't tell half the story of their rivalry. Neither man played for the numbers, they played for the glory. Magic Johnson once said "People who saw our games against each other saw some of the best basketball ever played."
Although Bird and Johnson rarely guarded each other, the two were nonetheless locked in their own form of mortal combat. Johnson would throw a no look pass to a teamate for a spectacular score, and Bird would respond with a fallaway three-pointer from the third row of the Boston Garden. Larry Bird would flick an impossible pass to the open man after drawing two defenders, and Magic Johnson would drive right back down the lane, faking a dish left, then right, then continuing to the basket for an uncontested layup. After each magnificent play, there would be that quick, almost imperceptible meeting of the eyes between the two superstars.
In the end, there was never a moment - on or off the court - when one of them wasn't fully aware of what the other was up to. "The first thing I would do every morning during the season," admits Bird, "was look at the box scores to see what Magic did." Thus even when geocgraphy prevented that meeting of the eyes, there was always a meeting of the minds.
