ANNOUNCER: And now, ladies and gentlemen,
it's time for another historic moment in Laker history.
Will you please direct your attention
to midcourt where the voice of the Lakers, Chick Hearn,
will emcee tonight's ceremony.
KAREEM: Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
ANNOUNCER: Hello, cap, welcome back.
KAREEM: I decided to retire because I couldn't
continue to play the game up to the standards that I had set.
ANNOUNCER: Let these things sink into your head.
First of all, when he came into the League,
he was Rookie of the Year, he averaged almost 29 points
a game for the Milwaukee Bucks.
JERRY: How are you going to lose Abdul-Jabbar?
Those guys come along once in I-don't-know-how-many moons.
ANNOUNCER: He played a total of 20 years.
No other man has ever done that.
- He's got to be in the running for the best player ever.
I mean, come on.
That's amazing.
There's only one guy that when I went out on that court
that I couldn't believe I was standing on the same court
as they were.
I remember walking next to Kareem for the jump ball
and I go "Boy, I hope my brother's watching.
I'm standing next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."
[laughs]
- He played in 1,560 games.
No other man has ever or ever will do that.
- When Kareem leaves, it's like losing your right arm.
That sky hook, you know, that was a big part of the success.
ANNOUNCER: He made the most points ever scored by an
athlete in the NBA.
38,367.
FLEA: I saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
play basketball in 1974.
I just fell in love.
I fell in love with the Lakers and I just
loved Kareem and the beauty of that shot, man.
The poetic, poignant ballet of the thing.
No one else has ever been able to do it since.
It was unstoppable.
Kareem, he just, I don't know, he embodied everything
that I love about basketball.
ANNOUNCER: And you see those blankets up there?
He led and captained the Los Angeles Lakers
to five of those championships, for you.
- Nine trips to the Finals in 12 years.
Five World Championships.
Showtime was Magic, it was Kareem, it was Worthy,
it was Dr. Buss, and Jerry West, and Pat Riley.
And Showtime came to an end when all of us
left and Kareem was first.
- Kareem, I'm about to cry now, so I better get to--
get out of here.
I just want to say like Tina Turner said,
"You're simply the best
and you're definitely better than all the rest."
All right.
[cheers and applause]
ANNOUNCER: The greatest basketball player
that ever lived.
NORM: Somebody called me and said
"What's gonna happen to the Lakers?"
I said, "Championship's over."
They said "Well, they still have Magic
and Worthy and they got those guys."
I said "Okay, and what's your point?"
"What's gonna happen?"
I said "Championship's over." [laughs]
When Kareem retired, that was it.
SINGER: ♪ California love ♪
[Remix of Tupac Shakur's "California Love"]
♪ California ♪
♪ Knows how to party ♪
♪ California knows how... ♪
ANNOUNCER: There he is, his first shot as an owner.
Do you think he likes it?
SINGER: ♪ California ♪
♪ ♪
- At this moment, I can't believe it.
SINGER: ♪ California ♪ PERSON: What's the future?
Want to replace your father at the top?
- Yeah. [laughs]
SINGER: ♪ In the city ♪
BUSS: Between my daughters and my sons,
there's certainly enough sports teams to go around.
♪ ♪
SINGER: ♪ In the city ♪
PERSON: Are you and the rest of the family,
are you guys all on the same page?
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers, caught in the middle
of a family power struggle.
♪ ♪
BUSS: I think I've really left them with something.
ANNOUNCER: Well, this is a new look ball club here in 1989
for the Los Angeles Lakers.
BUSS: This is a whole new era.
This is the first time we've played since I've owned
the team without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
starting at center and I'm excited, I'm nervous,
and I'm hoping.
JEANIE: My dad worried about not being
able to sustain the greatness.
And I could remember, you know, my dad's angst about when
Kareem retired, like how are we ever
gonna replace this big man?
ANNOUNCER: Some of the best young players in the world
stand at the doorstep to the big time.
It is the NBA draft.
ANNOUNCER: The next pick up in the draft
will be the Los Angeles Lakers
and the Lakers obviously have a need to replace
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center.
There's no Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center this year,
STEVE: When it comes to personality,
Jerry West and Jerry Buss were always trying to look somewhere
where no one else was looking, always be innovative.
MITCH: Our draft choice that year, our first round pick,
there was like five of us in a room, scouts.
Jerry West goes "Okay, we're going to vote
and I want to know who you take, who you take,
who you take, who you take, right?"
Everybody said, you know, the same player.
ANNOUNCER: Let's find out.
We'll find out about LA, here's David Stern.
- We're all thinking he's gonna say the player
that we already agreed on.
We all agreed on it.
- With the 26th pick in the 1989 NBA draft,
the Los Angeles Lakers select Vlade Divac
from Partizan Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
MITCH: George said his talent is too good,
we have to take him, and he left the room.
And the rest of us are just sitting there
looking at each other like, "What just happened?"
- America is the land of opportunity,
even if you're a 7'0" center from Yugoslavia.
BUSS: It used to be you could send your scouts out
pretty much in colleges, but now, I mean, let's face it.
There's all kinds of European players
in all different countries.
- I was one of the first Europeans
that kind of tried to make it in the NBA.
It was just, definitely dream for the kid
that grew up in a small town in Serbia, you know,
Eastern Europe.
- Can he fill Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's shoes
with the Lakers?
- [speaks Serbian] - He's certainly going to try.
VLADE: Jerry West and Dr. Buss took a chance.
I had different life.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: And the Oscar goes to...
Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man.
ANNOUNCER: Batman finally got off the ground
last night and lines of stars were on hand
for a Gotham-sized premiere.
- In California, in Los Angeles,
it's very different weather.
The weather is very nice.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, we put the spotlight of the big man
from Yugoslavia.
ANNOUNCER: Divac shooting his first free throw in the NBA.
- A lot of teams skipped over Divac.
ANNOUNCER: With a throw like that,
he'll be the best that ever lived.
- Teams were afraid to draft him.
ANNOUNCER: Down the middle, he shot it, it's good.
JEANIE: But my dad had faith in him
and I think it was just such a wild dream for him
to come to Los Angeles.
ANNOUNCER: Back down the middle, he beats Marley,
he's underneath, give the ball--and a slam dunk.
Only about two centers in the league
would've caught that pass.
- I was a European guy, this skinny, who can run.
So I took, you know, advantage of it, you know?
Running, follow, Magic leads.
- He used to smoke and I'm like,
"You can't do that and play in the NBA!" you know?
We trying to make it to the NBA Championship!
- Okay. KJ.
PERSON: No, no. KH.
- KHJ. PERSON: J.
MAGIC: He can understand a lot of sign language.
Rebound, you know? Shoot.
- Hi, I'm Vlade Divac.
- "Kerche," which means run harder.
And "berzia," which is work, work, work.
- Boy, oh, boy, he was so smart.
He just knew things instinctively.
ANNOUNCER: No good, the rebound is [indistinct].
[indistinct] 7-footer.
20-footer by Scott. Down!
ANNOUNCER: That's a nice agility course
for a 7'0" player.
VLADE: You know, seeing all those actors on the floor,
you know, and I'm trying to, you know, figure out,
am I dreaming or is this real?
For me, it was exciting to be on television.
- What words have you learned here?
- Let's get busy. [speaks Serbian]
"Let's get busy."
MAGIC: He's like a breath of fresh air.
Here he comes bouncing in, oh, I'm so happy to be here,
I'm in the United States, LA, uh, uh, uh, uh.
JERRY: Watching young kids have success
who walk in the League with nothing,
those are the things that make me feel good.
MAGIC: You got to start from the ground up.
Be what you want, right, Vlade?
- [speaking Serbian]
JEANIE: We had Vlade Divac and there was a lot of hope,
but without Kareem, would we be able to win a championship?
- It looks like America's team is about to change hands.
- No one here can say for certain if, in fact,
the team has been sold.
- There is one man in Dallas who knows for sure,
the team's majority owner, "Bum" Bright.
- My dad called me up. He was very excited
and he said "You'll never guess,
I'm making an offer for the Dallas Cowboys."
- Football is certainly one of the most exciting sports
there is, especially to me. I love it.
And there's--I'll give you an unqualified yes.
I very definitely would like to own a football franchise.
- My dad always thought there was the Yankees in baseball,
the Cowboys in football, and the Lakers in basketball.
So adding the Cowboys would be a natural fit.
- He says "I think we're gonna get them.
I think we're really gonna get them."
And he figured out that he could raise the money
without selling the Lakers.
He says "Would you consider moving to Dallas?"
I go "Absolutely!"
Wheels are turning, spinning. He's like, excited.
You can't believe it.
And I mean literally the next morning,
he called me up and said "Guess what?
There was a leak.
And the papers talked about playboy Jerry Buss...
[camera shutters clicking]
Buying the team and religious groups
and other people just said
"No, no, no, you cannot do this."
- Even if you're the highest bidder
doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna get the team.
You have to go through a board of governors' approval.
- Him being a playboy cost him the Dallas Cowboys.
It was the most incredible...
disappointment of probably his career.
PERSON: You have children. BUSS: Yes.
PERSON: What do you want to leave them,
besides an empire here?
- If I can raise my children and make them happy
and give them a positive attitude in life,
then I think I've really left them with something.
- At that time, we were all starting
to go off in way different paths.
Jimmy had just gone through adopting a child.
You know, I was getting married myself.
- When I got married, it was a Western wedding.
My dad got to wear his blue jeans instead of a tux
and his, you know, cowboy hat.
JEANIE: It wasn't the right time for me get married,
but a woman goes through something
when she's gonna turn 30.
ANNOUNCER: There's no question he's the most famous
volleyball player in the world now.
JEANIE: I'd met Steve Timmons at the Forum.
The idea that I'd met my husband at the Forum
just is a reminder of how much my life revolved around work.
PERSON: So Jeanie gets married.
Did that surprise you?
- Was that with Steve Timmons?
Yeah.
He was a cool dude.
Hair.
That hair was pretty cool.
PERSON: What was the wedding like?
- Don't remember.
- They eloped, so like, I didn't get to see her wedding.
- We kind of had a little bit of a falling out.
I don't know, she just felt like
I wasn't supporting the marriage.
I mean, we didn't talk to each other very much anyway.
Everybody had their own lives.
- My father wanted us all to kind of find our way.
He would always say "Do what makes you happy.
If this doesn't make you happy, go do something else."
So I got my degree in psychology.
And Jimmy became a race horse trainer.
JOHNNY: That was when the indoor soccer league
called it quits and the Lazers went out of business.
JIM: I liked the Lazers a lot.
But it was totally-- I was right on board with it.
Because there was-- the league office was a joke.
- Other teams were folding around the league
and it just wasn't working.
So Jimmy went on to do horses. That was his life.
- I can remember perhaps when he was four or five
and I used to take him out to the track
on Saturday afternoons.
And he loved it.
JIM: The best memories I have of him as a young child
was going to the Del Mar Race Track.
And so probably when I was 10, 11, 12 years old,
my dad was very good at teaching me,
you know, statistics-- as a fun thing.
Yeah, there was a tremendous bond.
And it passed on to later on.
I told my dad, I said "You know,
the Forum wasn't at the time challenging enough for me."
Come on, Corey! Come on, Corey!
I don't care for losing.
I am competitive that way. It's just built-in nature.
JOHNNY: My father was worried that one of us
would go off into left field and never come home.
[engines revving]
JIM: I moved down to San Diego
and started racing Formula 3 cars.
My dad, he just said flat out,
"I'm not watching this."
But, you know, I was happy,
and, you know, now all of a sudden,
I was in control of my own destiny.
- My brothers, they had opportunities.
They didn't have to work in the family business.
You know, I spent all of my time doing work for my dad.
LINDA: Dr. Buss didn't realize how much she took on.
She wanted him to know he could count on her.
She felt an obligation to the family business.
ANNOUNCER: Jammed and jammed back, Steve Timmons.
[cheers and applause]
JEANIE: My husband signed a really big deal
to play on a professional team in Italy.
- So she moved to Italy with Steve.
- It just wasn't the happy family
that we thought it was going to be.
- Dr. Jerry Buss, you own the Lakers,
the Kings, the Blazers, the Strings, you own this house.
You own the Ocotillo Lodge in Palm Springs.
What--are you happy?
[both laugh]
I guess you would be happy. - Remarkably so.
- Are many rich people happy?
Are they as happy as you are?
- I don't know a lot of rich people intimately, Stanley,
but of the ones I do know, I sometimes wonder
if perhaps they have forgotten why they became rich,
why they went through those endless years of struggle
trying to gain some prestige, some fame,
some monetary wealth, they seem to reach that...
JOHNNY: You know, my dad was a--he was a playboy.
I mean, this is what he lived for.
And then all of a sudden, he says,
"Yeah, I think I'm in love with this one."
JIM: I remember him saying that Karen was pregnant
and he was like "Wow, this is fantastic."
JEANIE: My younger brother, Joey, was born in 1984.
And shortly after, Jesse arrived.
And Jesse was named after my dad's mother.
It was important to my dad that we were all "J" names.
JANIE: My dad was creating another life
with more children, but my mom,
she still loved my dad.
Deep down inside, I think it bothered her
just to know like, okay, the man she loved
is starting a whole new family.
JOHNNY: "I might've screwed up in my last family,
but maybe I can have that family again here."
JIM: When I was six, seven, eight years old,
I don't recall how much time he spent with us.
I'm not sure.
But I know he spent a good amount of time
with Jesse and Joey.
You know, going to basketball games and stuff like that.
- I don't remember my dad sitting me down one day
and saying "Hey, son, you know, I own the Lakers."
But people would always ask me about it.
"Oh, you know, is your dad Jerry Buss?"
- My first memories include Laker games
and going to Laker games, you know, from a very young age.
You know, those are like some of the fondest memories,
you know, I have of him.
JEANIE: When Joey and Jesse arrived,
watching my dad in the joyful part of fatherhood
and watching him engage with them, it reminded me
of the things that he missed when I was growing up.
JOHNNY: My dad's relationship with Karen,
it was a relationship like any other,
but they just didn't stay together.
- I think children, especially after
you've been married as long as we have,
it's the most important thing in life.
PAT: My children, they always say to me,
"Dad, when you were home, you were never there."
You know, men-- I was there,
but I was always thinking about basketball.
Pump it up.
Five or six pumps.
- I'd say 15 pumps.
- 20 to 25 times.
- 70 pumps will do it.
- Give it a pump-- - Pump.
- Pump it up.
Pump it, pump it, pump it-- - Hey.
PAT: Fame can grab ahold of you
and it can manifest itself into real personality changes.
Not good.
ANNOUNCER: Relief.
You know how to spell it.
- Not bad.
I was starting to grow in a way that I was doing commercials
and I was doing this thing and that.
- It's obligatory that we hold up the book,
so here it is, "Showtime: Inside the Lakers'
Breakthrough Season."
PAT: We were in the playoffs.
And I went and did the four-hour interview
trying to sell the book,
you know, the night before the game.
I'd get all over somebody else if they did it,
you know, but I went ahead and did it, you know?
That's where I had gotten to, you know?
And I thought I could handle it.
- How do you feel about the team?
Is it--are they close?
Are they like family?
- We'd like to think so.
I think players got a little bit
upset with all of that attention
that I was drawing to myself.
ANNOUNCER: He's the architect of their tenacious
end-to-end style of play dubbed "Showtime"
by adoring fans...
- I began to lose myself a little bit,
but I thought it was me--
that I thought that I was the reason
that we're successful.
Well, I think a lot of people just assumed that--
that players are self-motivated.
Your ego gets a little bit inflated.
I was on the cover of "Gentlemen's Quarterly."
JERRY: You could see him change.
There was no question he had changed.
And I think more difficult, sometimes.
Aloof.
He and I were best of friends when we were playing
and we used to do everything together.
You know, all his friends had changed, I hardly knew him.
It was almost like, you know, "This is my team."
And the one thing you cannot do in this league
is to place yourself over the owner,
the players, the franchise.
[dramatic music]
ALL: Five, four, three, two, one!
[cheers and applause]
ANNOUNCER: The game ends.
The Lakers have won it again.
PAT: After we won back-to-back titles,
I was so ensconced into winning,
but I knew that this was going to come to an end somewhere.
You know, and it was going to be either
an explosion somewhere,
or we're all just gonna retire together, happily ever after.
That doesn't happen.
Come on, get up there. Move!
We always used the phrase "it's either winning or misery
and there's no in between."
Yes!
- He was always about winning and about being tough.
Usually, Pat Riley doesn't want me to shoot the ball.
This is the only place I can shoot any kind of shot I want,
without being screamed at.
Look.
See, I don't have to worry.
- We had known Pat Riley long enough
to know that we didn't have to have that same
pounding and pressure.
- Get back! Get back!
- Some guys just was like "I can't do it no more."
When you be with a coach a long time,
some guys try to block them out.
- Yeah, I think some guys, you know, probably ignore it,
but they still know that,
you know, that's just the way it is.
STEVE: None of them would say anything bad.
They all were so respectful and so grateful.
They're not going to rip him or say I was tired of him
or it's time he left, no one would say that.
PERSON: So do you think you guys
were not listening to him anymore?
- No. Don't say "you guys."
Magic Johnson, I liked being coached hard.
Bring it.
- I would never say that
we weren't listening to him anymore.
That, I wouldn't say would be true.
- I didn't--no, no, we--
no way we were tired of listening to him.
- I think we tuned him out a little bit
and that's just natural though
because I'm pretty sure he got tired of hearing himself
say the same thing over again.
ANNOUNCER: In nine years as the Lakers' head coach,
Pat Riley's become well-acquainted with winning.
His winning percentage of 733 is the highest in NBA history.
Now, for the first time in his career,
he's been tabbed as the NBA's Coach of the Year.
- Coaches are men of integrity
and dignity and respect and pride
and you have to pay your dues for that.
I feel more comfortable about it now because...
it has aged me. [laughs]
VLADE: We played good basketball that year.
We had best record in entire season.
Obviously, playoffs is something different.
But sometimes, you know, things happen.
ANNOUNCER: This is the first game of the semi-final round
of the Western Conference.
- I lost it in the playoffs.
ANNOUNCER: Boy, this has not been a pretty half
of basketball for the Lakers.
PAT: I could feel the walls closing in.
I could feel it and I fought it.
Let's go!
I could feel them drawing away from me.
ANNOUNCER: Riley is really upset.
I mean, really. Look at this.
If looks could kill.
- I don't think there's any doubt in my mind
that I changed.
ANNOUNCER: It's a timeout because his offense
has gone totally stagnant.
- It was like war.
ANNOUNCER: And Pat Riley knows he's got to find
a way to steal these guys off.
- I couldn't get down on my knees
and mea culpa this thing.
I had to follow through with what I was doing.
Eventually, it just came down to,
you know, me calling plays for Magic Johnson.
That was it. [laughs]
I think he might've been, at that time,
the only guy in my corner, maybe.
ANNOUNCER: Three seconds of the ball game.
VLADE: After we lost the game against Phoenix in playoffs,
he would definitely, uh, show his anger.
I could tell that something is not right.
ANNOUNCER: They all leave Phoenix to a win
over the Los Angeles Lakers.
- I remember getting to the hotel
and there was a team meeting.
- I think back to that moment
and we're doing a film session,
and it was in a ballroom.
MICHAEL: I think he was trying to do anything he could
to get our attention or to instigate
some kind of motivating spirit in us.
- Everything was set up close to a couple of mirrors
and, you know, just out of anger,
I punched the mirror, cut my hand.
There was blood coming down my hand
and I never stopped yelling.
[horn blares] ANNOUNCER: It's all over.
And the Lakers with the best record of basketball
simply have not played like that in the playoffs.
This will give them a playoff...
- The players weren't happy with him.
They didn't come to me. They'd gone to Jerry.
- It takes a tremendous amount of emotion
to keep up that high every game, every year.
I'm not sure it's really good for a human being
to be a coach for eight or ten years.
- Jerry called me and said that he's going to make a change.
He said he's going to be leaving the team.
- Dr. Buss was beautiful.
Jerry told me, he said he was so proud of me.
[somber music]
Finally, we just had a meeting.
Jerry Buss, Jerry West, myself.
And we just made an exit agreement.
- It puzzles me how ten years could go by that quickly.
It's certainly been the most delightful experience
in my life.
JEANIE: The end of the '80s
brought on the end of this dynasty
that he had created, this family,
and it was hard to let that go.
- From the bottom of my heart, Pat, I thank you.
JEANIE: When Pat left, I was in Italy.
And I just felt, like, completely useless.
I was living in this little small town,
and they paid my husband a lot of money,
so I was happy for him to have that ability
to earn money off, you know,
a sport that he had dedicated so many years to.
But I felt like I was a piece of excess baggage for him.
There was a lot of things that I could do from Italy.
Tennis is a worldwide sport.
But it still wasn't the same
as being at my office at my desk.
I was used to being part of the event,
being a promoter,
being on the operations.
It was a really lonely time for me.
I was homesick.
[plane whooshes]
I was going back and forth.
I think Steve was resentful.
We had a few fights where he said
"You put what your family needs ahead of our relationship."
And the marriage, you know, only lasted three years.
LINDA: She took it really hard.
That was a tough time for her.
She felt they were gonna have children together.
And then things kind of turned bad.
ANNOUNCER: 1990 entered a new look Lakers,
new coach, new players, and new styles.
ANNOUNCER: The Los Angeles Lakers
are more than a basketball team.
They are "Showtime."
But last season, the show ended early,
just one curtain call in post-season play.
And now the team that built its reputation on transition
is in one.
Mike Dunleavy is the new Lakers head coach,
replacing the flashy Pat Riley.
STEVE: Mike Dunleavy had some credentials.
He was an assistant coach, he was respected,
but he wasn't Pat Riley.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Mike's approach was definitely
a bit different than Pat Riley.
He was much easier. MIKE: If the coach is
continually coming down on you,
sometimes that's not the way it works.
You know, the best way is to try and get that guy
the confidence and make him feel good about himself again.
- And when he's making you run 20 wind sprints,
he's also sitting there shooting hook shots
with you to make you forget
that he had pushed you that hard.
[laughs]
- It was a different coach.
You know, Dunleavy was a execution coach.
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers are more methodical
in their half-court offense and they love to post up.
- We looked at our team as still a team
that can get up and down and run with anybody.
ANNOUNCER: Fast to pull off his toes.
Three on one, Magic to Worthy.
Chrysler gives him the slam.
BYRON: Mike is coming from a totally different
background in the east.
You know, he would slow down, ground,
pound it, you know, get the ball in the post,
you know, play inside, the out, you know,
so it was a different philosophy for us.
ANNOUNCER: And the Lakers want a slow-down, play half-court.
- It wasn't that run, run, run, run, run.
VLADE: You know, even though Mike was an experienced coach,
but, you know, having Magic makes a big difference.
ANNOUNCER: Magic!
ANNOUNCER: What a pass to Divac.
- Magic was like "No, this is good.
We'll make it work."
And then he had to start going in the post.
ANNOUNCER: Now the ball to Magic, posting up again.
- So we start playing off him a lot more.
It was a big-time adjustment,
you know, for me, as far as just playing
half-court basketball and, you know,
hoping the ball comes out, you know,
from the post and you get a shot.
ANNOUNCER: Kearns, Johnson, brings it out to Scott.
20-footer [indistinct].
- My preference? Of course, no.
I'm gone. Let me run.
Let me be free.
- [laughs] I didn't like it.
You know, 'cause I loved the fact
that we would get up and run, you know?
That was my style.
- In front of the home crowd, perhaps a little less
"Slowtime" and a little more "Showtime."
- The players were like-- they were ready for a change,
but then when the change came, they were like
"Well, what happened to Showtime?"
BYRON: That did hurt when you hear "Slowtime"
instead of "Showtime."
I was like "Man, I don't know who the hell
"they're talking about, you know, 'Slowtime.'
I can still run with the best of them."
- I never thought "Slowtime" was true.
I could accept time for a change.
New style.
AC: That is so contrary to what Dr. Buss...
[laughs] Created.
STEVE: They hated it. It was reality.
I mean, it wasn't disrespectful.
They weren't what they had been.
But they were winning.
ANNOUNCER: Winning 31 in their last 36,
Los Angeles has reason to celebrate.
- It worked, but it worked because of the great players
that we had, we were able to adapt,
you know, like most great players can.
You know, you can adapt to any situation.
ANNOUNCER: The NBA is a league of stars,
and none shine brighter than Magic Johnson
and Michael Jordan, and while much has been said
about their respective teams,
nothing has been more anticipated
than their individual matchup.
- In '91, we came up against a team that were like us in '85.
They were hungry.
From where all the experts had picked us,
not getting to the finals and all that,
to get to the finals and play against Chicago,
that was a pretty good accomplishment.
- We had Magic. They had Michael.
JAMES: Jordan had a talent that you can't teach.
But they'd never experienced a finals before.
ANNOUNCER: This is a franchise that's celebrating
its 25 anniversary with the team's first trip
to the NBA Finals.
VLADE: I couldn't sleep.
I was dreaming about the championship.
First game, we won.
- Second game, they made a few adjustments.
BYRON: Phil Jackson was a great coach.
And he understood how to utilize one of the most,
you know, dynamic players in the League.
- Everything went downhill after that.
- They destroyed us. [laughs]
ANNOUNCER: And the Chicago Bulls
have won their first-ever NBA Championship!
JORDAN: Passing the torch.
I mean, the NBA has got so many players
that represents them, and I think besides myself,
they were obviously Charles Barkley, all those guys,
is going to carry the label of the NBA from now on.
- I'm not a sore loser or a bad loser,
but I'm a frustrated loser because I want to figure out
what happened and then I'm going to make sure
it don't happen again.
- It was hard to lose to the Chicago Bulls
in '91, but it was kind of like "Oh, good,
here's the next chapter."
But we never got to see that next round
of Jordan versus Magic.
[exciting music]
ANNOUNCER: And now, ladies and gentlemen, live
from the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California
two cross-town rivals
clash in the Battle of LA.
It's the Los Angeles Lakers' home opener
and they meet the Los Angeles Clippers.
ANNOUNCER: Magic Johnson is here tonight
and that's a good sign.
He will not play, he will not play Friday,
he held a press conference, a brief one
with the press corps here tonight,
told them that he still feels very weak from the dehydration
that accompanied the flu, but we want him totally well
and rush him back and...
GARY: What's going on?
He didn't have the flu.
I'm saying to myself "We did the physical exam
like, more than two weeks ago."
His cardiology came back clean.
His blood panels came back clean.
Anything that would've shown would've shown.
And then it hit me.
There was a second physical exam that was done beyond ours
by the insurance company.
I didn't know the results.
But now I kind of thought maybe that's it.
- I'm just trying to be patient
and get back and come back right.
GARY: There was only seven people that knew
for two weeks.
We were telling people that he had the flu.
So every day "Hey, how's he feeling?"
"When's he coming back?" You know?
"Is he feeling better?"
And I kept that quiet.
My family,
teammates, coaches.
We lied to the world.
- I feel bad, I feel bad.
- Playing tonight? - Nah, I gotta miss you.
- Come on, you gonna miss me? - I'ma miss you.
[indistinct chatter] [laughter]
You guys. Man, how you been, man?
What's up, Kenny?
- They really act like they're sad
'cause you ain't gonna play tonight.
- Yeah, yeah, you know how that is, you know.
All right, man.
You know how it go. [laughter]
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
- We were practicing at Loyola Marymount.
- 9:30 we normally start practice,
9:00 you were there training room,
just getting yourself ready.
♪ ♪
- We were halfway through the practice
when Gary Vitti, our trainer, pulled us all together.
- Everybody has to go to the Forum, mandatory.
- Meeting at the Forum?
We're like "We're already here at practice."
BYRON: James Worthy looked at me and said
"What you think is going on?"
I said "I don't know, it's got to be something with Buck.
You know, because he's been kind of in and out,
he hasn't practiced in a while."
- "Get over there right now and don't turn your radios on."
Well, first thing you're gonna do when
you get in your car is you're gonna turn your radio on.
ANNOUNCER: You're listening to
KFWB Los Angeles, Southern California...
- We're driving over 10 minutes from practice
still not knowing anything.
ANNOUNCER: It's 51 degrees in Hollywood...
- I don't think I heard anything on the radio,
so I still didn't know.
- We got into the locker room and you see some of our doctors,
upper management.
- [sighs] We sit in the locker room.
- We're talking, but you can feel
there's like something more.
- And Buck comes in, smiling.
"What's up, fellas?"
- Coach is normally up there right at the whiteboard,
you know, so you think a play is gonna be
called or something like that.
- I'm expecting him to say
"I've played enough, I'm gonna retire."
- He says "Fellas, I have, you know, contracted HIV virus
and I'm gonna have to retire right now.
I'm not gonna be able to play."
- First thing that comes to your mind is
that could've been any of us.
- Now, that room was full of guys crying.
- I was crying like somebody's gonna die.
- I had known four people that had contracted the HIV virus
and none of them beat it.
AC: I remember telling, you know,
let's say a word of prayer.
God, help.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Help.
- And he walked around to each and every one of us,
gave us a hug, and went upstairs and told the world.
♪ ♪
- Earvin got up to the podium, a room full of pe--
I mean, you couldn't put another chair in that room.
It was so many reporters.
To the point where us as players,
who walked upstairs to listen to him,
you know, we couldn't even get in.
We just--we had to stand by the door.
- Because of the HIV virus that I have obtained,
I will have to retire from the Lakers today.
STEVE: I mean, we were all in shock.
It's the only press conference I've ever been to
where reporters are crying.
- This is not like my life is over because it's not,
I'ma live on.
MICHAEL: When he said that, it kind of like,
you know, a little bit of me,
I was probably about 30% saying "Okay, you got it."
But 70% saying "Well, here we go again."
- I admired his strength.
I was like "Oh, my gosh" you know?
But in my mind, I'm going "He's in denial.
You're gonna die."
- Now, of course I will miss the battles and the wars
and I will miss you guys, but life goes on.
You know, only thing I can do is have a bright side.
JEANIE: The strength came from the person
who was dealing with his own mortality
and having to give up basketball.
MAGIC: For those plans I don't know right now,
I'm gonna take some time.
- The one guy that made everything happen
was now fighting for his life.
Wow. It's crazy.
BUSS: I knew what he was going to say
and I could see how brave he was.
My head was swimming. My mind was in a swirl.
And I started sobbing.
And Kareem was there and he was very strong.
PERSON: Dr. Buss ran out of the room and he ran by me
and he was sobbing and I'd never heard a man sob before.
And that shook me.
JEANIE: Kareem was the tallest man I'd ever seen.
[laughs]
Here, him kinda awkwardly trying to put his arms
around my dad, which wasn't really
Kareem's comfort level either.
KAREEM: It was like he didn't know what to do.
You know, it was so unexpected.
It was tough.
JEANIE: I'd only seen my dad cry twice in my life.
Once when his mother, my grandmother, passed away.
And that day.
- [sighs] Well, we both cried together.
[clears throat]
It was--it was a tough day for both of us.
And a tough moment.
BUSS: You know, I became an owner and he became
an NBA player at the same moment.
I had never done anything like that.
He had never done it.
We kind of would cling to each other for support.
We just started enjoying each other's company.
- How are we gonna go on?
How are we gonna have--
How are we gonna have a game?
How are we gonna play basketball?
You know, without Magic on the court.
What's it gonna be like?
What is Lakers basketball without Magic Johnson?
[sighs]
[cheers and applause]
ANNOUNCER: Good afternoon to you, ladies and gentlemen.
We are here for a very special moment
in Laker basketball history.
- He asked Magic, asked...
[voice breaking] Asked him to retire his jersey.
So he could be there. [sobs]
He was so brave.
And every--all the rest of us were scared to death.
KAREEM: Ladies and gentlemen, here we are again.
And it was a long time ago when we first
welcomed this young man out here on this court.
And in the interim, he's taught us a whole lot,
He's taught us a lot about him, he's taught us about ourselves,
he's taught us about the game of basketball,
he's taught us about winning.
I think the most important thing for me
was that Earvin made me realize
that I was having a good time.
You get caught up into like, the difficult part of your job
and you don't realize what it is that you're doing
and what is it that you're sharing with everybody.
[cheers and applause]
So I want to say personally, thank you, Earvin.
We love you, I love you, good luck.
[cheers and applause]
[uplifting music]
♪ ♪
MAGIC: People ask me all the time
what do I miss most about not playing?
And it's not the playing part I miss the most,
it's just being one of the boys.
You never know how great it is
to be one of 12 guys
that you come out and you work hard for eight months
and you're trying to fight for a common goal.
I learned a lot from each and every one of them,
that we shared all those great times together.
[cheers and applause]
Talking to a man upstairs there,
we're gonna talk about two men, God and the other one
who brought me here.
To Dr. Jerry Buss, thank you for being like my LA father,
taking me in,
teaching me how to go from a young man to a man.
I really appreciate it.
BUSS: I mean, it was such an emotional period.
We met before he was 20.
I talked to his father and he said, you know,
"Watch him, take care of him."
- [sighs]
And he did that.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
He did that.
♪ ♪