Basketball · 1980 · Philadelphia, USA
Rookie at Centre
With his injured superstar centre left behind in Los Angeles, a 20-year-old rookie point guard jumps centre for the deciding game of the NBA Finals.
42 pts, 15 reb, 7 ast
Stat line
Lakers 123-107 76ers
Result
Finals MVP (first rookie ever)
Award
The Los Angeles Lakers led the Philadelphia 76ers three games to two in the 1980 NBA Finals when the centre Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the league's reigning MVP, was ruled out of Game 6 with a severely sprained ankle. Coach Paul Westhead did not start a traditional backup centre. He sent out Magic Johnson, a rookie point guard in his first professional season, to take the opening tip.
Johnson played all five positions across the game as the Lakers' lineup rotated around him, finishing with 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, a good share of those minutes spent at centre against Philadelphia's front line. Los Angeles won 123-107 and the championship with it.
He was named Finals MVP, the first rookie in NBA history to win the award. The positional versatility that defined the rest of his career was already fully on display in his first season, under about as much pressure as the job provides.
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