Magic, Michael: Enough Said

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls will meet Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers tonight, in a game of basketball involving, perhaps, the two most famous active athletes on earth.

Jordan, who hasn’t played at the Forum since Nov. 20, 1992, when he scored 54 points, a record for any Laker opponent that still stands, on Johnson:

“I never thought this would happen, and it has. Funny how things happen. I never thought I’d be back, and I’m pretty sure he never thought he’d be back. Our love for the game has drawn us back.”

Johnson, who hasn’t played against the Bulls since June 12, 1991, when he had 16 points, 20 assists and played every minute of Game 5 of the NBA finals, in a losing cause, on Jordan:

“He’s already licking his chops. He wants to put on a show, same as me.”

The world has revolved a few times since their last meeting. International interest exists in tonight’s game, even though it is simply a scheduled mid-season attraction with nothing vital at stake. Jordan and Johnson have returned from self-imposed exile to renew a rivalry between men who have eight championships and great friendship between them.

In short, it isn’t your typical Friday night ballgame, and, as Johnson said Thursday after practice with the Lakers, “I’m trying to get these guys to understand that.”

There was a time, in 1979, when the Lakers and Bulls flipped a coin for the draft rights to Michigan State sophomore Johnson. The Bulls called heads; it came up tails. Magic says he would have returned to school rather than play for the Bulls. Chicago people say, well, with Magic on our team, we never would have had Michael. Others say, shhhhh, they’ll never admit this, but certain Laker and Bull big shots secretly preferred Arkansas’ Sidney Moncrief.

The Lakers took Johnson and won the NBA championship, immediately. The Bulls took David Greenwood of UCLA, charged right out and won 31 games, after having won 30 the season before.

The star of that team was 7-foot center Artis Gilmore, a guy so cheerful, he once wadded up a candy wrapper and threw it at a reporter’s face. (Gilmore’s hands being what they were, he missed.) Their hot rookie of the previous season was Reggie Theus, who now sits court-side in his hometown of Inglewood, doing television for Prime Sports, analyzing that Johnson kid who broke into the NBA a year after he did.

On trips to L.A., the Bulls weren’t exactly the huge draw they are now. People did show up, though. One night, John (Crash) Mengelt of the Bulls, a player who needed an air bag, went tumbling into the expensive court-side seats of the Forum, in pursuit of a loose ball. After the game, Mengelt was asked, “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No,” he said, “but I almost kicked Walter Matthau in the face.”

Tonight, with the Bulls in town to play the Lakers, any seat in the house, bird’s-eye or nose-bleed, Nicholson or Uecker level, is one of the hottest tickets money can buy. There will be a quorum at the Forum for this one, because not only have the Bulls become the SRO act of basketball, but tonight we reunite the Beatles, bringing you Mr. Jordan and Mr. Johnson in their ’96 Back in the USA Tour.

Showtime with the Apollos.

Age cannot wither them, nor custom stale their infinite variety. Few fans expected to see the Antony and Cleopatra of the NBA get back on the same barge again. Muscular men should carry them into the arena tonight, with cheerleaders spreading rose petals.

But that’s not all.

For this one, we get the whole cast of thousands. Conquering heroes (Jordan, Johnson), young princes (Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones), cunning marksmen (Scottie Pippen, Cedric Ceballos), able soldiers (Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc), mercurial rivals (Elden Campbell, Ron Harper), even a court jester (Dennis Rodman).

We get contrast galore: West vs. Midwest, our snow-capped coach against their bush-beard coach, our Jerries (Buss and West) versus their Jerries (Reinsdorf and Krause).

Those years surrounding the drafting of Magic, the Bulls’ teams went 30-52 and 31-51. They come into tonight’s game with a record of 40-3, sniffing like bloodhounds after the L.A.-held greatest NBA single-season record of all time. Few of us thought any team with Wilt Chamberlain at center could be challenged by any team with Luc Longley at center, but luc, what do we know?

The Bulls have gone global.

Two years ago, in a gift shop, you could buy a novelty item, Russian nesting cups of Chicago players. Inside a small, wooden, painted doll of Jordan was a smaller doll of Horace Grant, then a smaller doll of Scottie Pippen, then a smaller doll of B.J. Armstrong, then a smaller doll of John Paxson. They were manufactured and sold in St. Petersburg. . . .

Not Florida.

Russia.

Two championships got away from the Bulls while their living legend was dabbling in baseball, but this season’s team has a new look--a dyed, tattooed look, from Dennis Rodman, who, at forward, is likely to bump into Johnson tonight, now that Magic’s new position is something called point power forward.

“Am I ready for him?” Johnson asks. “Hey, nobody’s ever ready for Dennis.”

It’s prime time, and Johnson is primed.

“They’re the best team in basketball,” he says of the Bulls. “They have the best defensive team, as well as the best team at executing their offense. And then, instead of having one go-to guy, they’ve got two [Jordan and Pippen] at the end to win the game. They are very, very good. It can be close for 3 1/2 quarters, but they’re going to win in the end because they know how.”

Johnson on Jordan?

Not tonight. Not on defense.

“Once or twice,” Magic says. “But that’s it. I don’t think we really want to guard each other. He’s got the quickness over me, and I’ve got the strength and size over him. He’ll go to his strength, I’ll go to mine.”

And?

“And, then watch Michael’s eyes light up,” Johnson goes on. “Michael’s out to put on a show, just like Larry [Bird] would whenever he came to L.A. or New York. [Jordan] figures this is his time to showcase, sell a few more shoes, rub it in his boy’s face. His boy being me.”

Laker-Bulls Notes

Bull center Luc Longley was put on the injured list Thursday because of a sprained knee ligament, moving Bill Wennington into the opening lineup.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tonight’s Game

* TEAMS: Lakers (25-18) vs.

Chicago Bulls (40-3).

* SITE: Forum (sold out).

* TIME: 7:30

* TV: Prime Sports, TNT (subject

to blackout).

* RADIO: KLAC (570), KWIZ (1480).

* STREAKS: Bulls have won 17 in a row, Lakers eight of nine.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tale of the Tape

Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson are 6-6 in games played against each other. A look at how they compare in those games:

*--*

Jordan Johnson FG Pct .475 .527 3FG.3FGA 4-14 11-27 FT Pct. .850 .850 Scoring Avg. 31.3 19.8 High Game 42 31 Rebound Avg. 6.6 5.8 Assist Avg. 6.8 12.0 Steals 28 13 Blocks 10 0 Minutes 489 440

*--*

*

MONEY GAME

Sizing up Magic Johnson’s prospects as a pitchman. D1