Having Outdone Larry Bird’s Celtics Twice, Magic Johnson Shares Winning Tactics With Jason Kidd as Mavs Trail 0–2

While they entered the NBA Finals seemingly as fan favorites, there seems to be no end to the Dallas Mavericks’ struggles as of now. The Mavs are trailing 2-0 in the series after losing Game 2 tonight in Boston. And it looks like the 5x NBA champ Magic Johnson has figured out where the team is facing problems against the Boston Celtics, a franchise that shares a lot of history with the LA Lakers icon.

Considering Johnson outperformed the Celtics, which had prime Larry Bird on it, in multiple Finals, the Mavs could definitely use some guidance from the 12x All-Star. “The Mavs are doing too much standing around and watching Luka and Kyrie go one on one. If they want to win, they need more ball movement and to start pushing the pace to get more easy buckets!” Johnson posted on X.

Notably, Doncic recorded a triple-double in Game 2 against the Celtics. With this, he has become the youngest player in NBA history to record a 30-point triple-double in the Finals. But the rest of the roster has not been providing adequate support for the 25-year-old. Although Mavs’ all five starters hit the double-digit mark in Game 2, they shot just 1-of-11 from the three-point range combined.

According to LandofBasketball.com, only 7.4% of teams in NBA history have ever recovered from a 0-2 deficit in playoffs. As for the Finals, the records show only five teams who made a comeback after trailing 0-2 in the series. So the odds seem to be against the Mavericks, but the possibilities are not non-existent. The least the Mavs can do now is follow Johnson’s suggestion and deliver a more impactful performance as a unit.

A look-back at Magic Johnson’s NBA Finals history with the Celtics

Most basketball enthusiasts would know Bird and Johnson’s rivalry started in the 1979 NCAA championship game. And this continued in the NBA too, after the two landed with the Celtics and Lakers, respectively. The outcome of their rivalry in the league was quite similar to their college days.

While Bird had a better stat line as compared to the Lakers icon, Johnson had more championships to his name. However, despite playing for more than a decade against each other, the two players met in the NBA Finals only three times — 1984, 1985, and 1987.

And Magic Johnson’s Lakers has a 2-1 lead in this matchup, winning the 1984 and 1987 NBA championships. Now it’s to be seen if the Mavericks can take something from the Lakers icon’s suggestions and claim their second NBA championship ever.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.