SHOWTIME Fastbreak Highlights

[Goudelock]

Watch on YouTube

One day, I was curious about the Lakers of the 1980's. I'd watched some of them while I had made other videos, but I never paid much attention to those teams. So I was like "I'll just go on YouTube and watch a compilation video of some showtime fastbreaks." However..........there are no such videos on YouTube. There were countless individual highlights of James Worthy and Magic Johnson, but not general highlights of the team itself. So I decided to make the video myself. I took the best fastbreaks from 50 different games and put them into this monstrosity of a video. Anyways, here's my random thoughts on the 1979-1991 Los Angeles Lakers and their players after watching all those games.

1: Saying that Magic Johnson is the greatest passer of all time feels like an understatement. He routinely threw passes that blew my mind that didn’t even make the usual highlight reels.

2: Showtime was much, much, much more than Magic running 3 on 1 fastbreaks with Byron Scott and James Worthy. Everyone on that team, from Mike McGee to Jamal Wilkes to Billy Thompson to Michael Cooper on down busted their ass to get down the floor whenever the possibility of a fastbreak appeared.

3: The showtime Lakers seemed to have 3 different iterations: the early teams with Nixon and Wilkes where Kareem still had some athleticism left and Magic was skinny, the dominant teams of the mid-80’s where Worthy, Scott, and Magic were all in their prime and Kareem had started to slow down but hadn’t completely lost it yet, and the late 80’s-early 90’s squads where you could tell the Lakers were starting to age and slow down collectively but were still extremely good.

4: Speaking of those three iterations, my favorite version was probably the ones with Bob McAdoo and Norm Nixon. Watching those players were a treat, especially Bob McAdoo. Whenever Kareem or Rambis needed a rest, they’d bring Bob off the bench and he always seemed to hit a few of his vintage jumpshots to keep the offense rolling. Norm Nixon was my second favorite, since he had such an aesthetically pleasing game. Fast as hell, good on defense, a decent passer, and accurate gunner out to 18 feet, he was the perfect complement to Magic. Nixon was also just perfect for that kind of team, since he got to use his insane speed regularly.

5: Byron Scott had a really annoying tendency to shoot long 20 foot 2s on the fast break and it started to annoy me over the course of making the video. Michael Cooper had figured out that shooting 3s was a good idea in those situations, but BS didn’t seem to until the late 80’s. Other than that, Byron Scott seemed like the kind of player that I would love to root for. He always played hard, defended with intensity, and knew his role on the team (shoot jumpers, dunk in transition, and don’t do anything stupid with the ball).

I’ll probably have some other things to write later, but that’s all I can think of for now. Anyways, I hope that all of you enjoy an hour of Showtime fastbreaks!

[Sedale Threatt]

That's probably my favorite picture of Magic.

[KobeBryant24]

thats some nice defense back in the day

[Blackmill]

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

One day, I was curious about the Lakers of the 1980's. I'd watched some of them while I had made other videos, but I never paid much attention to those teams. So I was like "I'll just go on YouTube and watch a compilation video of some showtime fastbreaks." However..........there are no such videos on YouTube. There were countless individual highlights of James Worthy and Magic Johnson, but not general highlights of the team itself. So I decided to make the video myself. I took the best fastbreaks from 50 different games and put them into this monstrosity of a video. Anyways, here's my random thoughts on the 1979-1991 Los Angeles Lakers and their players after watching all those games.

1: Saying that Magic Johnson is the greatest passer of all time feels like an understatement. He routinely threw passes that blew my mind that didn’t even make the usual highlight reels.

2: Showtime was much, much, much more than Magic running 3 on 1 fastbreaks with Byron Scott and James Worthy. Everyone on that team, from Mike McGee to Jamal Wilkes to Billy Thompson to Michael Cooper on down busted their ass to get down the floor whenever the possibility of a fastbreak appeared.

3: The showtime Lakers seemed to have 3 different iterations: the early teams with Nixon and Wilkes where Kareem still had some athleticism left and Magic was skinny, the dominant teams of the mid-80’s where Worthy, Scott, and Magic were all in their prime and Kareem had started to slow down but hadn’t completely lost it yet, and the late 80’s-early 90’s squads where you could tell the Lakers were starting to age and slow down collectively but were still extremely good.

4: Speaking of those three iterations, my favorite version was probably the ones with Bob McAdoo and Norm Nixon. Watching those players were a treat, especially Bob McAdoo. Whenever Kareem or Rambis needed a rest, they’d bring Bob off the bench and he always seemed to hit a few of his vintage jumpshots to keep the offense rolling. Norm Nixon was my second favorite, since he had such an aesthetically pleasing game. Fast as hell, good on defense, a decent passer, and accurate gunner out to 18 feet, he was the perfect complement to Magic. Nixon was also just perfect for that kind of team, since he got to use his insane speed regularly.

5: Byron Scott had a really annoying tendency to shoot long 20 foot 2s on the fast break and it started to annoy me over the course of making the video. Michael Cooper had figured out that shooting 3s was a good idea in those situations, but BS didn’t seem to until the late 80’s. Other than that, Byron Scott seemed like the kind of player that I would love to root for. He always played hard, defended with intensity, and knew his role on the team (shoot jumpers, dunk in transition, and don’t do anything stupid with the ball).

I’ll probably have some other things to write later, but that’s all I can think of for now. Anyways, I hope that all of you enjoy an hour of Showtime fastbreaks!

Unfortunately, my connection is garbage right now, so I can't watch the video.

That said, with all the games you watched, did you notice Magic shooting many more jumpers starting in '85 and then not so many after '87? I've tried to figure out why he stopped shooting from distance since I think he had a good jumper when given a small amount of room. After all, he was an exceptional free throw shooter. And I don't think his change in shot selection is entirely explained by more post play, since from 88-91, I felt he had opportunities to shoot the jumper in the PnR (and would have from 85-87) but chose not to. I haven't seen this discussed, though, so I'm really hoping for a second opinion.

[MAMBAEMD]

Great stuff Pocky.
I really enjoyed watching this. Brought back great memories from my teenage years.
Those early to mid 80s Laker teams were incredible.
Their defense was underrated.
And once they got a defensive rebound or when the other team scored, they got the outlet going super rapidly and they ran.
They were absolutely beautiful to watch.

Watching these highlights, reminds me of how good those Laker teams were and how much the game has really changed.

[Beethoven]

Watch on YouTube

no such videos on YouTube

You did realgm and YouTube a service with this video. Actually the whole internet.

[Goudelock]

I’ll probably have some other things to write later, but that’s all I can think of for now. Anyways, I hope that all of you enjoy an hour of Showtime fastbreaks!

Unfortunately, my connection is garbage right now, so I can't watch the video.

That said, with all the games you watched, did you notice Magic shooting many more jumpers starting in '85 and then not so many after '87? I've tried to figure out why he stopped shooting from distance since I think he had a good jumper when given a small amount of room. After all, he was an exceptional free throw shooter. And I don't think his change in shot selection is entirely explained by more post play, since from 88-91, I felt he had opportunities to shoot the jumper in the PnR (and would have from 85-87) but chose not to. I haven't seen this discussed, though, so I'm really hoping for a second opinion.

I did notice it, especially in semi-transition situations where the defense backed too far off of a charging Magic. There are several instances of this in game 1 of the 1987 Finals. But yeah, like you said, it seemed like he stopped shooting those jumpers after 1987 for a reasons unexplained. I do think that increased post play may explain a lot of it, since Kareem was slowing down by then and Magic was getting slightly older and was more comfortable down in the post.

By his last year, Magic also developed a 3 pointer that he seemed to like taking off of the dribble. Which was rather surprising since he didn't seem to like to do that from midrange after 1988 or so.

that's some nice defense back in the day

If there's anything I learned from making this video and watching all those games, it's that 80's defense was 10% as physical as the old-timers make it out to be. Possibly less physical than today's league, actually. Which is something I enjoyed, since the game was much more wide-open and fast-paced. The refereeing still sucked though, especially in the post. They called some really ticky tack fouls down there.

[Sedale Threatt]

Yeah, I have to wonder what people who rave about 80s physicality were watching, or more likely, that they never watched at all. People get hung up on the fact that you could lay people out with zero repercussion. (If I'm not mistaken, Kevin McHale didn't even get ejected, let alone suspended, for decking Rambis in the 84 Finals. Today he would have been done for the rest of the series.)

But otherwise, the fact that you could effectively run a fluid, high-scoring offense with everybody operating within 15 or 20 feet of the rim, with almost zero floor spacing as we now know it, tells you all you need to know about 80s defenses. Not to mention the fact that it wasn't unheard of for teams like the Lakers to rack up 40 or 50 fastbreak points in a game. I think they had a game against Boston in the 87 Finals where they were over 60!!! That would never, ever, ever happen in today's game. Hell, it's an achievement now just to get 20.

What happened with the physicality myth was that the scum bag Pistons took things to extremes, then Riley's Knicks followed suit, and before long the league degenerated into sumo ball, with players clutching and grabbing each other all over the court and scores dropping into the toilet. At that point it truly was physical, but to me, that isn't basketball. I can see where people don't like how 3-point heavy the NBA has gotten. But I will gladly take the product we have today over where it was in the 90s and early 00s. It was almost unwatchable.

The thing about defense is that you don't even necessarily have to be especially physical to be effective. The Bulls and more recently the Spurs had historically great defenses, and I wouldn't say they were overly hard-nosed. Great organization and teamwork is the key, and that's where defenses really stand out today compared to the 80s. They just put a ton more work into things like rotations and playing as an entire unit. That, in turn, begat the need for offenses to spread things out via floor spacing, which combined with the analytic movement begat the 3-point frenzy we have today.

It's the natural evolution of things, just how the NFL passing game is so much more expansive and advanced than it used to be.

[Goudelock]

Yeah, I have to wonder what people who rave about 80s physicality were watching, or more likely, that they never watched at all. People get hung up on the fact that you could lay people out with zero repercussion. (If I'm not mistaken, Kevin McHale didn't even get ejected, let alone suspended, for decking Rambis in the 84 Finals. Today he would have been done for the rest of the series.)

But otherwise, the fact that you could effectively run a fluid, high-scoring offense with everybody operating within 15 or 20 feet of the rim, with almost zero floor spacing as we now know it, tells you all you need to know about 80s defenses. Not to mention the fact that it wasn't unheard of for teams like the Lakers to rack up 40 or 50 fastbreak points in a game. I think they had a game against Boston in the 87 Finals where they were over 60!!! That would never, ever, ever happen in today's game. Hell, it's an achievement now just to get 20.

What happened with the physicality myth was that the scum bag Pistons took things to extremes, then Riley's Knicks followed suit, and before long the league degenerated into sumo ball, with players clutching and grabbing each other all over the court and scores dropping into the toilet. At that point it truly was physical, but to me, that isn't basketball. I can see where people don't like how 3-point heavy the NBA has gotten. But I will gladly take the product we have today over where it was in the 90s and early 00s. It was almost unwatchable.

The thing about defense is that you don't even necessarily have to be especially physical to be effective. The Bulls and more recently the Spurs had historically great defenses, and I wouldn't say they were overly hard-nosed. Great organization and teamwork is the key, and that's where defenses really stand out today compared to the 80s. They just put a ton more work into things like rotations and playing as an entire unit. That, in turn, begat the need for offenses to spread things out via floor spacing, which combined with the analytic movement begat the 3-point frenzy we have today.

It's the natural evolution of things, just how the NFL passing game is so much more expansive and advanced than it used to be.

This year's Finals were more physical than anything I saw over the course of making the video.

A few other notes from the video are:

1: James Worthy had the fastest first step I've ever seen. He also seemed to have a very mediocre vertical jump, but was capable of levitating horizontally for very long stretches of time. A lot of dunks where Worthy would only get a foot off of the ground, but would float for several feet towards the rim.

2: Kurt Rambis was an amazing inbounder. Immediately after the opponent scored, he would sprint out of bounds and get the ball ready to inbound. Rambis was also much more athletic than I thought he would be. He couldn't jump well, but he could run for days and had good quickness.

3: Transition defense was horrific back then, like you said. Teams would continually crash the offensive glass, leaving 2 guys to defend 3 Lakers when Kareem or Magic would snare the board and start the break. It was infuriating watching teams do this time and again, even though it didn't seem to work most of the time. Except for when the team had Moses Malone or Olajuwon, because those guys (esp. Moses) ate Kareem for breakfast on the glass.

4: Before Kareem lost his athleticism in the late 80's, the guy could move like a guard. Even if he had trouble with brutes like Moses, Kareem had no problem moving up and down the court.

[Kilroy]

You can't define an era in a few highlight clips. The reputation the 80's had for defense can't be captured in clips like this.

Neither can 'Showtime' for that matter. Even the highlights makes it too predictable and 2 dimensional... The beauty of Showtime was that you knew it was going to be amazing... You knew if Kareem got the ball inside, he was going to shoot the skyhook, and if he got fouled it was as good as if he made the shot. You knew that magic was going to light people up for dimes all over the floor....
You knew all that... But every single game was full of amazing surprises. It was the most vibrant, engaging form of sports I've ever seen...

[Goudelock]

So I take it that you didn't enjoy the video?

You can't define an era in a few highlight clips.

It's not supposed to be an all-encompassing video of the Showtime Era. It's just supposed to feature the most famous aspect of those teams, which were their stunning fastbreaks.

The reputation the 80's had for defense can't be captured in clips like this.

I agree with you on this. I"m not basing my opinions on 80's defense on a few highlights I watched here or there. I've watched at least 50 complete games and several parts of others in the last year. That's where my opinion on 80's defense has been formed.

Neither can 'Showtime' for that matter. Even the highlights makes it too predictable and 2 dimensional...

Am in agreement here too. The halfcourt offense of the Lakers was just as dazzling as their fastbreaks.

The beauty of Showtime was that you knew it was going to be amazing... You knew if Kareem got the ball inside, he was going to shoot the skyhook, and if he got fouled it was as good as if he made the shot.

You're mostly right about that, but Kareem also seemed to have a diverse post game aside from just the skyhook too. Had a good drop-step and even a bit of a turnaround jumpshot.

You knew that magic was going to light people up for dimes all over the floor....

I knew this going in, but I was still blown away by how great he was. He made great passes that didn't even show up on the highlight reel. Before I started my deep dive into watching all this footage, I had some Bulls fan tell me that MJ was just as good as Magic at passing. He was full of ****.

You knew all that... But every single game was full of amazing surprises. It was the most vibrant, engaging form of sports I've ever seen...

Yup, I was entertained by this team more than any other team I've watched, aside from Kobe/Pau/Jackson Lakers.

[TheRealKaboom]

It's funny. An entire generation of players grew up watching Jordan and later Kobe and wanted to emulate their game. LaVar made Lonzo grow up watching videos like this one instead and now we are seeing the result.

People think Lonzo's game is unusual as if it's never been seen before. It has, it's just been a long time.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using RealGM mobile app

[Kilroy]

thats some nice defense back in the day

Upon a second look... Not sure how anybody can mock the defense in those clips... I think every single 'showtime' highlight began with a spectacular defensive play... 'Block by Kareem... Block by Kareem... Etc... Steel by Magic, steel by Scott, Steel by Worthy.... Etc etc...

That's what people don't get about showtime... It started with excellent ball-hawking defense... Maybe not excellent 1:1, half court D, but at the very least, elite transition and team d...

In order for Ball to be 'Magic-lite' he's going to need to develop some fast hands on D... We all are... We need blocks and steels to get out in transition. Without that, we're not going to be all that dynamic, even with Ball's vision and passing.

[Sedale Threatt]

3: Transition defense was horrific back then, like you said. Teams would continually crash the offensive glass, leaving 2 guys to defend 3 Lakers when Kareem or Magic would snare the board and start the break. It was infuriating watching teams do this time and again, even though it didn't seem to work most of the time. Except for when the team had Moses Malone or Olajuwon, because those guys (esp. Moses) ate Kareem for breakfast on the glass.

Yeah, most teams don't even bother with offensive rebounds today. It's just a much, much smarter play to get everybody back and make your opponent try to score against your full, set defense. You'd think they'd have figured it out after having a team like the Lakers ram the ball down their throat for 60-plus transition points.

But at the same time, it's not like you can be too critical, for that or the relative lack of defensive organization or failing to grasp the power of the 3-point shot. You don't know what you don't know. Games change and evolve and improve. I'm sure there will be things about today's game that we look back and scratch our heads over in 20 or 30 years.

More than anything, though, I join you in taking issue with the whole physicality myth. Barring the ridiculously hard fouls you could get away with -- which weren't even all that prevalent -- it just wasn't.

[Tee212]

ya magic was the reason i started watching bball and the lakers. every rebound after a missed shot was like a fast break. nice vid!

[Kilroy]

Guys are underestimating how bad playing against Magic in transition makes a defense look. Think how bad the SL defenses looked against Ball... Then add prime NBA talent and multiply by 10.

[ennui]

Awesome! Thanks for this.

[stan francisco]

Thank you, sir!

This should go viral. For the sake of future basketball, and PockyCandy, let's hope it does.

I'll share it with my young son (watches Pistol Pete footage and Magic in awe, will surely bookmark it and share it).

What a video. The mere thought of the amount of work. Symbolic for what showtime was all about, hard work did the talking.

About every point on that video started with a stop.

Fast break w Lonzo, KCP, Ingram, Lopez, Randle, Nance, Brewer, Hart, Weber, rushing down the court needs no coaching, just young legs.

If Magic has his way, they will play defense like a skilled pack of wolves and run the break. This roster is built for it. Luke's half court motion offense will follow and develop slowly over the season. As long as it's somewhat smooth come playoffs time. Until then, defense!

Inspiring video.

[Blackmill]

1: James Worthy had the fastest first step I've ever seen. He also seemed to have a very mediocre vertical jump, but was capable of levitating horizontally for very long stretches of time. A lot of dunks where Worthy would only get a foot off of the ground, but would float for several feet towards the rim.

Worthy was a really fun player to watch. His smooth athleticism, coupled with smart play and consistent effort, made him one of my favorite players ever.

3: Transition defense was horrific back then, like you said. Teams would continually crash the offensive glass, leaving 2 guys to defend 3 Lakers when Kareem or Magic would snare the board and start the break. It was infuriating watching teams do this time and again, even though it didn't seem to work most of the time. Except for when the team had Moses Malone or Olajuwon, because those guys (esp. Moses) ate Kareem for breakfast on the glass.

Defenses could have definitely done a better job defending the fast break back then. That said, a 3-on-2 fast break can be defended much more easily when none of the players are running to the corners for open threes. If I had to identify what Magic did so well in transition, it was how he could overpenetrate and still make the pass, with practically no margin for error.

4: Before Kareem lost his athleticism in the late 80's, the guy could move like a guard. Even if he had trouble with brutes like Moses, Kareem had no problem moving up and down the court.

What did you make of Kareem's defense?

I've always been very impressed by his ability to contain, and especially switch, on the PnR. And I think he was an exceptional rim protector who was quite astute in identifying help opportunities. He did a good job at shadowing cutters who got loose under the basket and sagging off his man when action was about to happen on the strongside. He was at his best when he could care least about his own defensive assignment. I'd argue he was a poor rebounder when considering how good he should have been, but in absolute terms, was still among the best in the league during his early career. With his height, he got a fair number of rebounds a shorter center would have missed. By the same virtue, when he missed a rebound to another player, it looked much worse to the eye.

On the other hand, Kareem had some bad habits that I'm surprised weren't worked out of his game. That said, I think coaching is much better now, and I'm not sure the coaching staff would have tried to correct his mistakes. For instance, too often Kareem would jump when guards got in the air near him, and skilled passers could exploit this tendency. Sometimes I saw him trying to block shots with his right hand, when he had to reach across his body to do so, and would have made the block had he used his left hand. Once every two games, perhaps, he would just lose his man for no apparent reason. He sometimes didn't jump for rebounds he could have grabbed. Again, he should have been the best rebounder in the league by a fair margin. Kareem seemed generally unsuccessfully when he fronted the opposing center, although this strategy involves multiple defenders to cover the lob, so I don't think Kareem was always at fault for the frequent breakdowns in such situations.

One a whole, I think Kareem was strange in that he did the many of the most difficult things on defense incredibly well, but had some bad habits you would never expect a veteran player to have.

[NPZ]

There were countless individual highlights of James Worthy and Magic Johnson, but not general highlights of the team itself. So I decided to make the video myself. I took the best fastbreaks from 50 different games

Yeah, I enjoy your enthusiasm and writings on Showtime, but I noticed a lot of those clips were from my highlights on Youtube. Can I get a thank you at least? I have a 1.5 million view Magic Johnson highlight package on YT. That's been cut up and stolen so many times, it feels like I uploaded it to Napster.