Imagine having Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson on the same team and still losing. And that too, despite putting up a humongous score of 200+ points. As hard as it may sound to believe, the incident is as real as it could be. The instance goes back to the time MJ and Johnson teamed up for the first time in their careers.

Appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘The Tonight Show’ recently was Rob Lowe, recalling the time he became the ‘first coach to coach Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan on the same team’. As stated by Lowe, the game was for the LA Lakers icon’s one of the annual charity events. “Magic and Michael played for the first time ever on this charity team. They scored 200 points and lost,” he added.

The reason that led to the circumstances of loss, as revealed by Lowe, was that nobody was playing any defense. Even the 60YO actor was himself not coaching-coaching back then. He once stated there were other players like Karl Malone and Clyde Drexler as well on his team. Chilled out in his zone and not caring about the outcome, Rowe recalled calling a 20-second timeout just for the sake of it, the Pat Riley way, because he liked it.

Further on ‘The Tonight Show‘, the 60-year-old actor stated he could see a shark in Michael Jordan’s eyes while all the other players were in a light mood. And thus came the popular instance when Mike got annoyed with Magic. “And he’s like, looking at all these guys laughing. He says ‘Guys, are we gonna win this? Really?’” Rowe recalled. The actor further mentioned this was the first instance that the 6x NBA champ shot free throws with his eyes closed. However, the Johnson and MJ team-up still suffered a narrow 203-202 defeat.

A closer look at the dynamics between Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson during their days in the NBA
It is no secret that growing up, Mike idolized the 5x NBA champ from the Lakers. However, he stated once he was in the league; he had a feeling that Buck didn’t really like him. Speaking of the initial sour bond, His Airness once stated in an interview that he understood jealousy as one factor for this.

“And you know, I think a lot of it came from, ‘Magic Johnson should have been Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan.’ He had the smile, he had everything. He had the marketability, he had championships,” MJ said. However, Johnson has denied having any feeling of hatred towards the 6x NBA champ.

He stated the rivalry with Larry Bird existed only because of their past in college and then continuing to play for rival franchises in the league. But he never got any such chance against Jordan except for the 1991 NBA finals series. In either case, this was all before the 1992 Dream Team came into existence. Ever since, not only the two players have been close friends till date, but also been on vacations together.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.