Yeah isn’t that crazy, that a game in 79, when tech was primitive compared to today, is still the most watched ever.

​@@jdaily2293 what do you mean millions were able to stream this game on their game and watch

I'd say UNLV vs Duke in 91 is up there too.

@@jdaily2293it’s not crazy. There were only 3-5 TV channels back then. Take late night TV. Carson had 30 million viewers, now 1 million is OK.

@@dsales2011how about in the turner cbs era

Continued the last group that change the nba

NBA is a total SHAM

You're Absolutely Correct.

@@byronjones9299 Pro sports are basically the Roman Arena. Who knew?

@@fml5910 It's magic and that is that but, 1 man doesn't make a team

Geez I thought I was old. Just kidding bro. 60 is the new 30

Too funny I was a senior at Florida State University back when Bowden was our fourth year football coach. I think Hugh Durham or Joe Williams was our basketball coach. I’m thinking it was the same up there college sports was so much fun tickets were free for a full-time student and a soft drink didn’t cost 10 bucks!

I go to MSU right now. Couldn’t image what the atmosphere was like. what bar did you go to? Wondering what was here back then

@@jms-wo7dm was at a place called Lums. It was at the sw corner of M. A. C. and Albert. It is The Riv now I think.

@@Don-n6o haha I was just at the riv watching us play in the second round. Too funny. Go green

I saw it live. Just a great game and basketball fan experience, delivered by two all time basketball greats with terrific supporting casts and coaches.

@@ashenning9002 Live? Wow. Count yourself lucky!

@@ashenning9002 Saw it on tv;senior year of college,, and loved it.

I was 13 too, in 8th grade! Grew up in east Lansing, but lived at the time in the Detroit area! I listened to ever state game on the radio that year!

Weird to see no three point line!

This was Basketball as it was meant to be. No shot clock of three-point line. Worked the ball in to get best percentage shot.@@LKaramazov

​@@LKaramazovI WAS ALSO 13, BUT IN THE NINTH GRADE.

@altabird44 I’m doing a podcast about this game and need to find someone who was there. It’s (very) time sensitive. Would you be interested in talking about your experience?

What, they did? To think nobody knew ;)

@@oregonguy13 To be fair they were both pretty obscure and never amounted to much. Bird only played 6 games in the 88-89' season and magic didn't play at all from 91-95'

i must have missed that… a couple flash in the pan types

The best rival in sports

Yup and there's nothing fishy about that at all

❤watching ervin magic johnson, 6 feet 8 inches point guard/ forward vs Larry bird

It was because to most of the country Bird wasn't as well known as Magic. Indiana State played in a smaller conference, and there games wasn't on national TV. Doing the early part of the season they went mostly unnoticed. While Bird was putting up big numbers, many felt they played weak competition. Meanwhile Michigan State had big battles every night playing in The Big Ten. However as the tournament came around, and Indiana State was still undefeated ( the only team in division one) the press became more interested in "The Bird" Who is this Bird? was a comment that was said a lot.

Bird had already been drafted by the Celtics under an old NBA rule that made a 4th year player eligible when their class graduated(finished 4th year) and. The Lakers got Magic by holding the New Orleans Jazz(hadn’t moved yet) #1 draft pick as compensation for the Jazz signing Gail Goodridge as a free agent. The Lakers and Bulls had a coin flip(which is how the NBA determine the #1 pick before the lottery) and the Lakers won and in one of his few intrusions into player personnel Jerry Buss demanded the Lakers take Magic #1 overall as he felt Magic could help orchestrate an up tempo offense.

As incredible as it sounds, it's even higher (24.1 Nielsen) than the NBA post-season record, 1998 Finals Bulls vs Jazz, game 6 (22.3), Michael Jordan's last game (at that time).

No shot clock no three point line

@@jimtoohey7242 The three point line was introduced in the ABA in the mid to late 60's

I didn’t hear about this matchup till 2021 (I’m from a NFL family), but am generally same age as Larry & Magic, and have come to enjoy BB. What a fun game to watch! And the commentary, that’s priceless!!

Gonzaga vs ULCA today will go down in history also!

Larry Bird literally willed the team to this point, not unlike in a later era how Butler fell short two years in a row in the title game.

what a con job USA is Pathetic

USA is the land of the Slaves

@@AEMoreira81 Butler had actual NBA talent. Hayward and Shelvin Mack. And guys who played professionally. Indiana State had Bird.

@@manuginobilisbaldspot424 I would go so far to say Nix there guard was the only other division 1 player. The rest were division 2 at best.

Me too! Winning time is what got me interested in seeing the game

Don, I was in first grade in '78-'79! First championship game I watched happened to be Isiah blitzing the Tar Holes the day President Reagan got shot! But I've seen the Bird and Magic replay numerous times! I'm 48 and I wish there were more out there with the historical appreciation of what Magic and Bird meant to basketball as a whole! The game today (college and pro) doesn't have the level it's attained without those two guys! Their influence can't be understated and yet so many who lack or ignore sense don't give the credit where credit is justifiably due

It's funny, but I told a bunch of my friends after the 2009 NCAA final between the Tar Holes and Michigan St that had Magic's '79 Michigan St team been on the floor that night, they'd have been the only MSU squad that could have beaten Carolina in that game! Magic would have handled Ellington and Kelser would have been in Hansbrough's grill! And before tipoff Magic and Bird were at center court celebrating the 30th anniversary of their transcendent battle

Don, u won't believe this but I'd been searching in recent years for anything memorabilia wise connected with that MSU national championship because of my like to collect and I found the gray championship shirt with the green lettering on the front! It made my day! I've been watching college ball since '80-'81(it and college lacrosse my two favorite sports)!

BIRD VS MAGIC

That's all that needs said PERIOD! Larry Bird was one of my two idols growing up, along with Mike Schmidt! But what amazes me is when it comes to all the talk of who the greatest of all-time are - so many lack the historical knowledge of what Bird and Magic did not only for the NCAA tournament but for college and pro basketball in general! They rush to judge based on recent memory instead of taking the time to understand that if it wasn't for the arrivals of Bird and Magic, the guys those who judge to be the best wouldn't have their careers if not for the already existing platform and their predecessors preceding them! Kobe, MJ, Shaq, Ewing, Duncan - guys who themselves understand they wouldn't have had their NBA without Bird and Magic! How come so many don't realize or mention them and give them their always just due! LeBron included!

Jesus loves you all❤️, allow him into your hearts.

@@anandguruji83 Magic vs bird

@@timestamp7415 True. Bird was a collegiate athlete before Magic. Also, Bird was the top college basketball player in the 1978’79 season.

Limited talent? Had Carl Nicks on team who shot 7 for 14 that night (while Bird shot 7 for 21 with 6 turnovers) and played for the Denver Nuggets

@@keithratajczyk5068 Yeah. Limited. Greg Kelser and Jay Vincent were NBA players, and very long. The other Spartans were very solid Big Ten players. Vincent won the Big Ten scoring championship two years in a row. Tough. For Larry to get these guys through the tournament, and past DePaul in the semi-final was Herculean.

Kelser played parts of 4 seasons and scored about 2000 pts - around 1k more than Nicks. And Vincent's career nearly as unremarkable as Kelser's. ISUs Alex Gilbert & Brad Miley played overseas for several years. Don't believe MSUs Terry Donnelly, Ron Charles, or Mike Brkovich did

Tournament only had 40 teams back then. Missouri Valley Conference not exactly loaded with All-Americans in 1978-79

Vincent had better NBA career than either Kelser or Nicks. However, in 79 championship game - as an underclassman -he only logged a few minutes of air time and scored 5 pts - not much of an impact

Yep. Takes a man to take it to the hoop.

@@bigcolt5256 and to name himself Big Colt

The NBA led by bitzes like Stephanie Curry and coach Rick Carlisle have turned NBA into garbage

Takes talent to thread a pass for an easy layup or dunk.

Did you see how many two point shots these guys missed? They can’t even hit free throws.

The game was better without it

Basketball was so much better then.

@@terrencecoccoli524 No it wasn’t.

@@edlawn5481 no it wasn’t

What kind of idiot are you? Bird had a cast of bums he willed to the title game. You must be a pencil neck.

Both you and The person who was your first (rude) reply are correct: Without Bird that team would surely not be here in the playoff. And the defense on him WAS smothering-which proves the first point with embarrassing clarity-3 people guarding Bird much of the time and the rest of the team couldn’t manage to win?

MSU's 2nd best player was on the bench due to injury, Jay Vincent. They did not have a great team, save one.

This game was how the hula started

This is a myth. Magic did not have a great supporting cast. The only other player to make it to the NBA was Jay Vincent. He saw limited action because of a broken foot. These guys were 10 and 17 before Magic got there. MSU played a much, much tougher schedule than ISU so was well seasoned. Magic took over mid way that season and they played what would later be called Showtime and rolled everyone. It was all Magic.

@@bradleyholt9805 Greg Kelser also played in the NBA. The 10-17 record prior to Magic's arrival is correct, but Jay Vincent arrived along with Magic. Magic was a force, to be sure, but he had 2 future pros in Kelser and Vincent to support his greatness, while Bird had a bunch of absolute nobodies.

@@bradleyholt9805 1979 NBA draft: Magic was #1 pick. Gregory Kelser was #4 pick.

Lol why do y’all forget about Carl Nicks...him and Bird were pretty much the offense and the only other NBA player on that team.

@@ashenning9002 cuz of magic making him look good

Wow nice, did you have good seats?

@@Mrd9960 It was a coach car so the view was pretty good on both sides. The train came out of Chicago so there were kids from all the Final Four schools of MSU, Indiana State, Penn and DePaul.

@@JStarStar00 Oh no, I meant at the game, sorry I should have clarified it a little better.

@@Mrd9960 Oh, hahah. I was in one of the front rows of the upper deck. The Utah arena held about 15,000 seats. I don't think a Final Four has been held in an arena that small in about 35 years.

@@JStarStar00 how was the overall atmosphere, and did you get to see magic cut the net at the end ?

Yeah,.and were they using a :45 sec clock?,..Mich State just held the ball for so many possessions,.Glad they changed that as well

@@Paulmatthew22 That was the biggest thing, don't know why no one is mentioning that, and I don't even think there was a :45 clock. MSU was holding the ball FOREVER several times, and they never seemed to act as if it was about time to shoot it, the announcers never said anything about it, nor was a shot clock of any kind ever shown on the screen. CRAZY.

@@Paulmatthew22 Michigan State would have run them off the court had there been a shot clock. The lack of one kept this game this close.

Imagine Magic and Bird teaming up lol just sounds ridiculous and insane

Byrd want not ready for Magic he'd got schooled. I'm mite bee Bias, and we know that kills

YOU ARE LYING. Indiana State was a nothing program until Bird dropped in their laps. If Earvin wanted to leave Lansing, he probably would have gone to U-M. Or another blue chip program. He had his pick, and it never involved the Sycamores.

Where did u hear that from?

@@daveconleyportfolio5192 What if Bird stayed at Indiana, and played for Coach Knight?