Inbasketball,Showtime was an era inLos Angeles Lakers history from1979 to1991 when the team played an excitingrun-and-gun style in theNational Basketball Association (NBA). Led byMagic Johnson's passing skills andKareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring, the team relied onfast breaks and won fiveNBA championships in nine Finals appearances. Lakers ownerJerry Buss purchased the team in 1979, and he wanted their games to be entertaining. He insisted that the Lakers play an up-tempo style, and the team hired dancers and a live band for theirhome games atThe Forum. The team established aHollywood-celebrity following.[1]
In 1979, former Lakers ownerJack Kent Cooke was selling the team toJerry Buss. Possessing thefirst overall pick in the upcoming1979 NBA draft, the Lakers narrowed their choice toMagic Johnson orSidney Moncrief. Los Angeles already had a talentedpoint guard inNorm Nixon, making Moncrief potentially a strong complement atoff guard. However, Cooke liked Johnson's smile and playing style. In one of Cooke's last acts as Lakers owner, the Lakers drafted the point guard Johnson.[2]
Buss wanted Lakers games to be entertaining. In the 1960s, he was a regular at The Horn, a nightclub inSanta Monica, California, that attracted an upscale clientele. Buss loved the excitement of the club's famous opening act, which included a dimming of the lights followed by a dramatic singing of their signature tune, "It's Showtime". After he purchased the Lakers andThe Forum from Cooke, Buss embarked on creating a grand-scale version of The Horn.[3][4] Like a nightclub act, he believed, a basketball game should be entertaining.[4][5]
Buss sought to match the excitement ofcollege basketball games between theUSC Trojans and theUCLA Bruins duringJohn Wooden's era. The owner insisted the Lakers have a running game. AfterJerry West had retired as Lakers head coach and the team had failed to recruit coachJerry Tarkanian of theUNLV Runnin' Rebels, Buss hiredJack McKinney to install a running offense.[6]
In Buss' opinion, a theatrical atmosphere paired with the running game would excite the fans and strengthen the Lakers' home-court advantage.[7] He wanted to create a Hollywood atmosphere that would be embraced by the Los Angeles culture even if it was hated by the rest of the country.[8] Buss borrowed the termShowtime from The Horn to describe the Lakers' approach to basketball,[9] and it was embraced by Lakers fans and the Los Angeles media.[10][11]
Buss was not afraid to spend money on players. In 1981, Abdul-Jabbar was thehighest-paid player in the NBA at $870,000 a season when Buss signed Johnson to a 25-year $25 million contract.[8]
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The most important component of Showtime was the Lakers'fast break.[12] In a typical sequence,rebounders such asKareem Abdul-Jabbar,Kurt Rambis, andA.C. Green would quickly release an outlet pass to Johnson, who would race down the court and distribute the ball to players such asJamaal Wilkes,James Worthy,Byron Scott, andMichael Cooper for a finishinglayup orslam dunk.[13][14] Oftentimes, Johnson would rebound the ball and drive the ball up court himself on a fast break. He would sometimes deliver the ball to teammates with ano-look pass.[14]
If the break was unavailable, the Lakers would settle into their half-court offense and rely on Abdul-Jabbar—the NBA's second all-time leading scorer—and his unique signatureskyhook.[15] Backing him up atcenter wereBob McAdoo, a formerNBA Most Valuable Player, and in later years,Mychal Thompson, a formerNo. 1 overall draft pick;[16] both were ostensiblypower forwards who could change the game's pace with their quickness and outside shooting ability.[17][18] As Abdul-Jabbar neared the age of 40, head coachPat Riley had Johnson assume scoring responsibilities. Johnson's "junior, junior skyhook" won Game 4 of the1987 NBA Finals.[16]
McKinney coached the Lakers for only 13 games before he was involved in a serious bike accident during the1979–80 season. The Lakers replaced him with assistantPaul Westhead, who led the Lakers that season to their first championship in almost a decade. Westhead used McKinney's offense, a creative and spontaneous offense that defined Showtime.[19][20] For the 1980-81 season, despite missing Magic Johnson for 45 games due to a knee injury, the Lakers still managed an impressive 54–28 record during the regular season, and they were the #3 seed for the playoffs where they were eliminated by the underdog Houston Rockets eliminated in a best-of-three first round series two games to one. Westhead started altering the offense for the 1981-82 season.[21] The team started the1981–82 season at 7–4, but six of those wins were by four points or fewer, and the media criticized Westhead's more-structured offense.[22] Although they had won five in a row, Buss was also disenchanted with the offense and then Johnson, frustrated with Westhead and his system, asked to be traded.[10] Instead, Westhead was fired and replaced byPat Riley.[23][24][25] The Lakers' up-tempo style was restored under Riley, and they won another championship that season.[26]
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Riley led the Lakers to four championships. Dressed in sleek Italian suits with his hair slicked back with mousse, he added to the team's Hollywood image. Riley was also innovative on defense; he was one of the first coaches to employ a 1-3-1 half-court trap to pick up the pace of the game.[26] Though the Showtime Lakers were known for their offense, they won championships with their defense.[27] In Cooper, they had one of the top defensive stoppers in the game.[28] The league-wide perception was that the Lakers played with finesse and were not physical enough to win in the playoffs. Riley's mantra was "no rebounds, norings".[29]
The Lakers in1985 won their first championship in nine meetings against theBoston Celtics and again defeatedtheir rivals for the title in1987.[29] At the championship celebrations following the 1987 Finals, Riley boldly guaranteed before the cheering crowd that the Lakers would win it all again in 1988. This was a very bold gesture as the league had not had a repeat champion for nearly 20 years. Nevertheless, this guarantee was fulfilled as the Lakers repeated as champions in1988, becoming the first NBA team to capture back-to-back championships since the Celtics' repeat title in 1968–69 in centerBill Russell's last season.[30] With the team older, the Lakers were more of a half-court team that season.[26]
Although Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989 and Riley stepped down the year after, most believe the Showtime era ended in1991 when the Lakers lost the finals toMichael Jordan and theChicago Bulls and Johnson retired after finding out he wasHIV-positive.[30][31] By Johnson's last season,[a] he had grown more powerful and stronger than in his earlier years, but the league's third-oldest point guard was also slower and less nimble.[33]Mike Dunleavy was the new head coach, the offense used more half-court sets, and the team had a renewed emphasis on defense.[34]The Prescott Courier called those Lakers "Slow-time".[35]
| Season | Wins | Losses | Win percentage | Playoffs | Head coach | General manager | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979–80 | 60 | 22 | 73.2% | Won Finals | Jack McKinney (10–4),Paul Westhead (50–18) | Bill Sharman | |
| 1980–81 | 54 | 28 | 65.9% | Lost Western Conference First Round | Paul Westhead | ||
| 1981–82 | 57 | 25 | 69.5% | Won Finals | Paul Westhead (7–4),Pat Riley (50–21) | ||
| 1982–83 | 58 | 24 | 70.7% | Lost Finals | Pat Riley | Jerry West | |
| 1983–84 | 54 | 28 | 65.9% | Lost Finals | |||
| 1984–85 | 62 | 20 | 75.6% | Won Finals | |||
| 1985–86 | 62 | 20 | 75.6% | Lost Western Conference Finals | |||
| 1986–87 | 65 | 17 | 79.3% | Won Finals | |||
| 1987–88 | 62 | 20 | 75.6% | Won Finals | |||
| 1988–89 | 57 | 25 | 69.5% | Lost Finals | |||
| 1989–90 | 63 | 19 | 76.8% | Lost Western Conference Semifinals | |||
| 1990–91 | 58 | 24 | 70.7% | Lost Finals | Mike Dunleavy |
Overall, the Showtime Lakers played 984 regular season games, totaling 712 wins and 272 losses, resulting in a win percentage of 72.4%.[48]
The following is a list of the key players of the Showtime era (1979–91).[50]
| Player | Tenure | Games | Championships won | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Johnson | 1979–91 | 1060 | 5 ('80, '82, '85, '87', '88) | |
| Michael Cooper | 1979–90 | 1038 | 5 ('80, '82, '85, '87', '88) | |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 1979–89 | 945 | 5 ('80, '82, '85, '87', '88) | |
| James Worthy | 1982–91 | 848 | 3 ('85, '87', '88) | |
| Byron Scott | 1983–91 | 769 | 3 ('85, '87', '88) | |
| Kurt Rambis | 1981–88 | 612 | 4 ('82, '85, '87', '88) | |
| A.C. Green | 1985–91 | 580 | 2 ('87', '88) | |
| Jamaal Wilkes | 1979–85 | 504 | 3 ('80, '82, '85) | |
| Mychal Thompson | 1987–91 | 409 | 2 ('87, '88) | |
| Norm Nixon | 1979–83 | 369 | 2 ('80, '82) | |
| Bob McAdoo | 1981–85 | 285 | 2 ('82, '85) |
The Lakers played their home games atThe Forum, which billed itself as "the modern version of the greaterColosseum of ancient Rome". The Forum was a circle with an oval interior supported by 80 white concrete columns.[62] After he became owner, Buss hired a public address announcer with a livelier voice,Lawrence Tanter.[4] He also transformed the Forum Club, previously a family-friendly restaurant and lounge inside the Forum, into the hottest nightclub in Los Angeles.[63]
Buss lured Hollywood celebrities and the rich and famous to the game to add more excitement in the crowd.[64] Not only did Buss want stars on his team, he also wanted stars watching them.[8] At the height of Showtime, some celebrities that contacted the team could not even buy tickets. ESPN wrote that The Forum grew to be "as synonymous with movie stars" as theHollywood Sign. During national telecasts, the network would regularly show the courtside celebrities.[63] ActorJack Nicholson, considered the Lakers' most well-known celebrity fan, was often seen sitting courtside in hissunglasses.[30][65]The Washington Post quipped that "The Forum may be the only place where the fans make more money than the players."[66]
A fan of the college game, Buss wanted the Lakers to have live music andcheerleaders.[63] He replaced the arena's organist with a 10-piece band of musicians from theUniversity of Southern California.[4][67]Cheerleaders were not common in the NBA at the time, but Buss ordered the formation of theLaker Girls, a talented and sexy team of female dancers.[4][8][63] A peanut vendor named Rex would also dance to entertain the crowd.[68] The Lakers later employedDancing Barry, a Showtime staple who added to the party atmosphere by dancing in the aisles during timeouts wearing sunglasses and a tuxedo.[69][70]
TheHartford Courant wrote, "You go to The Fabulous Forum, and you get a basketball game in between lounge acts."[71]The News and Courier added, "Only one thing beats the thrill of victory. Victory with pizzaz."[72] NBA commissionerDavid Stern said Showtime showed that "an arena can become the focal point for not just basketball, but entertainment."[73]
The Lakers did not win another championship until2000, which began a streak of three consecutive titles led by starsShaquille O'Neal andKobe Bryant. However, the team's style under coachPhil Jackson'striangle offense was not as exciting or graceful, generally grinding down opponents behind O'Neal's strength.[74][75]Rudy Tomjanovich was hired in2004 to install an up-tempo offense and revive the high-scoring of the 1980s teams.[76] He was not successful, and the Lakers reverted to the triangle offense as Jackson returned.[77] Under Jackson's guidance, the Lakers were NBA champions again in2009 and2010.
ThePhoenix Suns with point guardSteve Nash were a running team underMike D'Antoni, andThe New York Times called them "this decade’s incarnation of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime".[78] When D'Antoni joined the Lakers and Nash in2012, he declared, "We would love to be able to play 'Showtime' basketball."[79] With slower personnel than he had in Phoenix, D'Antoni eventually abandoned his up-tempo offense.[80] That season, however, Magic Johnson compared theLos Angeles Clippers, theLakers' crosstown rivals, to Showtime. "I thought I would never, ever see Showtime again. And I was the architect of Showtime. The Clippers? That's Showtime," he said.[81]
After Buss bought the Lakers, his goal was to build a team that was "Hollywood," which, he reasoned, would earn the loyalty of Southern California and would be properly hated by the rest of the jealous country.(subscription required)
He's dressed in a sleek Italian suit, and a healthy application of mousse keeps every hair slicked back and in place.(subscription required)
With players such as Byron Scott, A.C. Green, and the incredible James Worthy, famous fans led by Jack Nicholson courtside in his shades, Jerry West as General Manager, and their dapper new coach, Pat Riley, the Lakers made it to the playoffs every year(subscription required)
But after a slow start under new coach Mike Dunleavy, Los Angeles found out that new weapons and new emphasis on defense could take it to the same place as Showtime did during the 1980s.(subscription required)
O'Neal's championship teams never won with the style or grace of the "Showtime" Lakers in the 1980s and lacked the symbolic value of Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain bringing the Lakers' first title to L.A. in 1972.(subscription required)
