Magic Is the MVP This Time : Jordan Finishes Second in Closest Voting in 8 Seasons

Hoisting the most valuable player trophy during Monday afternoon’s news conference at the Forum, Commissioner David Stern of the National Basketball Assn. temporarily lost his grip. But Magic Johnson, more than just an interested bystander, took hold of the hardware and did not let go.

“I guess we’ve seen why you’re a commissioner and not a ballplayer,” Johnson joked.

Thus, another assist and another award were given to the versatile Laker guard, who edged guard Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls for the second time in the last three seasons in a media vote for MVP honors.

In the closest balloting in eight seasons, Johnson received 42 1/2 first-place votes and 664.5 points. That was 65.7 points ahead of Jordan, who had 27 1/2 first-place votes. Karl Malone, forward for the Utah Jazz, was a distant third.

Some in Chicago may think the MVP voting was unfair, especially given Jordan’s impressive playoff escapades. But the voting is conducted before the playoffs begin and, even though Jordan once again won the league scoring title, Johnson led the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference.

Johnson, 29, finished second in the league in assists with 12.8 a game, averaged 22.5 points and 7.9 rebounds, won the free-throw percentage title at 91.1% and made a career-high 59 three-point shots.

He also won two games and sent another to overtime with last-second baskets, and has led the Lakers to eight consecutive playoff victories going into Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns tonight at the Forum.

But even Johnson conceded that, if playoff performance had been included, Jordan would have won.

“I think Michael would win it, if it was now, because of the playoffs he’s had,” Johnson said. “What (Jordan) has done is outstanding. He does incredible things that you only wish, hope and pray you could do.

“He plays in the air. I play on the floor. We’re two different type of players, but we mean the same thing to our teams.”

Coach Pat Riley, Johnson’s teammates and apparently even those reporters voting on the award concluded that the Lakers would not have advanced this far in their quest for a third consecutive championship without the type of season Johnson has had.

Riley said that the league should have presented two awards--the most valuable to Johnson and the most outstanding to Jordan.

“The one who deserved it more, for all he did in the regular season, was Earvin,” Riley said. “I swear, if there was ever a person who walked out of an alien spaceship, it’s Michael Jordan. The guy is the most outstanding in pro basketball.

“But that doesn’t always mean that the most outstanding is the most valuable. I think Earvin deserves this one.”

Johnson called this his best season of his 10 in the NBA. Although his statistics are down slightly from his MVP season in 1986-87, when he averaged 23.9 points and made 52.2% of his shots, Johnson had more responsibility to carry the Lakers and improved less noticeable aspects of his game.

“This is definitely my best,” Johnson said. “Those little things that happened, like (reduced) my body fat and (improved) free-throw shooting just made me so much better. As you grow, you mature and get wiser.”

Riley said that he mailed Johnson a letter last summer that said, essentially, that Johnson would have to play at an MVP level for the Lakers to have any chance of winning a third consecutive title.

“I don’t know if that little note was any motivation,” Riley said. “But I felt it was going to take that type of performance to lift up this team, and he has done it.”

Even before Riley’s letter arrived in mid-summer, however, Johnson said he already had worked on a training regimen to try to improve his game.

He said that every summer he reviews videotape of the just-concluded season and finds things to improve on. This time, it was working on his stamina so that he could play harder longer. He also worked on improving his free-throw percentage, which was 85.3% a year ago.

After a summer of substituting fruit and salads for junk food, and running on the beaches of Southern California and Hawaii, Johnson arrived for training camp having drastically reduced his body fat from 13% to 4%. And, when he wasn’t running, he was shooting free throws at his private court.

That, Johnson said, is one of the reasons this MVP award is more gratifying.

“Last time (in 1987), I dedicated (the MVP award) to my dad,” Johnson said. “I guess this time, since I worked hard during the off-season to take off all that body fat and work on my free throws . . . I’ll keep it for myself. Nobody was out there running the laps for me.

“I’m glad I did it, because we needed it, especially early in the season. We needed me to get off to a quick start. We weren’t playing well as a team, and I was able to do more things right away to help. I got a lot of triple-doubles early, too.”

Naturally, Johnson’s teammates said he deserved to beat out Jordan for the award.

“The right person (won) it,” Laker forward James Worthy said.

“He’s kind of like a cornerstone. The house can’t really stand without that one stone in the corner. His talents are so obvious, but it’s his extra dimension he brings to this club, his sense of motivation and attitude.

“It’s the unseen things that make the difference.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time MVP winner himself, agreed that Johnson had done more for the Lakers than Jordan for the Bulls.

“Without a doubt,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “There shouldn’t be any question. What (Johnson does) are not the type of things that are spectacular statistics. They don’t make the highlight films. But they are the key to us winning.”

Johnson said he had cast a private vote for himself over Jordan after the regular season, partly because the Lakers finished with a 57-25 record and the Bulls 47-35, and partly because he felt he had lifted his play to a higher level.

“You knew it was going to go down to a tight race,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know which way it’d go.”

No offense to Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre, his close friends on the Detroit Pistons, but Johnson said he would welcome a meeting with Jordan in the NBA championship series to sort of settle it on the court.

“First, I’d like to see us there,” he said. “If we both made it, the NBA and the fans would go crazy, no question about it. It’d be a record-breaking watched series.”

Laker Notes

Coming off an eight-point victory over the Phoenix Suns in the opening game of the Western Conference finals, the Lakers seem as wary as they are confident going into Game 2 tonight at the Forum. That is because the Lakers expect the Suns to play considerably better than in Saturday’s game, in which Tom Chambers and Eddie Johnson combined to make only 11-of-35 shots.

Also, they are concerned about letting up, even briefly, against the Suns, who quickly melted a 16-point Laker lead in the first half. “We can’t afford to have any more lapses against them,” Laker forward James Worthy said. “They are a dangerous team. They aren’t going to play that (bad) the rest of the series. We know that. A big lead against Phoenix is not like a big lead against someone else. A couple fast breaks, a couple jumpers, a few transition baskets, and they’re back in it.”

Worthy figures to again guard Chambers, but he isn’t expecting the Suns’ forward to misfire as in Game 1. “Not even if you have a great defensive game will you consistently stop Chambers like that,” Worthy said.

Coach Pat Riley said he doesn’t expect the Suns to change much in tonight’s game. “I don’t think Cotton (Fitzsimmons, the coach) will change much at all. They didn’t get as many outside shots as they normally take. I think it was 60% on the perimeter, 40% inside. Tracking their three shooters--E.J., (Kevin Johnson) and Chambers--I think they were three for 23 from long range. That probably won’t happen again.” Riley also said he believes the Suns will use more defensive pressure against the Lakers, especially against James Worthy, who scored 32 points in Game 1.

Magic Johnson on Phoenix: “They probably won’t play like that again, so they got a lot to look forward to. If you let up, Phoenix can explode. They can do that to any team.” . . . The Suns practiced in Phoenix on Monday and were scheduled to fly to Los Angeles late Monday afternoon.

MVP VOTING

Voting results for the 1989 NBA Most Valuable Player Award as selected by a nationwide panel of 85 media members on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis (first place votes in parentheses):

Player, Team Points Magic Johnson, Lakers (42 1/2) 664.5 Michael Jordan, Chicago (27 1/2) 598.8 Karl Malone, Utah (5) 362 Patrick Ewing, New York (8) 200 Akeem Olajuwon, Houston (2) 179.3 Charles Barkley, Philadelphia 94.3 John Stockton, Utah 28 Kevin Johnson, Phoenix 22 Tom Chambers, Phoenix 20 Mark Price, Cleveland 18 Brad Daugherty, Cleveland 4 Robert Parish, Boston 4 Mark Eaton, Utah 3 Moses Malone, Atlanta 3 Chris Mullin, Golden State 3 Larry Nance, Cleveland 3 Terry Cummings, Milwaukee 1 Joe Dumars, Detroit 1 Isiah Thomas, Detroit 1