Magic Johnson brought his big smile and storytelling chops to Jimmy Kimmel. And because it’s a basketball thing, Michael Jordan came up. Magic says there’ll never be anybody ever again like Jordan, and told Kimmel about Jordan’s maniacally competitive reaction to a bit of mild trash-talking Magic tried back in their Dream Team days. It resulted in one of the top 3 plays Magic has ever seen.
Magic was a famous witness to Doctor J’s walking-on-air reverse layup in the NBA Finals back in the day. He credits Jordan with the other two top basketball shots in history. One is the equally famous Finals move where Jordan — seemingly just because it might be enjoyable — switched from his right to left hand as he soared toward to the hoop against Magic’s Lakers. The Dream Team shot that makes Magic’s top 3 occurred in practice, so we have to take Magic’s word — but apparently a fired-up Jordan performed a levitating 360 dunk on David Robinson that no one could believe was possible. But the real joy of seeing Magic’s account is his imitation of Jordan’s tongue. As Magic tells his story, the level of Jordan’s determination is expressed by how far out of his mouth his tongue protrudes. Magic’s great at it.
