With the NCAA tournament nearing its finish and the 2025 NBA Playoffs set to start soon after, it is about as good as it gets for fans of the sport. And while in the present era, NBA basketball rules the roost, once, it was college basketball that helped to save the NBA from a precarious future.
More specifically, it was the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers that came back to life in a major way. It happened when another rivalry that began in the NCAA tournament between Celtics legend Larry Bird and Lakers icon Magic Johnson continued into the context of the NBA in the early 1980s.
The folks behind the "ESPN Throwback" YouTube channel put together a clip from their battle in the title game of the 1979 NCAA tourney, the match that set off one of the greatest rivalries -- and friendships -- in league history. Take a look at the clip embedded below to see how it all began.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: How Bird vs. Magic in the NCAA tourney changed NBA basketball forever
