"I always tell people if Indiana State had won that game, no one would ever bring it again,'' Larry Bird said.
Bird and Magic Johnson held a pregame press conference before the national championship game and then presented the game ball prior to tipoff. The duo was greeted with thundering applause in Ford Field, with Roy Williams and Tom Izzo leading the clapping.
The game that still resonates with fan still lives in its stars as well. Bird said he remembered sitting in his hotel thinking if "I don't score 40 points on Monday night, no way we win.''
He didn't, of course. He had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Indiana State lost, 75-64. Bird sat on the bench crying into a towel.
Someone asked Bird if he ever watched a film of that game and Bird shook his head.
"Why? Those were not good memories for me,'' he said.
Johnson leaned over with his trademark grin, "That's OK. I've watched it enough for both of us.''
Asked how he remembered the game Johnson just smiled. "When we finally got to play it was, no pun intended, magical,'' he said.
