Johnson ends first match with touch of magic

JAKARTA (JP): Former NBA star Earvin "Magic" Johnson lived up to his sobriquet with a piece of pure magic at the end of an exhibition match against Indonesia's IM-Texmaco at the Senayan Indoor Stadium yesterday.

But only about 2,000 fans turned up to see the Magic Johnson All Stars team defeat the IM 121-66.

Johnson, a former LA Laker, received a standing ovation at the end of the match after he closed it with his own marvelous magical touch.

With three seconds left on the clock, Magic was standing in the middle of the court and shot the ball basketwards. As the clock counted down the ball dropped in and the fans stood and applauded the spectacular finale.

The 37-year-old Johnson climbed on to the jury's desk to acknowledge the applause and hundreds of fans rushed to the court asking for his autograph.

They hung around the court until Johnson got into an air- conditioned bus to take him back to his hotel.

The match was delayed for 30 minutes while organizers waited for more fans to arrive.

"But after we're waiting for an extra 30 minutes, only a few basketball fans had come," organizer Ary Sudarsono complained.

The All Stars started the match slowly but left the Indonesian team trailing 31-62 at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Johnson, a member of the USA Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, started to show off more of his repertoire of skills. He produced 18 assists, nine rebounds and 11 points for his team.

Wearing yellow, Johnson was able to confuse the Indonesian players with his famous tricky passing throughout the match.

Johnson constantly received great cheers from the audience for all he did.

But teammate Jim Farmer stole some of the limelight as the former Denver Nuggets player scored 27 points for the team.

The IM-Texmaco's foreign player Mario Lucas was able to equalize Farmer's scores by producing 27 points, eight rebounds and one assist.

IM-Texmaco's Hakiem Rachman told The Jakarta Post that he was lucky to have had the chance to take on Johnson.

"Not all basketballers have a chance like us. Maybe someday we can play against another famous NBA player," he said.

Hakiem said that Johnson did not show off his skills during the match. "Maybe only a quarter of his skills."

Teammate Rommy Chandra said that Johnson's performance was very good despite the star being HIV positive.

"Magic still has the spirit to play basketball and to spread the sport," he said.

Johnson was banned from entering the country in January 1994 due to his illness. But the government relented and allowed him in as long as he was always accompanied by a medical team.

He said earlier that he had no hard feelings against the local administration.

Ary blamed the lack of promotion, the wrong moment for the show and expensive tickets as the cause of the empty stadium.

"The organizers were late in promoting the events. Moreover, they staged it after Christmas and New Year and before Ramadhan. People would think twice about spending their money then," he said.

"If only the organizers could cut the ticket prices, maybe more spectators will come," he added. (yan)