DOAJ

Dennis Johnson, defensive star on NBA Championship teams in Boston and Seattle, died of a heart attack at the age of 52. The MVP of the 1979 finals as the Supersonics won Seattle’s only major championship, Johnson was traded to the Phoenix Suns and Seattle didn’t contend for a decade. The Philadelphia 76ers went to the NBA Finals in 1982 and 1983, with Andrew Toney – the Boston Strangler – helping ensure Eastern Conference titles over the Celtics. In 1984, the Celtics acquired Johnson, won the NBA Championship and the Sixers didn’t return to the finals until 2001. To get a perspective on how good Johnson was, the two greatest players of the 1980s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, referred to him respectively as “one of the best teammates I ever had,” and “the best backcourt defender of all time.”