The "Magic Johnson curse" is proving to be a real thing, and if this trend continues, the Indiana Pacers are on their way back to the NBA Finals.
Indiana is set to begin their Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the New York Knicks on Wednesday. The winner of the series advances to the NBA Finals, where neither team has been in over two decades. On paper, this should be a competitive and intense series, especially considering the history both teams have with each other. However, Johnson may have just guaranteed a series victory for Indiana before the series even began.
Magic Johnson is becoming a playoff jinx
The Lakers legend has taken his playoff predictions to X, where he has made it clear which team he thinks will win each series. This is no different for the Pacers, who are considered the underdogs in the conference finals.
In the first round of the playoffs, Johnson initially predicted that the Pacers would defeat the Milwaukee Bucks (which is exactly what happened). However, Johnson changed his prediction before the series began and picked the Bucks to win the series, making him 0-1 in Pacers predictions.
The Pacers would go on to face the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs. Once again, Johnson said that the Pacers would lose the series, though this was a much fairer prediction. The Cavaliers ended the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and they dominated the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. In theory, it made sense for most to predict they would win the series.
What made Johnson's Cavaliers prediction interesting, though, is the fact that he still chose them even after the Pacers already won Game 1. Still, there were a lot of people who thought Cleveland would win the series even with their 0-1 deficit, and the five-time NBA Champion was one of them.
As the Pacers prepare to take on the Knicks in the conference finals, they are once again considered the underdogs. And, once again, Johnson has predicted that they will lose the series. At this rate, Pacers fans should be jumping for joy as the Basketball Hall of Famer may have just guaranteed a conference finals victory for the team.
Of course, what Johnson says on social media has no bearing on the results of the games, but at a certain point, it becomes a worthy narrative to follow, and that is especially true for the Pacers.