Weekly Countdown: Making sense of the feud between Magic, Isiah

• Their friendship declined on the court. In his upcoming book, When The Game Was Ours, co-written with Larry Bird and author Jackie MacMullan, Magic Johnson admits that his close friendship with Isiah Thomas began to suffer when the two met in the 1988 NBA Finals.

"I saw things differently," said Magic in the book. "Our relationship was changing."

When Isiah and Magic kissed each other on the cheek before each game of that series, it was a gesture meant to suggest that their friendship dwarfed the competition between them. But that turned out to be false. By Game 5 Magic was resorting to a cheap-shot elbow to the kidney of Isiah as he drove to the basket; Isiah responded by throwing the ball at his best friend and lunging at his throat.

"I did target Isiah," acknowledges Magic now. "[Coach] Pat Riley had questioned me in front of the guys whether I'd take him out. I needed to show them I was willing to do it."

The big news from the book (to be released Nov. 4) has been Magic's accusation that Isiah was spreading rumors about his sexuality after Magic was diagnosed with HIV in 1991. But that happened three years after those NBA Finals. The mistrust between them -- the failure of their friendship that enabled the disagreements to come -- developed first of all because they both wanted to win the championship more than anything else.

• The competition among the best players is paramount. Of course there are all kinds of reasons to doubt this -- players from rival teams openly hug before each game and vacation together in the summer, while the biggest names pursue marketing endorsements or other entertainment deals that sometimes appear to blight their devotion to basketball. It has always been this way: Bill Russell has told me that he and Wilt Chamberlain were such good friends that they used to have dinner together on the eve of their games.

But at the highest levels of the NBA, the desire to win devours all else. For a couple of hours on the floor Russell would respect Chamberlain as an enemy, as opposed to the friend Chamberlain was at all other times. The brotherhood between Magic and Isiah has turned into a backbiting rivalry.

In recent decades the NBA has grown to look more and more like some kind of Hollywood show in which the players appear interested mainly in exploiting their celebrity and riches. That cynical dynamic exists among the lesser players, without a doubt. But the elite NBA stars have achieved their status because they want to win above all else.

• LeBron James refused to congratulate the Magic last season. Here is a guy who wants to become the most beloved and celebrated athlete around the world. He should be more concerned about his image than anyone. But when his Cavaliers were upset in the Eastern finals last May, LeBron was so angry that he walked off the floor without shaking hands with the Magic, and he left the arena without giving his customary interview to the press.

It's not the first time we've seen that kind of behavior. Isiah's Pistons walked off the court without shaking hands with Michael Jordan's triumphant Bulls in the 1991 Eastern finals, just as Bird's Celtics left the floor with time still remaining on the clock when Isiah's Pistons knocked them off in the 1988 Eastern finals.