Sunday night had been better than a dream come true.
Bill MacDonald grew up a Los Angeles Lakers fan, listening to Chick Hearn and watching him call championships alongside Stu Lantz. So when Joel Meyers, the team’s broadcaster had a scheduling conflict, MacDonald got the nod to sit in Chick’s chair, speak into Chick’s microphone and call a Lakers’ game next to Lantz.
But it wasn’t a full-time promotion. A day later, he’d be back in the minors.
By Monday, MacDonald was back to the grind. Hockey, baseball, arena league football, surfing, volleyball — name it and Bill MacDonald called it. That night, a West Coast Conference basketball game between Portland and San Diego needed a broadcaster and MacDonald showed up at the Jenny Craig Pavilion — the “Slim Gym” — armed with stats about Portland’s Pooh Jeter and USD’s Ross DeRogatis. He’d spoken to the Sports Information Directors. He called the game that night, packed up and moved on to whatever pregame show or gymnastics meet was next.
The Lakers gig, he thought, was a one-off. Twenty years later, before a Lakers game against the Trail Blazers in Portland, MacDonald started telling that story and Lantz cut him off.
“When you walked in,” Lantz said with a grin, “they said, ‘Didn’t you do Kobe’s 81-point game last night?’
MacDonald laughed.
“Yeah, I went from Kobe’s 81 to USD where there was like 600 people there,” he said. “But you gotta still do the prep. You gotta still be excited.”
While MacDonald and Lantz won’t be on the call Thursday when the Lakers play the LA Clippers,
Thursday, MacDonald and Lantz won’t be on the call when the Lakers play the LA Clippers — that game is exclusively on national TV. But the anniversary of the greatest scoring game in Lakers history — Jan. 22, 2006 — is also the 20th anniversary of the Lakers’ broadcasting team’s first game together. The pair is now in their 15th season together.
“I didn’t know Bill MacDonald from Old McDonald,” Lantz deadpanned about their first game.
That’s not entirely true. MacDonald had already been hosting pre- and postgame shows for the Lakers in addition to his other assignments. But with Meyers assigned to work a NFC Championship game between Carolina and Seattle, MacDonald was “next man up.”
“What do you say we play a little basketball?” MacDonald said to open the broadcast.
Listening to him 20 years later, you can still hear the excitement of a lifelong Lakers fan finally getting a chance to call a game for his favorite team.
“Kobe reverse layup to score!” he said, his voice climbing an octave.
As Bryant scored his second bucket, MacDonald reminded viewers he was filling in — something he repeated multiple times as viewers caught word that Bryant was having such a big night.
Even if no history had been made by the Lakers’ legend, the night would have been special to MacDonald.
“I was excited to work with (Lantz),” MacDonald said. “Lifelong Laker fan, come on? Figuring it’s the only time I’m ever going to do a game… Working with Stu, sitting in Chick’s chair, it wasn’t going to get any bigger than that.”
It did.
Midway through the third quarter, Bryant hit back-to-back-to-back 3-point shots to push past 40 points. A pair of dunks at the end of the third nudged him past 50. MacDonald noted Bryant needed four more points to catch Elgin Baylor’s Lakers’ scoring record as Bryant drilled a 3 to give him 70.
“Yes!” MacDonald screamed, as the shot went in.
When Bryant set the Lakers’ scoring record on his next made shot, MacDonald witnessed something he’ll remember forever.
“I looked at him and he looked at me like ‘Oh my God.’ There’s something special going on,” McDonald said. “And when it got past 71 and Stu was standing, giving him a standing ovation.”
“I remember that too,” Lantz said. “It was a hell of an achievement. It got to be like a video game.”
For the rest of the game, Bryant went at anyone who got in his way. Lantz wondered why Toronto wasn’t triple-teaming him.
“Why isn’t the coach putting four guys on Kobe? Lantz said, still incredulous 20 years later. “He was going wild.”
As Bryant put the finishing touches on his night, MacDonald seemed to know the scoring binge was about to end.
“And an 81-point game,” he said as Bryant swished his final free throw. “55 in the second half.”
Twenty years later, MacDonald remembered the call verbatim.
“I’ve heard it 8,000 times since,” MacDonald said. “Fifty-five in the second half is stupid.”
As Bryant finally walked to the bench with seconds left, the broadcast went silent.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” MacDonald said, “you have witnessed the second-greatest scoring performance in NBA history.”
The next morning, everyone knew just how incredible Bryant’s performance was.
“Anywhere you’d go — and I was doing everything — no matter where I went, no matter what sport for over a month, surfing, volleyball, whatever, everyone wanted to know about it,” MacDonald said. “They just wanted to know what it was like.”
Lantz had a different perspective. He thought about how his fill-in partner met the moment.
“I really thought he did great,” Lantz said. “What a debut…what a way to do your first Laker game. You’re a part of history. Your first game and you watch a guy for 81 and you’re calling every one. How lucky can you be?”
Photo courtesy of Bill MacDonald
MacDonald’s luck lasted. MacDonald became the Lakers’ full-time play-by-play voice in 2011, getting to re-live that first-day thrill alongside Lantz all around the country.
“The greatest job. It’s amazing. I still can’t believe I’m doing it,” MacDonald said. “…I truly do love (Stu). …We’ve become really good friends and we always look out for each other.”
In hindsight, MacDonald wishes he’d kept something from that night. Maybe the board with player notes is in storage somewhere. Maybe, he said, that’s just wishful thinking.
Instead, after Bryant scored 81, MacDonald put down his headset and drove home. He didn’t think about how many people had heard him that night — or how many would hear his call forever into the future.
“The drive home was a total blur for me,” he said, almost apologetically. “It was just…I knew I had another game the next day.”
