I mean... he never played in the Finals again.I would not say that the separation occurred because of the 87 finals. The lakers were supposed to win. they had the better team with ac green stepping up nicely in his second season and the pulled another coup landing Mychal Thompson during the regular season in a trade. This team had 4 former number one picks in the draft on it. Talk about what could have been however. How would Bird be looked at if Len Bias had not died?
Magic passes him in 1987 and never looks back.