Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO Max)

[Rivercard]

I just can't bring myself to watch a show about the Lakers. Have not seen anything outside the trailers.

Agreed. The current Laker sh*tshow is much more entertaining to me.

 

[Hoop Head]

I just can't bring myself to watch a show about the Lakers. Have not seen anything outside the trailers.

I thought the same at first until i saw the second episode. It's really well made with a fantastic cast. While I hate the Lakers, I've always like Magic and he's a central figure. Same goes for Kareem. I see it more as a series about them then the Lakers. Of course there's Laker stuff in there with Jerry Buss being the main character but that side of the show is more of a comedy than anything.

I've also enjoyed how many Laker's have spoken out against the show. That's been an amusing ancillary narrative.

Maybe not being around for this time period makes it more fun for me. I wasn't alive when this happened, let alone following the NBA or Suns so there isn't the same level of bad blood associated with the Showtime Lakers as the Kobe and Shaq Lakers.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I’ve enjoyed it thus far. Interesting to look at the nba before it hit its heyday. What a rube magic was initially. What buss was like before just being an old man.

West’s portrayal is interesting, but maybe moreso is the portrayal of Riley who seems to be weak-minded clueless nebbish - which I’d never have guessed.

 

[GatorAZ]

I’ve enjoyed it thus far. Interesting to look at the nba before it hit its heyday. What a rube magic was initially. What buss was like before just being an old man.

West’s portrayal is interesting, but maybe moreso is the portrayal of Riley who seems to be weak-minded clueless nebbish - which I’d never have guessed.

The character portrayals are fiction.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The character portrayals are fiction.

Completely? They did zero research into them? If so, this is still entertaining, but that’s a disappointment.

 

[Rivercard]

Completely? They did zero research into them? If so, this is still entertaining, but that’s a disappointment.

The characters in real life were probably way too boring to sustain a TV series.

 

[Hoop Head]

The characters in real life were probably way too boring to sustain a TV series.

I doubt that. Have you seen a lot of the garbage on tv now? Plus I don't think it's exaggerated all that much. They really haven't leaned too far into outlandish or unbelievable territory with any character on the show. They're turning everyone's personality up to make the show more entertaining but all television series do that.

 

[Hoop Head]

The past 2 episodes have been really good. The show has definitely hit a stride. I'm a little bummed the season is almost over, both within the show and the show's season as well. We got 2 episodes left to cover the entire postseason run, I'd think. I didn't like how they skipped over so much time during the basketball season in the last episode but I guess it had to be done. That part had been moving pretty slow before the jump and I enjoyed that.

I really like the Larry Bird character they've introduced. Even though I'm not a fan of Adrien Brody, he's a quality actor and I'm glad they're showing Riley's ascent.

 

[GatorAZ]

I doubt that. Have you seen a lot of the garbage on tv now? Plus I don't think it's exaggerated all that much. They really haven't leaned too far into outlandish or unbelievable territory with any character on the show. They're turning everyone's personality up to make the show more entertaining but all television series do that.

Apparently the Westhead portrayal is a completely different character. He was calm and confident and they make him out to be a complete buffoon. Also Bird was nothing like they portray him. Of course I get why they did it. It’s a dramatization based on a book that’s loose on the facts.

The acting really saves it.

 

[GatorAZ]

An awfully convenient schedule​

To say the show took some creative liberties with the schedule would be an understatement. We’ve mentioned that the team wasn’t nearly as bad as the show portrayed in the episode, but let’s look at the specifics.

The Houston game, the first time the show portrays Westhead as a hapless man on the sideline, was actually a game the Lakers won in late February at The Forum. It did not come six weeks after McKinney’s accident, as the show says, either.

The show then discusses a three-game Christmas road trip with stops in Indiana, Detroit and Boston. There was no road trip around Christmas, and the Lakers didn’t even play on Christmas. There was a road trip that included games against the Pacers, Pistons and Boston, but it was a five-game trip that also included stops in Milwaukee and Washington, too.

That road trip, which started on Jan. 2, did not feature the Lakers losing to Indiana (they won, 127-120), nor did it feature them losing to Detroit (they won, 123-100), though the Pistons were one of the worst teams in the league, as noted in the show. There were then games in Milwaukee and Washington before Magic’s first trip to Boston to play Larry Bird and the Celtics.

In the episode, the game features the Lakers jumping ahead quick, the Celtics responding and the Lakers eventually winning, which is close to what happened. In reality, Boston led 34-21 after the first quarter before the Lakers stormed back in the third quarter to take a 77-74 lead going into the fourth.

The game, however, did not end on a game-winning Cooper layup at the buzzer. Instead, Norm Nixon was fouled with three seconds remaining and made a pair of free throws to give the Lakers a two-point win. The whole game can be found on YouTube.

A quick scan of the game would indicate that Riley was not ejected, as he was in the show. Magic was also pretty terrible in the game, scoring a single point on two shot attempts with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and three turnovers in 21 minutes.

Is this much fabrication really necessary?​

So, what’s the point of all these “creative liberties” then? It’s creating a compelling storyline to casual fans or those unfamiliar with the Lakers and the Showtime Era. One of the oldest storytelling tropes are the plucky underdogs overcoming all the odds to reach the mountaintop.

But that wasn’t these Lakers. Not even close.

As I noted earlier, Westhead was really, really damn good from day one with this team. Hell, the team was really good from day one under McKinney. The show itself already had an episode portraying how good the team was. And sure, losing McKinney could have sent the Lakers into a spiral, especially once they were taken over by a fresh-faced head coach in Westhead, but that isn’t what happened.

And it’s not any less compelling to play out the story as it actually happened. The Lakers running riot over the NBA in Magic’s first season is plenty compelling in its own right, with the rookie and McKinney — and to a lesser extent Westhead — orchestrating a revolutionary offense that teams had no answer for.

From a storytelling perspective, sure, it’s easier to have the Lakers play the Pistons and Celtics back-to-back to have Magic interact with future wife Cookie and rival Larry Bird in the same episode. But having them lose a pair of games to the Pacers and Pistons all while making Westhead look like a head coach lacking confidence or talent? Why?

It’s not a more compelling storyline than the truth. Westhead not missing a beat as the Lakers race away with the Western Conference is intriguing. The Lakers blitzing the league is intriguing. There’s more than enough built-in drama that could be elaborated upon, to the point that this feels like an unnecessary liberty to take.

Perhaps it won’t be a big deal to a regular viewer. But as a Lakers fan, it’s an odd choice and borderline annoying. I want to watch the Lakers dominate the league as they did, not cosplay as some professional version of the Bad News Bears.

For a show with so, so many hits this season, this feels like one of their biggest misses to me so far.
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Contrary to the ‘Winning Time’ portrayal, Paul Westhead was an instant success with Lakers

While "Winning Time" may have portrayed Paul Westhead’s first season with the Lakers as a struggle, the reality was anything but, as he found instant success in charge.

www.silverscreenandroll.com

 

[GatorAZ]

I’ve been calling this show a little overhyped but last night’s episode was amazing.

 

[Bada0Bing]

I had no idea they were making a second season! I thought this was a single season miniseries or something like that.

The first two episodes are out, pretty much picking up where they left off. I'd like the show much more if they didn't drift so far from what actually happened, but I still find it entertaining. Except for the scenes with just magic, those are pretty boring.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Ratings slipped for the second season, so HBO pulled the plug on it. That's a bummer... this is/ was a good show!

 

[Cheesebeef]

LOL at that series finale all about the Celtics punking the Lakers.

 

[Hoop Head]

Ratings slipped for the second season, so HBO pulled the plug on it. That's a bummer... this is/ was a good show!

HBO dropped the ball when they ran season 2. They should have pushed to air it during the finals like last year but they ran it well after the off-season excitement, draft free agency, etc. It was fun but they also didn't do themselves any favors heavily dramatizing it so the real people involved wanted nothing to do with the series. Oh well.