Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

We all touched ourselves two years ago at this time about a documentary about Michael Jordan that was overseen by......Michael Jordan. Where a dead guy was scapegoated and another dead guy was kinda' glossed over so as to not go too deep into Jordan's gambling. You could argue fictionalizing things and omitting non-fictionalized things to make certain people look better aren't that different. So, if they want to make Jerry West into a screaming cartoon, whatever. I just bought a copy of the book off of eBay (since Pearlman didn't take me up on sending me a copy. And you wonder why this board is dying, Jeff) so I'll get the real story just as soon as I have time to read it.

 

If Jordan's Bulls got the Winning Time treatment we'd get a scene where Krause participates in a pie-eating contest at a county fair and then vomits over everyone a la Lard Ass in Stand By Me, followed by him walking hand-in-hand into practice before Game 6 of the Finals with a 6-foot-11 Brazilian he found operating the Ferris wheel. He interrupts Jordan bashing Steve Kerr's skull in with a Birmingham Barons baseball bat (while the words AL CAPONE WAS MJ'S IDOL flash on the screen) to loudly proclaim, "I found someone who's going to make Chicago forget all about Jordan and Pippen!" Jordan steps over Kerr's twitching body, eyes the crust, apple chunks and barf on Krause's shirt, smirks, pulls a cigar out of his shorts, turns to the camera with a smile and says, "And now you know why we call him Crumbs."

It'd have that subtle Winning Time touch.

 

I only touched myself during the Will Perdue scenes.

 

My nephew does extra work and was in the “crowd” for the Lakers-Clippers opener

 

The actor who plays Kareem is really good.

 

Kareem actually had 29 and 10 in that 1979-80 opener against the Clippers according to Basketball Reference. Nixon was barely part of the offense that night.

Solid 46-point night from Lloyd Free

Lakers vs Clippers, October 12, 1979 | Basketball-Reference.com

 

"Guarded" mostly by Magic Johnson.

 

Glad Starman is around to remember the late 70s/early 80s as they really were instead of the NBA public relations hagiographic bullshit that's been passed down from one generation to the next. You'd think the NBA began in 1980, which is hot load of bullshit.

The Spurs were another team that should have done more in this era. Probably deserved to advance from the East (yes, the Spurs were in the East) at least once.

Being a Bucks guy, I always wondered what would have happened had the NBA not realigned when the Mavericks came in for the 1980-81 season? I think the Bucks make at least one Finals appearance out of the West in the 80s, most likely 1981 when the whole conference melted down in the playoffs. Possibly 1986 too.

As for Winning Time? It's an enjoyable, stylized fictional version of (some) factual events. It's open about it, so that's fine. If it was purporting to be a definitive history? Then that would be different.

 

Was that filmed at the LA Sports Arena?

 

And 8 turnovers!

 

There is no more Sports Arena. It was torn down and replaced with a soccer stadium for LAFC.
I think it was the now Kia Forum, but I’ll check with him.

 

I assumed that ratty Sports Arena would never get torn down.

What I’m really impressed with is the game play. Uniforms are spot on - those clippers unis were gorgeous. The floor looks the same. Big crowds for the game scenes. The detail is meticulous — even if the timelines and facts are way off.

Of course I was irked Magic threw the inbounds pass to Kareem and not Don Ford.