Is ‘Winning Time’ Based on a True Story?
Do we have any sports fans in the house?
…. How about devotees of my favorite complicated soft boy, John C. Reilly?
Well, boy do I have a new show for you!
Adam McKay has given us Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, HBO’s latest one-hour dramedy. The first season follows the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team from 1979 to 1991. In the late 1970s the NBA, and basketball, were on the decline and the Lakers were near bankruptcy. However, this all began to change when Dr. Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) bought the team, hired a new coach and a young rookie named Earvin “Magic” Johnson. (Magic Johnson, played by Quincy Isaiah, and teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, played by Solomon Hughes, would go on to be an unstoppable pair during this era of basketball.)
Buss demanded the entire brand be revitalized in order to save it. His new coach instituted a new, faster, flashier style of play. He created the infamous “Laker girls” cheer team, and brought in the celebrity following that the Lakers are now known for today. The story also chronicles the rise of famous Lakers coach Pat Riley (Adrian Brody), from retired player to assistant announcer to head coach. The show is gleefully excessive, leaning into Buss’s lechery and playboy lifestyle. It also is cinematically creative, with characters frequently breaking the fourth wall, and the editing jumping between many different filming methods (from digital, to film, to shots straight out of a VCR.)
Is it based on a true story?
It is! It is loosely based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. Pearlman’s book documented the “showtime” era of the Los Angeles team. In basketball, “showtime” refers to the fast, freewheeling, “run and gun” style of play that led the Lakers to five national championships in the 1980s. It involves an uptempo offense, with a lot of passing and shooting attempts that lead to very high-scoring games. While certain events and character traits are fictionalized or exaggerated, the show is in fact based on the real history of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Winning Time airs Sundays on HBO.
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