Second mention before I start, this is not a documentary, this is a TV Show, meaning that I expect a lot of it not been as close to real story, although this might have to do why they cancel it shortly after two seasons since the LA Lakers story I'm sure is more than just two season, so DO NOT expect this TV Show to cover every single character exactly as they were in real life.
I believe Winning Time is that type of series that you can watch right from season two and still have fun with it as it is mostly a comedy, characters like Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson, Norm Nixon, Michael Cooper, during the entire TV series they would always put a smile on your face, specially Jerry Buss.
This Tv Series covers a mix of different characters specially on season one when the entire structure of the story is created, season two is the continuation after the Jerry Buss bought the LA Lakers, change the business for ever turning NBA games into a party, he wanted people to come to The Forum (La Lakers Stadium at the time) to watch the game, come to the bar, spend time there watching the game and then party after Lakers win, that was the plan but not always work. This change the perception of a basketball game into a show with more attractions than just the game or the players, creating a bigger audience, building revenue (not always, at least was the idea) and trying to turn The Forum into a successful business, a place that can host more than just NBA games.
I not going to pretend to be the biggest NBA fan and know all the details about its story but I do know when to appreciate a good TV Show. I'm from the 80's and my two bigger cousins were hard core NBA fans, Michael Jordan fans, I saw the greatest player in history play the game latter on saw other players like Kobe Bryant, Shaquile Oneal, Karl Malone and extensive list of great players so I became a fan too, specially Michael Jordan fan. I do remember one of the most hardcore cities in NBA was Boston, during the times of this TV Show it was LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics, on season two the Lakers just won their first title and are looking to repeat the story, every time they face the Celtics it was war, specially if the Lakers win the game they were chase to their bus and had to run away before they were run down by the fans.
Episode two starts with Magic Johnson having some troubles for not been careful enough, during the TV Show he was presented as a young man, with a lot of talent, who started making a ton of money at the Lakers and love to party and was very smooth with the ladies, this got him into hot water, one of this ladies insist he got her pregnant and now Magic face a though decision, to not "stain" his image now his legal council wants to make a deal with this woman so she never speaks about it and in exchange will receive "financial assistance" in exchange for silence, Magic found this cold at first but lawyers sweet talk him to believe he cant afford a scandal not now that big sponsors are after him.
Latter on down the line Kareem, his mother and ex girlfriend had Magic change his mind about been a father, he was a good guy in a world full of snakes trying to stay feeding of his success so from time to time he got blind but all this fame and money that comes with success.
Ever since Magic got into the team he was a revolutionary and most of the time step out his boundaries, he was special player, one of the best on the team but he was no captain although he though he was, constantly he was trying to convince the other players, but for years before him Kareem got the Lakers lock down, he was the captain that all players respect and would not turn their backs on him for no body specially not for Magic.
Jerry Buss, one of the main characters, one of my favorites, was a man with a lot of vision, he knew that the future was not the games but the show, the different attractions that he could build around the game, Celtics already got the game but he was after something bigger than just winning the season, he wanted to revolutionize the sport and in the way make a ton of money. He knew that in order to win again one of the first things he had to do was to lock down the team, keep his players, now some of them have become starts others went up in value so he decided to skyrocket their contracts into the thousands, something that again change the story and was consider insanity by any other person within the NBA business.
Jeanie Buss, Jerry's daughter, was the only one in the family with his father vision, she support him in every single crazy idea he had, she also had his ambition for making The Forum something bigger than just NBA games, also had a strong temper to keep up with his father something her brothers didn't, they were too soft for Jerry, this eventually brakes the family apart.
Kareem was going through a rough time, he look out of shape, but not necessarily physically, probably it was the fact that he was about to be a father, Magic saw the opportunity and tried to take over the team but Kareem would not go down without a fight, also the rest of the team including the coach respect him and knew he is the cap, not Magic, this would not stop Magic from trying at least to show others he can be better than Kareem, at the same time he still fear Kareem too in a funny way.
The thing about skyrocket players contract, made Jerry West go nuts, Buss was about to pay players what he earn almost in their entire carrier, but again there was that Jerry Buss vision of revolutionize the sports business.
Karma is a bitch, the moment Magic though he could take over the team, complaining about Kareem shape, he gets his knew injured and cant play for three months, this obviously makes everybody on the team go crazy because Magic is not just a good player anymore, he is one of their biggest stars, they feel their chances of keeping the title diminish with Magic absence.
Lakers start to loose a good amount of games but head coach Paul Westhead comes with "The System", he had this idea to get all his five starting players to move fast down the court and shoot as soon as they get the back, from specific places where they are the most effective, something that players didn't agree with since in a bad night shutting that fast would make them loose the game, they were more use to build up their game, improvising but with Magic out of the team due to his injure it was hard for them to win this way, at first the players denied to play as Paul ask them but down the line agree to give it a try, Kareem took the lead and a few games before Magic was ready to at least walk again they started to win games.
Magic becomes a father, get his cast off his leg, comes back as spectator after so long just to watch Larry Bird beat their ass like it was nothing, there was bad blood between Magic and Bird from way before they got into NBA.
At the moment of this post I have not read the article about why HBO decided to cancel the show but as you can tell is a very entertaining story that I know any NBA fan after the 90's would love, I say this because for those who know the exact story might not be as pleasant since I'm sure the TV Show is not exactly as it happen in real time, as a TV Show is very entertaining and could get new eyes into the sport. The story covers a lot of characters that had a lot of material to probably produce five seasons out of it, only two seasons will probably be too short depending on how they decide to end it, just season one was great and it tries to cover their first title win and I don't think a bad job at it, also consider that Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty got 8.3/10 on IMDB.
