As basketball and Los Angeles Lakers fans patiently await the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, many have been passing the time by watching HBO’s hit show ‘Winning Time.’
The show, which is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book ‘Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,’ is in its second season documenting the Showtime era of the Lakers.
Season 2 has been following the 1981-82 season when the Lakers fired Paul Westhead and hired Pat Riley as their head coach after Magic Johnson had a talk with Dr. Jerry Buss.
Riley was able to find immediate success with the Lakers, although there were some bumps along the way. Ahead of this Sunday’s Episode 6 of Season 2, there were some sneak peaks released of what is to come:
Is it over for the Lakers?
New episodes of #WinningTime premiere Sundays at 9PM ET on @StreamOnMax. pic.twitter.com/uwVWKKMU9a
— Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (@winningtimehbo) September 8, 2023
For the Gz and Hustlas. #WinningTime pic.twitter.com/aXOLHkv0rq
— HBO (@HBO) September 8, 2023
In these clips, Celtics executive Red Auerbach and star player Larry Bird are plotting how to get back to the NBA Finals to beat the Lakers. This season has really focused on Bird and the Celtics as their rivalry with Johnson and the Lakers grew early in the 1980s before they ultimately meet in the NBA Finals in 1984.
Additionally, Abdul-Jabbar is shown contemplating retirement, not liking the way he and other players were being treated at the time. One of the highlights of Episode 5 was Abdul-Jabbar speaking with Dr. Buss and seemingly being the only one to understand that Johnson’s 25-year, $25 million contract would be well below market value in a few years.
Things are starting to shift for the Lakers after the switch to Riley as head coach though, so the rest of the season should be very exciting.
‘Winning Time’ needs viewers to keep going
The creators of ‘Winning Time’ have not been shy in letting it be known that the show needs more viewers if HBO is going to green light a third season for them.
The expectation is that Season 2 will end with the Celtics beating the Lakers in the 1984 NBA Finals, which is essentially the beginning of the rivalry so there is no way this hit show can end there, and they need people to watch to ensure that happens.
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