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Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

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Photo: Warrick Page/HBO

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, the HBO series about the late-’70s-to-early-’80s transformation of the Los Angeles Lakers, is about as subtle as leaping over two big men to deliver a decisive slam dunk in an NBA playoff game. It’s showy and a little arrogant, brash and aggressive, urgent and quickly paced when the moment calls for it. It can be a little much until you get used to it, and even then, it’s still a little much. But once you get hooked into the story of how a struggling team reinvented itself and the NBA experience, you may find it hard to look away, even though its pleasures run more surface level than deep. — Jen Chaney, “Winning Time Certainly Puts on a Show”

  1. Episode 10 Promised Land
    Winning Time Season-Finale Recap: Haywood’s Gun Winning Time can only stretch reality so far and limps throughout its finale.
  2. Episode 9 Pickfair
    Winning Time Recap: Acceptable Loss As the Lakers enter the playoffs, we’re reminded of the painful sacrifices along the way.
  3. Episode 8 California Dreaming
    Winning Time Recap: All-Star Breaking Point The Lakers might be winning on the court, but their constant sabotaging and undermining of each other is a losing game.
  4. Episode 7 Invisible Man
    Winning Time Recap: Invisible Man Winning Time finally gets to the first of many battles between Magic and Bird.
  5. Episode 6 Memento Mori
    Winning Time Recap: A Paul Westhead Original The noble prince is forced into becoming a hapless king.
  6. Episode 5 Pieces of a Man
    Winning Time Recap: O Captain! My Captain! Winning Time puts Kareem Abdul-Jabbar center stage in the best episode of the series so far.
  7. Episode 4 Who the Fuck is Jack McKinney?
    Winning Time Recap: Classical Music vs. Jazz The Showtime era has finally begun in Los Angeles.
  8. Episode 3 The Best Is Yet To Come
    Winning Time Recap: What Happens in Vegas … This week is a stealth introduction to Pat Riley, future Hall of Fame head coach and current loser.
  9. Episode 2 Is That All There Is?
    Winning Time Recap: We Are Building Shangri-La Jerry Buss has to figure out how he will pay for the championship roster he desperately craves.
  10. Episode 1 The Swan
    Winning Time Recap: It’s Showtime! Winning Time is a captivating workplace drama starring employees with massive talent and egos.
  1. Episode 7 What Is and What Should Never Be
    Winning Time Finale Recap: Leave the Dynasties to Us The Lakers lose the ’84 finals but will more or less live happily ever after. Winning Time as a series, on the other hand …
  2. Episode 6 Beat L.A.
    Winning Time Recap: It’s Actually Losing Time We’re skipping right over the ‘82 championship to get to the good stuff: the Lakers’ professional and personal failures.
  3. Episode 5 The Hamburger Hamlet
    Winning Time Recap: Press Conference Massacre A combination of Jerry’s mismanagement and Magic flexing his power combusts into a historic mess.
  4. Episode 4 The New World
    Winning Time Recap: The System What’s the point of being Magic Johnson if the team that owns you won’t let you be Magic Johnson?
  5. Episode 3 The Second Coming
    Winning Time Recap: Rebuilding As the Lakers regroup after a disappointing playoffs, Magic’s greatest rival is growing his reputation as a ruthless competitor and trash-talker.
  6. Episode 2 The Magic is Back
    Winning Time Recap: Et Tu, Pat? Westhead’s refusal to embrace Magic, flaws and all, creates a disconnect within the team … and an opening for Riley.
  7. Episode 1 One Ring Don’t Make a Dynasty
    Winning Time Season-Premiere Recap: Our Year For all his talk about turning the Lakers into a family business, Jerry’s track record as a father remains spotty.

More on Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynesty

  1. post-game analysis
    Was Winning Time a Loss Or a Victory?Two critics review the highlights and personal fouls of HBO’s ambitious but flawed attempt to distill a dynasty.
    By Jen Chaney and Nicholas Quah
  2. exit interview
    Winning Time Will Not Shoot for 3Producer Kevin Messick breaks down the HBO series’ abrupt cancellation and how they turned season two’s ending into a series finale.
    By Josef Adalian
  3. switched on pop
    The Point Guard of Winning Time’s Score Sees Jazz in BasketballNicholas Britell brought charts to record the show’s score. Robert Glasper, his co-composer, doesn’t get down like that: “I was like, ‘Hell no.’”
    By Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding
  4. close read
    Winning Time Was No Match for the Showtime Lakers LegacyThe series made some fascinating moves in its debut season, but in its final moments, it succumbed to the inertia of a preordained narrative.
    By Nicholas Quah
  5. in conversation
    John C. Reilly Thinks Audiences Just Want to Be SurprisedHe’d do (almost) anything to oblige.
    By Lane Brown
  6. fast break
    It’s Time to Relive All the Winning Time DramaFrom the basketball court to the Supreme Court, everyone’s dealing with drama.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  7. losing time
    Lakers Stars Are Not Happy With Winning TimeJerry West claims he will take HBO “all the way to the Supreme Court” over his Winning Time character.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  8. chat room
    Winning Time’s Solomon Hughes Found a ‘Power Move’ to Unlock Kareem Abdul-JabbarIt had nothing to do with basketball.
    By Shannon Carlin
  9. backstories
    How Winning Time Managed to Bottle the Magic of Showtime Lakers BasketballDirector Damian Marcano used a basketball trainer to the pros and a camera operator on Rollerblades to make it happen.
    By Mikael Awake
  10. chat room
    Winning Time’s Adrien Brody on Destroying Pat Riley’s Garage“They were very nervous with me on the roof with the chain saw, and I was like, ‘No, I got it.’”
    By Roxana Hadadi
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