SPOILER ALERT: Episode 3 of HBO’s Season 2 of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” which is currently available to stream on Max, is covered in this article.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ emotions are considerably lower in the chilly opening of this week’s “Winning Time” after they were soundly defeated in the first round of the 1981 NBA playoffs. The team is unable to defend the title, so all they can do is watch the hated Boston Celtics win gold in their living homes and pout.
However, the humiliation doesn’t end there. Not only do the newly minted champions steal the championship from the Lakers, but they also almost take over the HBO show for an episode. A sequence of flashbacks breaks up the aftermath as the Los Angeles organization licks its wounds. They widen the frame to widescreen and transport viewers to Indiana in the 1970s, where they tell the tale of a young man named Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small), who moved to Boston to become a Lakers assassin.
These digressions have a tone that is more subdued and focused than the glitz and seediness that had been “Winning Time’s” mainstay, which fits with Bird’s fearless personality. Bird’s life is turned upside down by his father’s suicide, but an Indiana State assistant coach sees his potential and begs him to play again, saying, “Nobody gets to be as great as you are at this thing unless they love it.” Why do you behave as though you don’t?
Speaking to Variety, Small states, “He’s pushing away that thing that he thought was the reason for the tragic loss of his dad.” “At that time, when he dropped out of Indiana University and returned home, he was constantly wondering, ‘Were I the reason my father committed suicide?'”
In the film “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” Sean Patrick Small plays Larry Bird. HBO
A last flashback shows how Red Auerbach (Michael Chiklis), the general manager of the Boston Celtics, finally persuaded Bird to turn pro. The brain of the company had taken a chance when he selected Bird in the junior draft, forking over an enormous rookie contract in order to bring him to Boston the next season. Even though Bird plays hard to get at first, Auerbach goes right to the chase, addressing the fundamental beliefs of the young athlete with, “You don’t love winning so much as you hate to lose.” You belong to the Celtic people. A new dynasty begins
Before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Small and Chiklis spoke with Variety about adapting Larry Bird’s genesis tale for the big screen and why the Celtics might not be as horrible as they seem.
I’m speaking with the show’s Sith lords.
Sean Patrick Small: I believe Michael could offer some insight into that.
Do you want to make a comment, Michael?
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: That portrayal is intriguing. I usually think to myself, “Oh, so you go to ‘Star Wars’ and shout ‘Go Darth’? ” when someone is cheering for the Lakers or the Yankees. To me, such people stand for the terrible empire.
Heroes abound on both sides.
SMALL: These interviews are helping us determine that. That is all there is to it. Everyone is charging right toward us.
