The Big Picture
- Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty chronicles the incredible series of victories by the Los Angeles basketball team in the 1980s, with a winking, self-referential style similar to Adam McKay's other projects.
- Pat Riley's growing confidence and behind-the-scenes chaos are key components of Season 2, which focuses on events between 1980 and 1984.
- The series remains fairly accurate to the source material, and while some figures have criticized their portrayals, many jaw-dropping moments are lifted straight from historical records.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty has chronicled the incredible real story of the Los Angeles basketball team and their incredible series of victories in the 1980s. While there’s an obvious appeal to basketball fans who are interested in seeing how iconic players like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabar are depicted on screen, the series is brought to life in a winking, self-referential style that is similar to the other projects that Adam McKay has created, including other biopics like Vice and The Big Short. The second season of the series chronicles the behind-the-scenes chaos that thwarted the Lakers after their initial championship victory, and how assistant coach Pat Riley (Adrien Brody) was jettisoned into the spotlight. Riley may feel like a character plucked out of one of McKay’s historical comedies, but the show is only bringing to life an incredible true story that has become a basketball legend.
Pat Riley Didn’t Expect to Be the Lakers' Coach
The opening scene of Season 2 of the series features Brody giving a “call to war” speech to the Lakers that feels worthy of William Wallace in Braveheart; it was certainly a significant shift from the way that he had been depicted in the first season. Riley’s growing confidence becomes one of the key components of Season 2. While the first season only focused on the 1980 season, Season 2 chronicles events between 1980 and 1984.
In the first season of Winning Time, Riley is hired as an assistant coach after head coach Jack McKinney (Tracy Letts) is involved in a near-fatal accident that renders him incapable of leading the team. As a result, Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) is brought on as head coach, with Riley serving as a personal mentor and guardian to the rising star Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah). Although he appears to be ill-equipped for coaching duties, it’s Riley's persistence for him to get into character that drives Westhead into commanding the players’ respect and getting them to focus. Even though Westhead, McKinney, and Riley all had different management styles, the Lakers were able to feed off of the chaotic energy and take home the 1980 championship.
The series depicts Riley as the force responsible for pushing Westhead to take control; while McKinney has commanded a certain amount of respect from the players, Westhead had a more difficult time wrangling dominant personalities like Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabar (Solomon Hughes), and Norm Nixon (DeVaughn Nixon). However, Westhead begins to feel more confident in the second season and develops a plan called “The System” that decentralizes the Lakers’ offensive strategy. Westhead’s fealty to “The System” detracts from the eccentric, over-the-top style that Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) has been promoting and de-emphasizes Johnson’s importance. This sparks internal conflict with Riley, who is caught between his friendship with Westhead and his desire to see Johnson maximize his abilities.
The second season primarily focuses on the Lakers in the aftermath of their initial championship, in which an embarrassing series of losses took a toll on the team’s standing with both players and fans. Buss is infuriated, as his rivalry with the Boston Celtics head coach Red Auerbach (Michael Chiklis) forces him to examine how his team is being run. Riley is negated to the sideline as Westhead leans into his celebrity status. However, a pivotal disagreement over a potential trade forces the Lakers to make a change in its leadership. After Westhead ceases to quit demeaning Magic in front of Riley, the star player publicly asks to be traded to a different team in order to cease having to hear his coach’s nagging.
This relates to the fundamental difference in strategy between Riley and Westhead; while Westhead believed that no player should ever hold more importance than the team or coach, Riley recognizes the unique skills that star players like Magic can introduce to their matches. Caught between a coach on a losing streak and an unhappy player, Buss decides to fire Westhead in an impromptu press conference. It’s not initially clear if either Riley or the former star player Jerry West (Jason Clarke) will be coaching the team, but once Riley takes charge, the Lakers see an immediate change. The team’s newfound success under Riley leads them to take home their second NBA Championship.
How Accurate Is ‘Winning Time' Season 2 About Real-Life Events?
Winning Time is based on the acclaimed nonfiction novel Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, whose author Jeff Pearlman detailed the incredible records, behind-the-scenes stories, and drama that occurred during the Los Angeles Lakers’ incredible string of victories. Accuracy to the source material is something that the creative team behind Winning Time has held in high regard, and Brody went to extensive lengths to get into character as Riley. Brody said that “it was a lot of pressure on me personally because, as I said, in taking the role, I feel a responsibility to honor Pat Riley.”
Brody’s performance is emblematic of Riley’s real fiery public persona that became somewhat notorious during the era in which the show takes place. In the aftermath of the Lakers’ victory, Buss brought in a level of showmanship to the games that unofficially initiated the team’s “Showtime” era. While players like Magic and Kareem were already widely beloved by the Lakers’ fan community, Riley became a celebrity as well. His confident, commanding presence on the sidelines became incredibly influential to other rising coaches during the subsequent decades.
Although the series obviously dramatizes many of the behind-the-scenes arguments and exchanges, it remains fairly accurate to Pearlman’s source material. Some of the figures portrayed in Winning Time have taken issue with the way that they’ve been depicted on screen; Magic Johnson has stated that he refused to watch the series, and Jerry West’s lawyers have claimed that the series "falsely and cruelly portrays Mr. West as an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic" and "bears no resemblance to the real man.” However, many of the most jaw-dropping moments, such as Riley’s ascension to the coaching position, are lifted straight from the historical records.
The Winning Time Season 2 finale premieres September 17 on HBO and Max.
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