‘Winning Time’ Finale: Magic Johnson’s Lakers Reach Dynasty Status As EP Max Borenstein Counters Kareem & Jerry West Foul Calls And Offers Season Two Hints
deadline.comTonight’s tenth and final episode of HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty begins with the kind of adversity the team and owner Jerry Buss have overcome all through this charmed ’79-’80 NBA season.
In the final moments of Game 5 of the finals, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar launches his patented sky hook, only to land wrong and severely sprain his ankle.
The HOF center, dominant to this point, shrugs off the pain and wills the Lakers to being a win away from the NBA title. Magic Johnson, meanwhile, learns he has lost Rookie of the Year to his rival Larry Bird, who materializes in Magic’s apartment in a vision, meant to tear away at the Laker star’s confidence.And Jerry Buss, fresh from burying his mother, tells long suffering daughter Jeanie that he needs a favor from her in working up a succession plan.
He wants her to help him figure out which of his sons should be heir apparent. After caring for his grandmother and proving herself in the Lakers power structure, Jeanie is crushed.
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