It's like The Wall, where he shaves his body in front of the mirror. I don't think its actual Riley but an impression of the slicked back legend he became. The shower scene was his transformation moment.

The title to this show should be Winning Time: Why Let Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Story.

Magic is the Invisible Man as he signs for a larger contract than Larry, a larger shoe deal and has people lining up to sign him as a spokesman around the globe.

The Hick From French Lick or Magic.

They had to create the villian for the story.

I do appreciate that they acknowledge that Larry had as good of ability as Magic and he wasn't just a creation of systemic racism...despite spending the first 45 minutes of this episode making you believe that is the case.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Larry Bird as Satan was a nice touch.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

for a show that doesn't deal in a ton of reality, I was really mad that they played with the actual schedule from that year to build a narrative. They could have said they lost to the Kings before beating the Celts but they had to place Magic in Detroit to build the story. so they had the Lakers lose to the Pistons on christmas

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Coach Stephen Hawking is in the hospital while Corky from Life Goes On coaches. Pat Riley turns the franchise around by telling a ref he fucked his mother.

I wonder if they think that gives them cover if someone eventually sues them for defamation. They can point to the schedule inaccuracies and say, "see, we clearly weren't presenting these things as facts."

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NBA 1980.01.13 Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers (First battle Bird vs. Magic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6gOWcNauOY

According to Brent Musburger, Lakers did play Detroit before coming to Boston

Notice the legal disclaimer at the end of each episode stating this is all a fiction

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I really hate Jason Segal as an actor. He and the writers are really doing a hatchet job on Westhead. I guess they could only go so far against Reilly, as almost everyone watching knows how that story eventually plays out.

Guys more knowledgeable than I, answer me this: how is Westhead both are moron and the architect of possibly the most innovative and fun scheme in college basketball history? No one has heard a peep from LMU since he took them on runs through the NCAA tournament.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

But he isnt really the architect, right? He just took what McKinney did and ran with it.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Well, they ran it pretty well.

The other thing really missing is that we are supposed to believe he was stuck in a broom closet before McKinney called. He was coaching La Salle at the time and had been for nine seasons where he put together a good record with three post season appearances at a non traditional basketball school.

Spencer Haywood was on the bench because he had the same disease that plagued a majority of the league and the entire Bulls team before Jordan arrived.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I imagine there is a limit to how much protection that disclaimer provides. If they were to show Magic taking it up the ass or sucking guys off left and right (assuming that never happened, lol), I think they would have some exposure.

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I don't know if they ever really came close to replacing Westhead with Elgin Baylor. I suspect it's an in-joke for basketball fans who know Baylor is widely considered the worst coach and executive in the history of major sports.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Every character is clearly hyperbole of the real life character. Like Jerry West. JORR seems to think they portray him as dumb. I disagree on that, I don't think he's portrayed as someone who is dumb, but moreso someone with:

A) A substance abuse problem (cocaine?)
B) Anger issues
C) Mild Tourette's
D) All of the above

I'm sure there is some of West in there, but I doubt he smashed an office/trophy/golf club/limo every day he walked on the planet.

Same thing with Westhead. Like Dolphin said, there is no way this script is close to accurate. As a coach Westhead accomplished the following:

1. Took the LaSalle Explorers to multiple NCAA Tournaments.
2. Took LMU to three NCAA Tournaments and one Elite Eight (LMU has a grand total of 5 NCAA appearances)
3. Won an NBA title with the Lakers
4. Won a WNBA title with the Phoenix franchise

Do I think that Westhead is one of the top 10 basketball coaches of all time? No. Do I think he is anywhere close to what he is portrayed as in this series? No.

I'm moderately entertained by this series, but honestly, if it was cancelled tomorrow, I'd not miss the show at all. Although this is probably the first TV show I've actively watched in real time since Hill Street Blues so it's not like I'm a big TV junkie.

Spencer Haywood started in 1980. He came in and took Chones' spot. The whole "sitting at the end of the bench" until the Boston game is, of course, a lie.

I'm hate watching every second. Another thing, people were provincial back then. The only place Bird was beloved was Boston and maybe, for the sake of argument, the deep south. Bird and Magic themselves couldn't watch each other. They'd pour over the box scores of each other the next day. The NBA Finals weren't even televised live. The context of this show kinda pretends like it's today's NBA.

The depiction of West seems to have shifted as the show has moved along. Initially, the show presented him as some combination of a loser, good old boy dunce, and a tyrannical, bipolar lunatic. As the series has moved along, he now seems to be more of a Machiavellian tyrant-lunatic.

In real life, West suffers from clinical depression. From what I've read, he's not the kind of person who terrorizes those around him. Like most people with depression, he magnifies and internalizes his real or imagined shortcomings, tormenting only himself.

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They definitely portrayed him as dumb over the first two episodes. When Westhead and Riley showed up he transformed into more of what you and Midget describe above. Riley himself has transformed from a hapless unemployed buffoon living off his wife to a basketball savant.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

they did, but they won that game and more importantly since they used it as a plot device, that game is the 2nd between the Celts and Lakers from that season.

I don't know why I care so much about that detail.

Westhead was regarded by Terry and others as an idiot. Terry Pluto was another that said nice guy, rocks for brains. But Boers had little regard for the guys who would just roll the ball out and "let 'em recreate". Terry thought Lou Henson was that type of coach. But clearly Westhead is regarded in more than a few circles as a dummy. Doug Moe ran similar stuff to him in Denver but everybody thought Doug Moe was a genius.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Was there a thread here on Lost when it was on TV?

Haywood did have a coke problem and he had calcium deposits in his knees which made it painful to play. He was also regarded as a malcontent literally everywhere he went, which unsurprisingly this show tries to tie to his leap to the NBA, but the guy's personality was clearly not great and he messed up a few locker rooms along the way by all regards.

Chones did have some talent when he played for the Cavs. But then, that was the Cavs.

Riley did re-invent himself. That's also fairly clear from the beat writers who covered the Lakers back then.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Doesn't anybody who becomes a coach reinvent themselves?

i never saw Ditka play, but was he "Ditka" as a player too?

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Westhead was an English professor, this isn't a dumb guy. College english departments aren't just going to let some dope in there to fuck around in their playpen.

My point is this isn't Jim Coletto teaching "football theory" at Purdue while he was winning 2 games a year.

Brent also told me it was a rematch. So, Lakers won both games. Magic was ineffective the 2nd game because of a groin. Kareem was lights out. And by the way, Chris Ford sucks.

the Lakers only really struggled with Portland that year, for some reason. They've gotta create some drama, I suppose.

Again, I've met many professors that were book smart but life stupid. Westhead did completely bungle that press conference and apparently wasn't much good at dealing with professional basketball players. He did succeed at the college level, no doubt about that.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

here's the thing though, we can all agree the writers frequently lie

but, what is important is what are they trying to portray with that lie that would not have been possible with the truth?

it sure seems like a story attempting to justify a current political position by creating a past reality so that it can be used by those ignorant of history

This context changes the show from a fun, Sunday evening watch to close out the weekend to something different.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I would suggest Phil Jackson's press conferences were more hilarious than Westhead's.

Westhead is interviewed at the 2 minute mark of the youtube Joe cited. He seemed competent

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Bingo!

Doug Moe ran a ton of stuff. That's what my guy is saying, too.

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