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Larry Bird is the villain as far as Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers are concerned in episode three of the second season of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.”
“The Second Coming,” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO Max. OutKick received an advance copy of the show from HBO.
Johnson and Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss watch with disdain as Bird and Celtics general manager Red Auerbach puff victory cigars after beating Houston for the 1981 NBA title. Houston upset the defending champion Lakers in an opening playoff series, 2-1, that season.
“You watching this?,” Johnson angrily asks Buss over the phone.
At the moment, not as many are watching the second season of “Winning Time” as much as the first that ended in the spring of 2022.
The first episode of the second season on Aug. 6 drew 629,000 total viewers as opposed to 1.6 million for the finale. Perhaps this was because the first season aired during the NCAA Tournament and NBA Playoffs.
Winning Time 2nd Season Features Bird Vs. Magic
As August draws to a close, football is on the mind of the nation with the season starting Saturday as No. 13 Notre Dame will play Navy in Dublin, Ireland. But a football-type rivalry was brewing in the early 1980s in the NBA between Bird and Magic, and the momentum of this series could start building as fast.
With Celtic cigar smoke wafts away, this episode flashes back to 1974 and a “Welcome to French Lick, Indiana” sign – “Population: 2,059.” Bob Seger’s “No Man’s Land” plays.
Bird is returning home from the University of Indiana after just a month in Bloomington in one of the biggest mysteries of coach Bobby Knight’s historic career with the Hoosiers. Bird did not like the big city and returned home before attending Northwood Institute community college and then starring at Indiana State from 1976-79.
LAKERS SERIES DELVES INTO MAGIC JOHNSON’S FATHERHOOD
After losing to Michigan State and Johnson in the 1979 NCAA championship game, Bird would go on to exemplify everything that a classic Knight Hoosier could be with the Boston Celtics – a natural progression at the time. That would be hard work, fundamentals and spectacular, but efficient play with expert shooting, passing and defense. With Bird, surely Knight could have added the 1979 national title to his Hall of Fame credentials that included titles in 1976, ’81 and ’87.
But Bird had a sad family life as a youth and found it difficult to stick in Bloomington. His parents divorced while he played for Springs Valley High School. His father, Korean War veteran Claude Joe Bird, shot himself in 1975.
Boston Celtic Larry Bird Portrayed By Look-Alike
Not only does actor Sean Patrick Small capture the troubled Bird as a youth, but he looks amazingly similar to Bird. Even wore his number 33 as a player at Los Altos High in Mountain View, California, near San Francisco. And he has his classic jump shot down, too. This is because of the painstaking work of “Winning Time” basketball producer Idan Ravin.
“Everything has to be precise,” Ravin told OutKick in an exclusive interview last week. “We’re looking at characters that everyone worships and loves and knows so intimately. In a world of critics, I wanted to make sure I can silence them.”
A few minutes of a Lakers’ practice, a Johnson pass or a Bird jumper can take weeks and months to choreograph.
“If you watch it, and there’s no hesitation,” Ravin said. “You’re going, ‘Oh, I’m watching Larry Bird,’ that means we did it properly. If someone says, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ Then I failed. Our Larry Bird (Small) did an incredible job in mastering the Larry Bird character, especially on the court. And we probably worked together for 18 months.”\
Ravin has worked as a private physical and mental performance trainer for decades with real, NBA players, such as superstars LeBron James, the late Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Stephen Curry.
“My responsibility for this was to help turn these actors into silhouettes of these iconic players,” Ravin said. “Because it was very important that they really mirror the player they represent on camera.”
While Small had basketball experience, the actor portraying Magic – Quincy Isaiah – played on the offensive line at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.
Actor Playing Magic Johnson Got More Than Smile
“I give Quincy so much credit,” Ravin said. “He spent his life in the trenches, and now all of a sudden he’s a basketball player. It was a very complex transition that took a long time. But Quincy’s got great feet. If he ever wants to do a boxing movie, he’d be fantastic.”
Isaiah nails Magic’s smile as well as his signature moves on the court.
“The was a precision that had to come with playing Magic – the way he runs, the way he jumps, the way he passes, the way he shoots, the way he’s very dramatic on his follow-through,” Ravin said. “And how he mugs for the camera after a play, how he smiles, how everything is just incredibly dramatic in how he plays.”
And how Magic and Bird play against one another for a title for the first time since the 1979 NCAA championship game in the 1984 NBA Finals is coming soon with Bird gaining revenge.
Classic Celtics-Lakers Moment Coming Soon
“Yes, and some of that is really beautiful,” Ravin said. “There’s a lot of really amazing stuff from that seven-game series.”
This includes the infamous moment in game four when Boston’s Kevin McHale and Gerald Henderson clothesline Los Angeles’ Kurt Rambis on his way to the glass for a layup.
“The audience will love that,” Ravin said. “That’s a beautiful scene that you’ll see. And it absolutely took a long time. The goal is to make you feel like you’re watching an incredibly elevated basketball game. And for the basketball to be a vehicle to tell a much bigger story. The directors helped guide me in putting together these very poignant moments that show the tension between the characters, move the story along and pay homage to the time period.”
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