In 2020, basketball fans glued themselves to the screen to watch all ten episodes of The last Dancean ESPN and Netflix documentary miniseries that recounted part of Michael Jordan’s career and some of the most successful years of the Chicago Bulls, at the end of the 90s, with exclusive and unpublished material.
Almost two years after that premiere, a new production arrives to enchant the same faithful, now traveling to 1979 to show another golden era: that of the Lakers, led by Magic Johnson. Is about Lakers: time to win (HBO Max).
It is not a documentary, but a fictionalized series, and it comes full of humor, dynamism and also good trickssuch as looks and words to the camera, animations and superimposed texts, all elements that are well used and that show the production’s commitment to dynamism and constant stimuli, to keep the viewers’ attention captive, a task that becomes daily most complicated day
At the center of the story is Jerry Buss, the businessman who bought the Los Angeles basketball team, and Magic Johnson, the star varsity player they recruited at almost the same time.
Behind these roles there is an actor with a great career (John C. Reilly) and another who is just beginning his career (Quincy Isaiah), both of whom excelled in their roles. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the big name is Adam McKay, the director and screenwriter of The Big Short and Don’t Look Up, who, in addition to being an executive producer, directs the first episode.
With only one chapter released of the ten that will have this season, it may be premature to talk about a great goal of series, but without a doubt it is a premiere that gives to get excited; that combines in a good way the nostalgia and also the excesses of an era, the emotion of the sport and also the story of how was the rise of a team that with its success and style took the first step to turn basketball into a show sport and lights, which catapulted him to the center of the entertainment world.
With all these elements, time to win It is a series that bets on a comic tone but that does not mean that it removes issues such as sexism and racism that, if they are still present, were part of the status quo in the early 80s.
These elements are there, and also the excesses, the clashes of personalities and egos, the competitions; and all are put at the service of entertainment. To deliver a well-made, well-acted, well-written series that undoubtedly starts off on the right foot to become a sure hit among sports fans. And perhaps even go further.
