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One of my favourite plotlines in season 1 started with Westhead exploding "WE'RE NOT LOSING THIS loving GAME" then turning things around and gaining the respect of the team, so yeah the way he's been portrayed this season has been a little tough to watch. I think you could charitably look at it as this is what always happens when someone with no true leadership experience is thrust into a role they're not prepared for except magnified by a million due to the profile of the job and amount of pressure; like the majority of those people lose their minds but are given the elbow room to learn lessons and improve, except everyone above Westhead is making it abundantly clear that they don't want him in the job and are trying to gently caress him over, and he feels like he needs to lay the smack down on the only person sincerely trying to help (Riley) as he's below him in the hierarchy. It's fun watching Westhead's frustration at Magic acting like he's above and beyond the good of the team because of his prestige and the money he's earning, considering all the rumours surrounding Segel's conduct near the end of How I Met Your Mother.
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Aug 30, 2023 18:02
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:56 |
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The characterisation of Bird is loving amazing and he isn't in the series enough. Him being a beer-chugging redneck who looks and behaves nothing like a professional athlete should yet completely pisses all over everyone with bare minimum effort is pretty accurate, my hope for the series is that they're able to portray how he and Johnson's relationship eventually developed into a deeply respectful rivalry then a close friendship..
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Aug 30, 2023 20:50
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It definitely feels like Buss is "supposed" to be the main character but they don't know what to do with him now that he's settled in as the owner of the team. Pat Reilly would probably be a better main character at this point, or Jerry West, or someone involved with the on-the-ground stuff.
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Sep 1, 2023 10:29
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This episode just reinforced that the show's at its strongest when it's focusing on the team itself; I couldn't give less of a poo poo about Buss' private life or his relationship with his family, and barely care about his role within the organisation. Clarke and Brody are both smashing it and I think the story should really revolve around them; I did think the Westhead firing scene was great, with Reilly and Segel doing some of the best acting they've done on the series. Admittedly I've been struggling to keep on top of the timeframe over the last few episodes but it seemed to propel forward to the ECF with no kind of indication. Adrianics fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Sep 5, 2023 |
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Sep 5, 2023 10:29
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Darko posted:Yeah, the show rushed through the playoff loss season because Magic's injury made him kind of a non factor, and not that much drama was going on, and used the last episode to speedrun through their next championship appearance. Just kind of a weird choice dramatically speaking; very odd to launch straight from Reilly finding his mojo as a coach (his struggles to find his voice relegated to a single scene) to oh I guess now the team is in the NBA Finals and it's several months later? I wasn't sure what the month was when Westhead was fired but got the impression it was relatively early in the season
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Sep 5, 2023 22:02
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Darko posted:You'll be happy to know it was 3 weeks into the season, and they truncated the whole season after, haha. gently caress me, and (unless I looked away or something) not even a "six months later" caption on the screen? Just slamming straight to Buss' wedding to that lady we know nothing about
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Sep 6, 2023 10:03
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I know I keep banging this drum but it is honestly just so odd to me that they keep choosing to make such ridiculous leaps forward in time, was there really nothing in the intervening time that would make a good episode, like Reilly has gotten basically no time at all dedicated to his development as a coach compared to Westhead. I will say that I loved the playoff montage done via the passes on the court, and the Reilly/Chiklis act-off at the end. Actually got me kind of pumped to see how they portray the Finals next week.
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Sep 12, 2023 10:31
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Excellent use of "Shadows of the Night" that made me feel very sad that this has been brought to an end. For all its flaws, you cannot deny the amount of heart and energy that went into it from everyone involved. Some truly MVP acting from Brody in that episode. So much wasted potential, would have loved to have seen how they portrayed, ie, the Bad Boy Pistons and the arrival of Michael Jordan. The briefest hint at the eventual friendship between Johnson and Bird reminded me of my faith that they'd do a great job with that, too. All the way through Winning Time I kept thinking about The Last Dance, and how there's this mystique about NBA athletes from the 80s and 90s, like they were world-famous but you ultimately knew nothing about them or what went on off-the-court because this was a pre-social media era. I think that's why the plots with the Buss family were so poorly received this season, absolutely nobody gives a gently caress about that compared to the drama happening within the team and front office because those are the details that went unsaid at the time. Adrianics fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 08:59
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I know that they probably made promises to Reilly to convince him to commit to series but they probably should have done like a Ryan Murphy-esque anthology approach season-by-season as to whoever the main character is, like Buss in season one, Westhead in season two, Reilly in season 3 etc. They clearly had no clue what to do with Buss after season one.
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Sep 19, 2023 12:19
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:56 |
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Now starting to feel a little gutted that we never got 1992 Dream Team, the HIV diagnosis and Magic's final season. I think they would have done great with all three.
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Sep 19, 2023 15:37
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