Celtics Lab

Celtics vs Lakers, Bird vs Magic Rivalry + ‘Winning Time’

For the first time in years, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers both have a solid shot at winning a banner. With the tally tied up at 17 each, the stakes in this age-old rivalry are not small. Just in time to grease the wheels of that ancient enmity is a new season of HBO’s “Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” chronicling the historic feud between the bi-coastal foes in the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson era.

And while it will be many months before we know if there’s a chance the two rivals will meet in the NBA Finals, the series should help keep us busy. Older fans revel in the days of Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale vs, Magic, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, and Norm Nixon. Younger Boston fans can learn what all the hubbub was about.

To that end, the hosts of the CLNS Media “Celtics Lab” podcast reached out to the man who wrote the book on that era in the literal sense, Jeff Pearlman, the tome in question being “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s”. Pearlman joined us to talk all things Celtics-Lakers, how the book and then series came to be, and what he thinks of the series having had an eagle-eye view of its creation, even appearing in cameos with his family. Make sure you catch this Lab — and Winning Time’s second season while you’re at it.

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