Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman

I was very excited to read this book. I grew up in the 1980s and I have vivid memories of the Showtime Lakers and their rivalries with the Celtics, Pistons, and my hometown 76ers. This book is about my favorite era of NBA basketball. Additionally, I’d read two of Jeff Pearlman’s previous books, both of them about championship teams from my youth. I fully expected this to become one of my favorite sports books. Boy, was I wrong.

I don’t know how it happened, but this book makes Showtime seem like an era of joylessness. Reading made me wonder why anyone ever wanted to become or remain a Laker. Pearlman portrays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a surly man lacking any compassion or humanity. Pat Riley is depicted as an egomaniacal monster. And Magic Johnson? He’s a merciless bully. To agree, I know these depictions carry a great deal of truth. Pearlman, however, provides little to no balance; there aren’t many pros to counter the cons that carry the tale.

I wonder if my criticisms are the result of the author relying too heavily on his interviews. Many of us remember the Showtime Lakers. The writing suggests to me that both the author and his interviewees took this into account. Instead of giving us the entire picture, this book reads as a behind the scenes look at the era. I read this book to relive and supplement my memories, not the other way around. In this respect, I feel the book was a failure to anyone who was cognizant during the era.

The book’s biggest failing, in my opinion, is Pearlman’s treatment of Game 6 of the 1985 NBA Finals. There is no debate: that game is the single most important game in the history of the Laker franchise. Going into that game, the Celtics and Lakers had played for the world championship eight times. The Celtics had won eight times. Many believed the Lakers would never get over the hump. They did. They defeated the Celtics in the Boston Garden to win the championship. Pearlman handled this game the same way he did every other game of that series, which is to say he gave it no special treatment. That was a disservice to the sport, the Lakers, and everyone who appreciates NBA history. One could write an entire book about Game 6. I’m not suggesting Pearlman should have done that, but that game certainly should have been a focal point of this book. That, like the rest of the book, was a huge disappointment to me.

D