[soft music]
HOWARD COSELL: The National Basketball Association
captured the sports headlines this week
with the brouhaha in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, Lakers superstar Magic Johnson
decided he was unhappy, demanded to be traded.
REPORTER: The NBA leader in assists
and the steals averaging 17 points a game
demanded Wednesday night to be traded,
if Paul Westhead remained as coach.
- Well, Magic got his wish. Coach Paul Westhead was canned.
- Paul Westhead has been fired as the coach
of the Los Angeles Lakers after the team star,
Magic Johnson, said he wanted to be traded.
LETTERMAN: Paul Westhead, the people said
that you might have been responsible
for him leaving the organization.
- All I asked was, "I want to be traded,"
and then all the other things came out.
- I went on David Letterman,
and I didn't want to continue to bash Coach Westhead.
You know, I'm not that dude. I just wanted to move on.
I wanted us to get back to our winning ways.
I wanted us to get back to runnin' and gunnin',
because we were not doing that.
PAUL: It doesn't seem that long ago
that we were running a World Championship.
And I say adios to the people of Los Angeles.
PAUL: It was my first time being fired.
But I learned a long time ago
that if someone's going to fire you,
don't beg.
PAUL: That's what you want, then...okay.
KAREEM: It was gonna come down to Earvin or Paul.
Paul couldn't do what Earvin did on the court. [laughs]
So, you know, if the coach can't make...
A very, very key player happy,
we're not gonna win as many games as we could.
And that-that's just the fact.
BUSS: In the best interest of the entire Laker organization,
we have appointed Jerry West as offensive coach.
Pat Riley will stay as coach for the Lakers.
- Well, first of all, I'd like to clear up one thing.
I'm gonna be working for Pat Riley.
And I feel that my response--
- With or for? - With and for Pat Riley.
And I think my responsibility is to him,
because I feel in my heart that he is the head coach.
And hopefully my position here won't be a long-range position.
PAT: Dr. Buss announced Jerry was gonna be the head coach.
And then Jerry came up and said,
"No, Pat's gonna be the head coach."
And then I got up there and said,
"Well, if nobody wants it. I'll take it, you know?"
- Ed Arnold has been covering the story all day,
is with the new coach-- Ed and Pat Riley, yes.
- Well, Pat Riley is the new coach.
Actually, there are two new coaches
according to Dr. Jerry Buss, the owner of the team.
One is Jerry West.
The other one of course is Pat Riley, who's with me now.
What will the status be between you and Jerry?
- Well, right now, Eddie, because I'm familiar with, uh,
you know, the total concept of the Laker team
offensively and defensively, I will be in charge.
Jerry will, uh, support me offensively
in the suggestions and, uh, you know,
in that capacity until a further date if there is one.
- So at the press conference, my dad is explaining
that Pat would be coaching defense
and Jerry would be coaching the offense.
But when Jerry West came in and contradicted my dad,
my dad had to defer to Jerry West,
therefore making him the shot caller in the organization.
- I offered Jerry West the job,
and I said, "You may use or not use Pat Riley
"to whatever level you choose,
"and I will hold you responsible
"for the overall program.
And in particular, I want you to improve our offense."
Uh, after that, Jerry talked to Pat,
the news conference was held,
and he said, "Pat Riley will be the head coach."
You see, with the authority that I gave him,
he has the right to do that.
My feeling is, "Jerry, you take this,
"and you do what you think is right
and what you think is best."
If that's what he thinks is best,
I have every faith in him.
- So Pat Riley is running the ball club?
- Uh...that's correct.
- I don't think my dad was angry about it,
but it definitely set a tone
for their relationship going forward.
You know, that's not how my dad would wanna be thought of,
that he wasn't the sole decision maker.
- Magic, if you disagree with Pat Riley
as you did with Paul Westhead, would you ask to be traded?
- Well, we'll just have to wait till that comes.
[laughs]
I can't answer that now. How can I answer that?
And like I said, I just wait till it come.
REPORTER: Your thoughts on Pat Riley.
- Well, uh, he's the coach now.
He's the man I have to work for.
I hope, uh, that things go smoothly.
REPORTER: Think you'll have any problem at all
with the players? - I don't think so. I hope not.
Uh, you know, they're professionals,
and, uh, you know, this day has come and gone.
And tomorrow night they're playing against a team
that beat them by 30 points last week.
So I think their incentive is-is to play, and, uh,
and I don't think I'll have any problems with them.
♪ ♪
PAT: One of the things about Dr. Buss
is that he wanted the team to be a family.
As much as we are together as a team,
the only way you're ever gonna win is to be a family,
is really be tight and to trust one another.
SINGERS: ♪ California love ♪
♪ Ooh ooh ♪
♪ California ♪
♪ Knows how to party ♪
♪ California knows how to party ♪
ANNOUNCER: There he is. His first shot as an owner.
ANNOUNCER: You think he likes it?
SINGER: ♪ California ♪
♪ ♪
BUSS: At this moment, I can't believe it.
SINGER: ♪ California ♪
INTERVIEWER: What's the future?
Want to replace your father
at the top? - Yeah. [laughs]
SINGER: ♪ In the city ♪
BUSS: Between my daughters and my sons,
there are certainly enough sports teams to go around.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: Are you and the rest of the family,
are you guys all on the same page?
SINGER: ♪ We keep it rockin' ♪
REPORTER: The Lakers, caught in the middle
of a family power struggle.
SINGERS ♪ Rockin', rockin' ♪
[intense musical buildup]
BUSS: I think I've really left them with something.
[soft, dramatic chord]
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
MAGIC: My teammates didn't like
that Dr. Buss and I were close,
but what made life even worse than that
is when he gave me the 25-year, $25-million contract.
- 21-year-old Earvin Magic Johnson
has just pulled off a trick
that makes Harry Houdini look like a two-bit carnival act.
The 6'8 guard who led the Lakers
to a world championship finish his rookie season
has signed a new contract. It is a whopper, folks.
The two-year veteran will earn about $500 per hour
based on a 40-hour work week for the next 25 years.
That comes out to a nice, neat little sum
of $25 million.
It is the richest and the longest
in professional sports history.
- Magic came to me and said, "I would like to be a Laker
"throughout my entire playing career.
Could we sign a long-term contract?"
I said, "Yes, we can."
So you have to visualize what salaries will be at that time.
And, uh, my guess is
for a star of Magic's caliber at that time,
the price will be a million dollars.
So we signed him for a million dollars a year.
- People were saying that Dr. Buss was crazy,
because at that time, that-that kind of money
goin' around the NBA was just--that was crazy.
JOHNNY: Every owner in every league in America
was upset at my father for starting this precedent.
They were saying, "You're about to ruin sports."
BUSS: What we wanted to do
was work Magic into the front office
after the basketball days are over.
MAGIC: He said, "I'm gonna explain
the Laker business to you, the real business."
Took me through what season ticket holders mean,
the TV contract mean.
He just became a father figure and a mentor
all at the same time.
BUSS: Magic and I kind of feel that our fortunes
will be tied together for the foreseeable future.
- And then all hell broke loose.
[laughing]
Kareem was mad. Like, "What? Wait a minute.
Is he the player, or is he management now?"
STEVEN: Kareem took it personally.
He seemed absolutely upset.
He referred to him as-- in the headline,
I think it was a spoiled child.
"If this guy's worth 25 million for 25 years,
what am I worth?" kind of thing.
He wasn't happy about it.
DAVID: This was a contract that gave you everything
in the State of California south of Ohio.
Now did Kareem--was it true that he went into
Jerry Buss' office and said, "What's the deal here?"
- Well, he just wanted
all the rest of California and Phoenix.
[both laughing]
- I just understood it in terms of it being, um,
he was a key employee.
You wanna keep him as long as you can.
And, you know, I-I wasn't gonna get jealous.
They weren't gonna give me 25 years.
[laughs[ And they didn't--
they wouldn't wanna be paying me when I was 50.
[moody music]
JAMAAL: The contract certainly represented their closeness,
and it raised a question of,
"Is he one of us or one of them?"
- Whew, man. It was like nobody liked me.
"Don't speak to him. Don't say nothing to him.
Uh...we wanna see what he's made of."
All that, man.
It's like I didn't have a friend in the world.
Matter of fact, they had a meeting about it.
[laughing]
And they came to me and said,
"Earvin, you know, it's a unwritten rule.
You can't be close with the owner."
And I said, "Well, I don't care
"about no unwritten rule.
"I'm going to be close with Dr. Buss,
and you guys can't make me stop."
JAMAAL: If we're talking in the locker room or the shower
and, you know, we're talking
about what players talk about off the record,
is he gonna go back and report it to management?
- You can't go out to dinner with the owner
three nights in a row
and then come sit in the locker room with everybody.
PERSON: Well, that's what Magic did.
- And everybody was like this. [chuckles]
- Now, wait a minute.
I never told Dr. Buss one story
about any story that I heard on the bus,
on the plane, in the locker room,
and then when we're out at a nightclub partying.
I never said anything to Dr. Buss about your life,
my life, my private life.
Never. Matter of fact, he's never asked me.
- Whether you're talking to the owner or not,
it would be perceived that way.
You know, that's a very thin line.
- And we walked out. I said, "Listen, man.
I'm here to play basketball. I'm here to win."
- I didn't get involved in those kinds of discussions.
They didn't ask me what I thought about
what somebody should get paid,
and so my thing was always about,
"How do we keep this together?"
JAMAAL: Coach Riley had been a player.
He'd been in the booth. He had been around.
So we all had a relationship with him.
It wasn't like he was a stranger.
KURT: Pat Riley came in, and he was like one of us.
We'd hang out in bars after games and drink.
He was just like one of the players.
PAT: Well, I was with Kurt, 'cause he's an alcoholic.
[laughs]
No, he wasn't.
Now I'm a real coach... [laughs] okay?
Here's what coaches do.
They stand up and they yell and scream.
And they wave their arms all over the place,
and they put fingers in the air or two up,
one up, three up, whatever it. Fist up.
And I can remember Magic one time looking over to me,
and he just waved me off.
I talked to him in the next day at practice,
and he said, "Coach, we love you to death, man."
He said, "But could you just sit down?
[laughing] Just sit down a little bit."
He said, "I got this. We got this."
After talking to Magic, I sat down too much,
and then I wasn't doing anything.
And then we had somewhat of a spell where we're losing.
Dr. Buss called me in
and didn't talk about basketball or anything.
Talked about his family, his background,
where he's from, all this stuff, asked about me.
And then at the end he's, "Pat, just coach.
"Just be a coach, you know? And don't worry about it.
Don't be afraid of whatever. Go out there and coach."
ANNOUNCER: And now the starting lineup
of the Los Angeles Lakers.
PAT: The Lakers had a struggle last year.
We lost our World Championship,
but we're going to get it back.
ANNOUNCER: Head coach, Pat Riley.
KURT: Everybody loved him, everybody loved the situation
that he had brought to the team
and the freedom that he kind of recreated.
He opened up the gates again.
Said, "You know, we're gonna run.
I'm gonna trust you guys."
SPORTSCASTER: Right side, in deep, bank of...
ANNOUNCER: Having to ply your craft at the Forum
in Los Angeles is a difficult task for any coach.
After all, they're used to winners here,
and it's Hollywood, so you have to put on a show.
How well has Pat Riley done?
Well, the record speaks for itself.
NORM: We started playing happy again.
We got back into our system
and playing the style of play that we played in 1980.
♪ ♪
MITCH: I signed as a free agent with the Lakers in 1981,
and I got hurt, like, the end of December, my first year.
ANNOUNCER: Left side of Magic. Down the middle of Kupchak.
Kupchak runs over a man. Kupchak's hurt.
- Joe "Jellybean" Bryant steps in front of me
to draw a charge,
and I planted my left foot to try to stop.
You know, I never felt anything like that.
So I knew something was really wrong,
and I missed close to two years.
REPORTER: What's it feel like to have to spend
Christmas day in a hospital?
- Well, it's not the best possible situation
for me to be in,
but it was a way for me to get my parents
to stay out here for a couple extra days.
Dr. Buss stood by me when I got injured,
and not only that, he hired me as a scout.
BOB: Mitch Kupchak tore his knee up,
and they needed another power forward type/center.
And I was out there.
REPORTER: On Christmas Eve, 1981,
Bob McAdoo is asked to sign up with the LA Lakers.
REPORTER: McAdoo was the league's most valuable player
in 1975, the league's scoring champ three times,
and he owns a career scoring average
of 26.4 points per game.
- I had done everything individually that a player
could do in the league.
I needed a championship.
ANNOUNCER: Great defense by McAdoo from the corner.
STEVEN: That power forward is Bob McAdoo,
the former MVP, former scoring leader.
And he's there for one reason. He wants a ring.
And then you've got Kurt Rambis.
And he was just there because he wanted to play basketball.
KURT: We were in Indiana.
I'm a rookie. I'm not playing.
I'm just hanging out, watching the game, and stuff like that.
And Riley points down at the end of the bench and goes,
"You. Yeah, you. Get in."
And I went in and focused on defense and rebounding,
and I did a good job
and ended up starting the rest of the year.
ANNOUNCER: Starting at forward in his first year
from Santa Clara, number 31, Kurt Rambis.
ANNOUNCER: They've shot to the lead of the Pacific Division
in just two months.
The brand of basketball is exciting.
Whatever the Lakers didn't do for Westhead
they're doing now for their new head coach.
JEANIE: I'll never forget the day, I said, "Hey, Riles."
And he stopped me and he said,
"Gotta start calling me Coach. I'm Coach now."
We saw him transform and take on that leadership role.
- That's when he went with the haircuts
and the suits and everything,
and he started looking more like a mafia don
than a basketball coach. [laughs]
- Riley's look was so iconic
that multiple people stole it for movies.
Kurt Russell steals Pat's look.
Michael Douglas steals Pat's look.
- Before that, he looked like a hippie,
and I don't mean that disrespectfully.
I mean that respectfully.
NORM: The money was different. He can afford suits now.
You know, he was the coach of Showtime Lakers.
He's been handed a championship team,
and all he has to do is just get on the backs and ride it.
STEVEN: He was like a cowboy who turned his horse loose
and let him romp through the meadows.
They got their game back.
They got their ability to do the fast break back.
They got showtime back, and they--
so they were just thrilled to play for him.
[quiet music]
JULIUS: '82, we were representing
the Eastern Conference again. [laughs]
I'm not gonna say that we were overconfident,
under-confident, or anything.
We just know that, you know,
we were trying to climb a mountain.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to game one
of the NBA World Championship Series.
The Lakers against the 76ers.
And it promises perhaps to be
the fastest-paced championship series of all time.
- Jerry, no man in the history of sports
has ever purchased a franchise
and reached the championship round two out of three years.
- Ah, that pleases me very well.
Now we just gotta win it, Chick.
- Well, you've got the ingredients to win it.
I think that you'll have to say that.
- In 1982, the Lakers and the 76ers met again.
And, uh, this time, I didn't see it as an even match.
ANNOUNCER: This is a lightning-fast team,
maybe the best fast break team of all time.
I'm talking about the Lakers. - Rambis to Nixon...
over the shoulder pass to Rambis.
On to Wilkes!
STEVEN: It was still a tough series to win six games,
but you never had the feeling they were gonna lose.
ANNOUNCER: Number six.
Lakers lead three games to two.
- All the press was Julius Erving getting a championship.
And I said to myself,
"He'll get this over my dead body."
And I meant it.
[dramatic music]
JULIUS: He was probably very hungry...[laughing]
for a title.
So we gave Bob McAdoo his appropriate respect.
ANNOUNCER: At the other end is Erving.
Here comes a long pass. He's got it. He's underneath.
He has a block by McAdoo from behind.
McAdoo blocked the shot to Cooper to Wilkes.
Wilkes all the way to Kareem. Slam dunk.
[crowd cheering]
NORM: Riley just...
rode that thing to a championship, man.
ANNOUNCER: Three. Two. One.
The Lakers are the World Champions!
[crowd cheering]
[stirring music]
♪ ♪
BRANDON: Congratulations. Fantastic job.
PAT: I'll tell you what, Brandon.
The players deserve all the credit,
because they're the ones that play.
They trusted me early in the season
when I didn't know what I was doing,
and we've come a long way.
BRANDON: When did this team start to believe
in your leadership?
PAT: Well, I just think they believed in themselves.
I always thought they just started throwing a little bit.
Hit him. Right here. Doing it!
Thank you, Brandon. Thank you, everyone.
- Congratulations. Let's grab--
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers have won two of the last three.
So, Larry,
make the presentation to Jerry Buss here on a big day.
[cheers and applause]
BUSS: Larry, I'm going to accept this trophy
on behalf of the fans of the Lakers.
I know there are millions and millions and millions of fans
who watched this game tonight, and wherever you are,
I want you to know the team won it for you, the fans.
Thank you very much.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
KAREEM: Being able to win two championships in three years
is really gratifying.
To see the whole city come together,
Spanish language theater downtown
is congratulating us in Spanish,
Chinatown,
all the different ethnic enclaves.
They all seem to be Laker fans.
TODD: L. A. is a city where, you know,
as Wu-Tang would say form like Voltron, right?
I mean, so you have, like, all these different cities,
different communities, different areas
that are in many ways their own unique entity.
What the Lakers do is, with their success,
they're able to help
create a more cohesive sense of the city.
FLEA: When I moved to L. A.,
my high school was like a third white,
a third Black, a third Latino, 10% Asian.
And everyone had different music they liked.
But everybody loved Earth, Wind & Fire.
The music was transcendent.
And with basketball and with the Lakers,
it felt the same way is that gave me that feeling.
BUSS: We wanted to put on a show.
We wanted to entertain the people.
We wanted it to be very indigenous to Los Angeles.
And the Lakers do have the personality of Los Angeles.
- Oh, yeah. It's real. Don't come off.
Yeah, I figured, well,
the Lakers can't win championships forever,
but I can keep their memory on my arm forever.
PERSON: You know when you're here in L. A.
and you want to entertain yourself,
you'll go to a concert, you'll go to a Dodger game,
you'll go to the race tracks.
What he loves is that all the people that he's admired
all his life, when they want to entertain themself,
they come here to the Forum.
ANNOUNCER: Jerry Buss not only bought himself
some well-known numbers, he bought some fancy company.
The Forum may be in Englewood
and the team names may say Los Angeles,
but some nights, it's all Hollywood
JEANIE: Laker games were known to have celebrities.
JAMAAL: And not just a game every now and then.
They were there all the time.
They may have been stars in Hollywood,
but for two hours, they were Laker fans.
Pure and simple.
- What they say? Celebrities watching celebrities.
[laughing]
- The NBA bought into it too.
Because here you are, you got a team that's in Hollywood,
and all these big stars at the game.
And this team played this fast-paced kind of game.
It fit the whole narrative, you know.
What he was trying to create-- his persona.
JAMAAL: He was made for it, you know.
I mean, he was the ringleader, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
And we watched him enjoy it,
and we enjoyed watching him enjoy it.
You know what I mean?
And he enjoyed watching us enjoy it.
I mean, it was that kind of thing.
- He became... this overnight celebrity.
[disco music]
PERSON: And then he created the Forum Club.
MAGIC: I gotta have a spot after the game
that everybody want to get in.
I'ma create the Forum Club.
JEANIE: He was going to games every night.
So instead of saying, "Hey, tonight we're going out
to this restaurant or out to this club,"
it was now at the Forum.
NORM: All those people you saw on the floor,
they would be in the Forum Club after the game.
- That was the place to be.
You know, I was upset when I missed it, you know?
JEANIE: My dad would take the center table
that everybody could see if they walked by,
and he made sure that his table was full of celebrities.
- It was like the Roman Empire, okay?
You'd walk into the left, and there was a big dinner.
- I got so many calls from so many athletes, celebrities.
"Hey, you think you can talk to Dr. Buss
that I can sit at his table for dinner?"
[laughing]
JOHN: We didn't have curfew at any other city except L. A.
and for good reason.
You hurry up, took a shower,
and you went up the back stairways to the Forum Club.
I probably did the fastest shower I've ever took.
I think I got my hand wet.
You walk in, and there's every color girl.
There's, I mean, fine.
It was not a ugly soul in the whole spot.
MICHAEL: Forum Club was a magnificent place.
That's the second-best place on Earth to be
other than the Playboy Mansion.
I was married at the time,
so the only time I went to the Forum Club
was with my wife in my hand,
and I always kept my blinders on.
So I was just looking straight ahead,
'cause I knew I'd hear about it.
- When you looked at our team back then,
everybody was married except for me and Magic.
JOHNNY: One time I was just sitting there
and a player came out of this
office closet area with a woman, a little disheveled,
and the player said, "Wow, that was great."
- One night I'd like to be single.
[laughing]
INTERVIEWER: Was cocaine all up in the Forum Club
to your knowledge?
ROB: There was the Forum Club,
and then there was the Press Lounge.
The real action went on in the Press Lounge, to be truthful.
There was a guy,
and I was always very happy that he was there.
- Oh, well, one thing, uh, I can tell you for sure,
it wasn't me.
- The Lakers, the Kings, the Forum,
you know, the family-- everything's going right.
Our lives had totally changed.
JEANIE: Selling tickets--
that was just to gain the first experience.
Then he would try to find
a place for you that would fit your personality.
- He wanted to be just like the Kennedys, you know,
and he wanted to see his children
take over the business.
♪ ♪
BUSS: At some time in the future, I will retire.
And, uh, I would like to continue
to operate the Forum as a family business.
But they're going to need experience in order
to direct something the size of the Forum
and the Lakers and the Kings.
[energetic music]
- So I want to introduce you to 19-year-old general manager
of the Los Angeles Strings, Jeanie Buss.
She's the daughter of Forum, Kings,
Lakers owner, Jerry Buss.
And, Jeanie, you're gonna be a junior at USC
majoring in business administration.
So let me ask you a business or finance question.
How is Team Tennis going financially this year?
- It's going pretty well.
I stand to lose a little bit, but not as much as my dad lost
in the first time with Team Tennis.
- Martina is playing Billy--
JEANIE: Prior to my dad buying the Lakers,
he owned a team in World Team Tennis.
When he asked if I wanted to run the team,
I was like, "Of course, yes. Yeah."
And I said, "This is great. Now I can quit school."
And he said, "No, no, no, no. No."
It's like, "You have to go to school,
"and you can have the job.
But if you--you can't take the job and quit school."
CLAIRE: Jerry believed
that you should throw people into the pool,
and if they can swim, they survive.
And I felt...sorry for them,
because they were thrown into things
that they didn't understand.
JOHNNY: My dad called me, and he says, "You know,
the funniest thing happened. I get a call from the MISL,"
which is Major Indoor Soccer League,
"And they want us to field a team in Los Angeles."
REPORTER: This is son John Buss.
He's the president of the Los Angeles Lasers,
an indoor soccer team.
JOHNNY: My dad said, "Johnny, you take over the Lasers.
You do what needs to be done."
And I rarely,
maybe once or twice a year,
ever talk to him about the business
of the Indoor Soccer League.
JANIE: Johnny's the oldest,
and there were a lot of probably pressures
that I can't relate to.
My dad kind of threw them into the fire,
because that's the only way you're gonna learn.
REPORTER: But what is it besides cheering
that a general manager does? During the season,
Jeanie's here every day keeping track
of what's happening in tennis, because after all,
she will want to draft the best players available,
a trait she hope runs in the family.
- Right after we decided that she would run the franchise,
the draft came up.
She brought in a sheet of paper with all of the names and said,
"Well, let's draft the team."
- He looked at the list and then looked at me,
and he said, "I want you to do it."
- And she said, "Well, I thought
you'd give me some suggestions."
- He said, "I want you to have the responsibility.
"I want you to know what it feels like when people say,
"'What have you done? What have you picked?'
I want you to get the blame or to get the recognition."
- "Let's make no mistake about it.
It's your team, it's your ball game,
and it's up to you."
JOHNNY: This was grooming for, you know,
what he wanted us to do,
and that was to be involved in a family business.
JIM: It was John does the Lasers.
Jeanie does the Strings.
And so at the Forum,
my dad had it pretty much running like a machine.
And it wasn't--I wasn't-- I was part of the machine
but not an intricate part of the machine.
But never did I say, "Well, gosh, it would be nice
if I had a team or something like that."
No.
JANIE: I could see jealousy, uh, between...
well, all of us.
I mean, I think we were all--
well, I know I was a bit jealous of Jeanie,
but she's older than me, so she got the opportunity
before I got a chance to do something.
- Janie's jealous that Jeanie did this.
Or Jimmy's jealous of Jeanie, and Jeanie's jealous of me.
And, you know, it was that jealousy kind of thing.
- They might have been, um, you know,
intimidated by my ambition,
but it was more the media that I got the center stage,
that I got the spotlight.
I got a lot of attention because I was a woman
in a traditionally, you know, male sports world.
And, you know, that probably was frustrating for them,
but that, I couldn't help.
INTERVIEWER: What's the future? What do you really want to do?
Hope to replace your father at the top?
- Yeah, I've already told him that. He knows that.
I think he's kind of surprised that his daughter
would be saying that and really wanting to fill his shoes.
But I think someday I could do it.
INTERVIEWER: What about the idea
that there's been just too much too soon for Jeanie?
- Oh, certainly, there's that possibility, uh...
And I think any conscionable father would think of that.
On the other hand, sooner or later,
she's going to have to come to grips with that.
[edgy music]
JEANIE: That's when he said,
"Jeanie, I want you to meet Linda Zafrani."
DEBBIE: I was working for Playboy,
and Dr. Buss was dating my little sister,
who was also working for Playboy.
Dr. Buss, he was onto the next young beauty,
and my sister was devastated.
So I called Dr. Buss up, and I said,
"I don't think it's fair, what you did to Debbie,
and I think you should marry her."
He's like, "I'm not gonna marry her,
"but I appreciate how you stuck up for her.
And I wonder, would you consider working for me?"
JEANIE: My dad said, "I want you and Linda
to work together."
As he explained it,
"Linda's got that street smart toughness
that I think you need."
LINDA: He wanted someone that he thought she could trust
to help facilitate her ability to do both things,
go to school and work.
And even though she had older brothers,
she was the front-facing person.
So she had added stress.
STEVEN: In 1982, there was another big coin flip.
It was the Lakers against the Clippers.
Lakers had the pick,
because they had traded Don Ford to Cleveland,
and Cleveland finished last.
REPORTER: What do you guys feel here?
You win the Championship,
you're the best team in the NBA,
and you get the number one draft pick.
- Well, I feel that every Championship team
and the reason that you don't repeat
is 'cause you don't get better.
But this year, we'll get a little better
with this first choice.
And it might help us for next season.
- Rich get richer?
- Yeah, so to speak the rich gets richer.
[laughs]
ANNOUNCER: For the first pick,
Cleveland to Los Angeles... Los Angeles.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
He's 6'9, 225 pounds from North Carolina--
James Worthy.
ANNOUNCER: Worthy helped lead the Tar Heels
to the NCAA Championship this past season as a junior.
He chose to give up his final year of college eligibility
and made himself available for the NBA draft.
EDDIE: And you have added more excitement to a stable
that is already plenty exciting.
James Worthy-- didn't take you long
to make that selection, Dr. Buss.
- It took us a lot of thought though quite honestly, Eddie.
We were very torn between the three top people.
They're all so good. I mean, usually this doesn't happen.
Usually, there's one or two outstanding.
But three outstanding players, we spent a lot of time,
and I guess about a week or 10 days ago
we came to the conclusion that it had to be James Worthy.
PERSON: Do you feel with the success
that they've already got that you'll be able to get into
that starting lineup right off the top?
- That's not one of my main objectives.
I just want to come and learn.
I think it'll be a learning experience for me, and...
I was a pretty good player coming outta college.
And so I was not arrogant, but I was very confident.
I thought I could start.
The first week of training camp,
I would walk into the gym,
and I would look around, and I would say,
"Okay, there's Kareem...
"Jamal Wilkes...
"Norm Nixon.
There's Magic."
But then I saw Kurt Rambis.
Kurt Rambis had these thick glasses on.
Like, he looked like a science professor,
and I said, "I can get that spot."
KURT: My hair, my mustache, the glasses.
It just kind of made me look like a normal person
walkin' down the street
and not the guy that was starting for the Lakers.
But I could not believe
they were bringing somebody in to take my job.
So I did everything I possibly could to let him know,
"If you're gonna take my job,
you got your work cut out for you."
- That first week, every time I got within his area
where he operated, Kirk Rambis kicked my ass like a ragdoll.
- [laughing]
Yeah. That makes me feel good right now.
[laughing]
That-that was my intention.
- So I humbly had to sit on the bench.
It was a lesson in patience
when you're playing with the team
that really doesn't need you right now.
SPORTSCASTER: Jerry, things are really on the uptick
in the NBA, and I think the Lakers
are sitting right up on top.
You've got a very exciting ball club,
and I see that things are gonna continue.
We have a tremendous amount of excitement
out in Los Angeles and I think across the country.
As more of the exciting players come into the NBA,
I-I think there's gonna be a terrific upswing.
JEANIE: My dad always kept his eye on the business.
Like, this wasn't just a plaything and he got lucky.
You know, he wanted his team to always be competitive.
PERSON: The 76ers in 1983 had Dr. J,
and they had Moses Malone
and they had great defenders like Bobby Jones.
They were the real deal.
PAT: We beat 'em in '80. We beat 'em in '82.
You know, they were ready theirs.
JULIUS: Win, lose, or draw, you know,
this doesn't define who I am.
You know, basketball is what I do, not what I am.
And as much as I used to tell myself that,
you know, I realized that
everybody didn't think that way.
[laughing]
And so it was a relief, you know, in '83,
when we finally got over the hump and beat them.
ANNOUNCER: Here he comes.
Well, he's off the clock.
[continues in background]
BOB: Injuries. The injuries killed us.
It was too much firepower gone.
If me, James Worthy,
and Norm Nixon were healthy,
no way they would beat us.
JULIUS: Wasn't our fault you were injured.
[laughs] And next man up's gotta do his job or whatever.
So I don't think when you beat a team four straight times
that they can say they were the better team.
Th-That doesn't make sense. That's delusional behavior.
BUSS: My hat's off to the victors,
and, uh, this is what it's all about.
The winning, the losing, the struggle--it's great.
PAT: I would've much rather been on the other end
of this thing tonight,
but I'm gonna raise my glass to them too tonight.
JULIUS: Funny. You know what he said to me?
He says, "Got those skeletons removed from the closet, huh?"
[chuckling] I said, "Yeah, Pat.
They're gone." [laughs]
DAVID: Why does it seem to be impossible
to repeat Championships in that league?
- Because the teams you beat get better.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Like we beat Philly, they went out and got Moses.
[laughter] So, uh, they beat us,
and I don't know what might happen.
We-we might get a good play or...
NORM: When you do lose,
there are some things that start happening.
You know, you always gonna have scapegoats.
And, you know, like, it was Kareem's fault.
It was this one's fault.
This guy is negative in the locker room.
This guy is doing this.
JERRY: Sometimes you make subtle changes in your team.
We needed someone bigger out there,
and I didn't think Norm was a great complement
to Magic Johnson.
- Jerry had come to-- I always laugh about it.
Say, "I'll never trade you."
I said, "That's a kiss of death like the Italians."
[laughs] Muah, muah.
I said, "Oop, I'm outta here now."
I told my brother. I said, "Oop, I'm gone."
[laughing]
BYRON: I'm originally from Inglewood, California,
and been here all my life, you know?
So Inglewood is home. It's where I was raised.
You know, so when I get a call from Jerry West
saying that we're gonna make a trade for you today,
I almost fell out-- you know, fell out my bed.
[laughs]
JERRY: Getting one of the best prospects in the draft,
that was exciting for me.
And also the three-point line had become in vogue then,
and that was his specialty when he first started out.
BYRON: Jerry West said, "You know,
we're gonna win more championships
with you than we ever would have with Norm."
MICHAEL: Magic, myself, and Norm,
we were the trio. We always talk about
we had the best three guard combo in the league.
So when they pulled that trade off, it hurt a lot.
MAGIC: All three of us had a real bond
out on the basketball court.
And so when he got traded, you know,
that was a--that was a tough moment for me.
- People were mad.
They were incensed and mourning.
PERSON: Jack Nicholson, he wore black for three games.
I said, "What the hell is this all about?"
He said, "That's the dumbest trade I've ever seen."
- Well, he wears all black a lot.
So maybe he's always in mourning,
but I'm a fan of the Lakers,
and I respect players.
But these guys were my friends.
And to this day, I wish they hadn't traded Norman.
NORM: Jack and Lou, they were fans,
and they know the game,
and they knew me on a personal level.
They knew me very well on a personal level.
They didn't wanna see me go,
and they didn't like what happened.
JERRY: That was a difficult time.
Probably the first time in my life I went home,
and I said to myself,
"Is this gonna work like I hope it works?"
BYRON: Jerry West makes this trade.
Brings in this unproven rookie, you know?
So they had to test me.
- We gave him the cold shoulder.
We fucked with him.
- I didn't know then that meant that,
"Yeah, we're gonna try to kick your ass.
Every day in practice, we're gonna go at you."
- We wanted to see if he could weather the storm.
- That went on for about four or five days to a week.
And then I just told 'em-- I said, "Listen,
next one y'all throw a elbow, I'm punching the shit out you."
I said, "I'm just letting you know.
I'm tired of this shit." And that was it.
And they was like, "Okay, all right.
This kid got some balls. He's tough."
From that point on me, Magic, and Coop
went everywhere together.
MAGIC: Byron, and as I call him B, we always knew
that if we were going to win a championship,
he was gonna play a key role.
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers and the Celtics.
So many memories. So many golden moments.
The Celtics and Bill Russell always winning
when they met for the Championship.
For the Lakers, Jerry West always magnificent in defeat.
Now we are ready to start again.
INTERVIEWER: How obsessed with winning
did your father become in '84 and '85
during the Lakers-Celtics rivalry?
- [laughing]
He reminded me of...
of any big sports fan, you know?
It was the pinnacle of sports,
of what sports is all about, of rivalry.
To him, the rivalries were the greatest thing
you could ever have in sports.
- The whole Boston-Laker rivalry goes back to the '60s.
JERRY: The period when I was playing,
the Celtics were there every year,
and we had good teams.
But we were just not good enough to beat them.
ANNOUNCER: The ball game is over.
The Boston Celtics are the World Champions,
and the Boston Celtics have won
their fifth World Championship.
ANNOUNCER: The Boston Celtics have given Bostonians
something to talk about.
ANNOUNCER: That's it. The game is over.
ANNOUNCER: What a rivalry.
ANNOUNCER: The Boston Celtics have done it again.
Another jewel in that crown.
- I have not been to Boston since I played as a player.
PAT: The albatross we felt was on our back
to sort of break this hex.
JAMES: I grew up watching the Celtics
and that parquet floor.
It was amazing on television.
But when you get in there, it's pretty shitty.
ALL: Beat L. A. Beat L. A.
JAMAAL: In the winter, we'd play in Boston.
It seemed like the heat never worked.
In the summers, the air conditioning never worked.
We'd stay in the hotel, and it seemed like the alarms
would go off all hours of the night.
And that seemed to only happen in Boston.
MICHAEL: We got a chance to eradicate
the ghosts from the past, to clear the air
for Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain.
All the times that they could never beat Boston,
we got a chance to do that.
LARRY: We knew how important it was to beat the Lakers
because of the history.
In Boston, there's always a buzz,
but when the Lakers came to town, it was different.
I mean, our fans knew when we played the Lakers,
that's the ultimate game.
- The bottom line is,
if you're wearing the Laker uniform,
you hate the Celtic uniform.
And if you're wearing the Celtic uniform,
you hate the Laker uniform. It's just the bottom line.
[heavy music]
ANNOUNCER: Next up, North Station, Boston County.
ANNOUNCER: All right. The stage is set.
It's the Celtics and the Lakers.
Game one.
FLEA: I remember being glued to the television
watching those Lakers-Celtics games.
And back then had like, you know, a cheap little TV
about this big and just staring at it with intensity.
ANNOUNCER: Now Magic Johnson the man with the ball,
and he gets it quickly into Kareem
who's fouled and gets the basket.
ANNOUNCER: I'd say right now,
the Lakers are pretty much in control of this game.
But the Los Angeles Lakers have won in Boston,
ending a nine-game playoff streak at home
and have beaten the Boston Celtics 115 to 109
to take a one-to-nothing lead in the best of seven
for the NBA World Championship.
- We won the first game.
- The Los Angeles Lakers
handed the Celtics their first home court defeat
in ten playoff games this year.
ANNOUNCER: We're live at Boston Garden
for game number two
of the NBA World Championship Series.
PAT: I made some coaching blunders in the second game
I thought really cost us.
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers have it with 20 seconds to go
and lead the Celtics 113 to 111.
Worthy will inbound to Magic Johnson.
Worst comes the worst, the Celtics will have to--
Oh! there's a steal by Henderson
who lays it up again.
JAMES: The pass that I made
was trying to get it to Byron Scott,
which Gerald Henderson intercepted and laid it in.
Forced us to overtime.
[cheers and applause]
If I don't make that pass,
I think we go up 2:0.
And there's no way they're gonna beat us.
We're going back to L. A.
- Today, we will define the word choke.
A choke is a device on a car
to improve the gas and air mixture.
It is also what the Los Angeles Lakers
did in Boston last night. Sorry.
- Then the series became real. You know, became real.
We went home then beat 'em by 30.
ANNOUNCER: The game was around the most lopsided defeat
in Boston playoff history.
And the Celtics looked like beaten men.
- What changed the tenor of that series
was in game four.
- I can remember going in that game, it's--
we always--so we gotta do whatever we can do
to win this basketball game,
because if we don't win this one, it's over.
ANNOUNCER: McHale is doubled.
Dennis Johnson is short with it.
Cooper to Kareem to Worthy to Rambis.
He should go the distance-- oh!
And now let's watch it. Cooper and the Celtics.
And now the bench is empty.
As Larry Bird helps Kurt Rambis up.
He was decked by two Celtics and hit the floor hard.
- It wasn't like we was going out there
to try to hurt somebody, and Kevin McHale is not known
to knock people down like that.
But when it happened
I'm going, "Jesus, Kevin, what was that all about?"
FLEA: Watching the clotheslining of Rambis--
it was so intense.
I'm sure that, you know,
there was some begrudging professional respect.
Like, you know, game recognizing game and all that,
but there's just this feeling of
they really hated each other.
BOB: It was brutal. Ha ha.
In today's game, that would've been
a $50,000 fine,
and he'd been suspended for the next game.
But in the rough and tumble world of the '80s
of the NBA, didn't happen.
LARRY: We riled them a little bit.
We were a physical team,
but that one play sort of changed things.
ANNOUNCER: And the Boston Celtics have evened this NBA
World Championship Series at two games apiece.
- When we go back, and we get buried in game five
in probably the most uncomfortable arena
that you could ever be in.
It had to be 120 degrees in there.
- It's like 91 or 92 degrees.
'Cause we didn't have air condition.
They're not used to that in L. A.
Had a teammate told me, "Can you imagine
"how many people's faces would melt in here
if it was 91, 92 with all the plastic surgery?"
[laughing]
- You just have to give both clubs a lot of credit
for enduring a 48-minute steam bath.
We lost that game, and we came back in game six
and basically meekly won game six.
We have a chance to do something that no other team
has ever done-- go back to Boston Garden
and win a World Championship on that parquet floor.
And, uh, we lost in game seven.
ANNOUNCER: Final second.
ALL: Five. Four. Three. Two.
ANNOUNCER: Cooper does it to three--it's over.
PAT: We choked. I choked as a coach.
I didn't do a good job. Some of the most miserable
I have ever been was after that seventh game.
We felt we gave away a championship,
and that's the summer that they came after us
and called us sissies,
called us fakers, called us the Hollywood softies,
Tragic Magic.
You know, whatever it was, they came after us, man.
LARRY: The Lakers, the fakers,
and a bunch of sissies and this and that.
That's all part of the game, you know?
[quiet music]
- Losing always set my dad off into a dark place.
To be so close and to lose to the Celtics,
you know, it made him
that much more determined to beat them.
- And then we spent the whole summer thinking about it.
And then that whole season in '85 we dedicated that season
just to get back to the finals and hoping they were there.
PERSON: Whatever you do, don't look at the camera, Gary.
GARY: I came in after they had lost in '84,
and it was very apparent to me the goal for this team
was not to win an NBA Championship.
The goal was to beat the Boston Celtics
to win the NBA Championship.
ALL: We want Boston. We want Boston.
ANNOUNCER: For a full year now,
this has been the L. A. cry,
wanting Boston but really wanting redemption.
PERSON: They needed to play the Celtics,
and they needed to beat them for all the skeletons
to come out of the closet and sort of release this curse
that seemed to be hanging over their head.
- Oh, I hope the Lakers do it. They should do it.
- Why do you think they should?
- Because they owe it to us to do it.
- Lakers for sure.
- Oh, it's gonna be the Lakers? - Yes, for sure.
- Yeah. You live in L. A. of course?
- Of course.
- You lived in Boston, you wouldn't be saying that.
- I wouldn't live in Boston.
- Lakers. - Why do you say Lakers?
- They have the Magic Man.
They have Kareem. They have everybody.
Worthy's going off through the whole series.
Can't nobody stick it.
FLEA: You know, after Lakers lost, I was devastated.
You know, I despised the Celtics.
Uh, you know, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish,
Danny Ainge, Jerry Sichting-- all of those guys, man.
I hated 'em.
SELLER: Pick 'em out. Pick 'em out.
Hey go, Celtics. Beat L. A., souvenirs here.
PERSON: Hit the road, Jack. Yeah. Get outta here. Jack.
It's the Celtics all the away.
FAN: The fans in L.A. are phony fans.
The fans here are true fans.
FAN: The fans here are more sports-oriented.
They're not movie-goers and here to see the stars.
You know, they want to see a good game.
- Who's gonna win it?
The Celtics because there's no other reason why.
The Celtics are the balls.
- I don't know if you know anything about
Boston sports out there,
but they're still doing that stuff.
Best fans in the world. They're behind their teams.
STEVEN: The perception was this was the bitter cold,
tough East Coast where you had a fight for everything.
And L. A.'s where all the surfers are
and the Hollywood and the glamor
and the babes on every corner.
I mean, it's just--it's the perception of the cities,
not just the teams.
ALL: Beat L. A.! Beat L. A.!
Going into the finals, the Lakers were facing
the Boston Celtics for the ninth time,
and they had lost all of the previous eight.
- The Lakers are determined to break through this time,
but time will tell.
ANNOUNCER: And we're underway. Here's Magic pushing it up.
James Worthy. Air ball.
There's a three on one break.
Two on one.
Worthy misses the shot.
20-point lead for the Celtics on the Lakers
in this first half.
And Worthy steps on the line. He took the call.
ANNOUNCER: I'd very concerned if I was Pat Riley.
ANNOUNCER: Mike. Hook shot.
And that breaks the record.
The Boston Celtics have set a record
for the most points in one game
in a Championship Series.
[buzzer] And that'll do it.
No contest. Game one.
But it's just game one. Best of seven.
Give it to the Boston Celtics by a wide margin.
- The media went crazy. We're over the hill.
We're done.
What a horrible performance.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is too old.
He was run off the court by Parish and McHale,
and he looked like an old man.
I mean, they really killed us.
The media killed us, and deservedly so.
We choked in '84, and we choked in the first game.
And I had a simple, not rule,
but an understanding that when we went to a game,
we all went together and nobody else.
No family, no friends, nobody.
We all went together on the bus.
And so I said, "Let's get on the bus at 6:00."
Then I looked to my right.
Kareem's running towards the bus,
and there's a gentleman following him.
And I recognized that it was father, Big Al.
[soft, stirring music]
KAREEM: My dad was starting to demonstrate
the, uh, process of dementia.
He had gotten separated from my mom.
So I grabbed him, and I took him on the bus.
PAT: He said, "Can my dad go to the game with me?"
And I said, "Absolutely." [small laugh]
♪ ♪
The last time that I saw my father was in 1970.
I was saying goodbye to them
and he opened the door and came out, and he said,
"Just remember what I always taught you.
"That, you know, some place, you know, somewhere,
"sometime you're gonna have to plant your feet, stand firm,
"and make a point about who you are
"and where you came from.
"Just remember that, Pat.
When that time comes, you do it," you know?
And he just patted me on the shoulder and left.
I never saw him again after that.
So when I gave my final comments
before we went out on the court,
I started talking about dads, my dad,
and everybody else's dad that I knew there.
And, uh, it was a very emotional time.
The last words that I said to the team:
"We're going out tonight to plant our feet, stand firm,
"make a point about who we are, we're world champions,
and about where we came from, we come from L. A."
Kareem bringing his father on the bus inspired me.
It changed my speech and talked about dads.
MICHAEL: It was probably one of the greatest
motivation speech to a team that you could ever give
to get them ready, where you could feel it
from how he got it, and how his dad got it
and gave it to him.
And Pat Riley gave it to us. And, boy, it was perfect.
ANNOUNCER: When you think back to Monday,
it is still hard to believe
that the Celtics beat the Lakers by 34 points.
But I think the thing to keep in mind
is that frequently in a seven-game series,
it is the second game which dictates the tempo
and the mood for the remainder of the series.
PAT: This was the major breakthrough moment
for that team to really own their greatness,
to own it with this tremendous adversity.
ANNOUNCER: The Celtics only loss in their last 22
were these Lakers in game one a year ago.
It's a new year, a new game.
one nothing. Boston lead.
And the Lakers control.
BYRON: When you're trying to win a championship,
in that environment, in that stadium,
with the players that they had, it wasn't easy at all.
ANNOUNCER: And here comes L. A. pushing it up the way.
MAGIC: I knew every time I went to try to dunk,
I was gonna get hit. James knew it.
JAMES: Magic knew when he went to the hole
he was gonna get hit.
That was a part of game as far as we was concerned.
Boston thought we were soft and found out we weren't.
MAGIC: We got some players,
and they're gonna take your head off
if that's what type of game you want to play.
ANNOUNCER: This kind of pace when they have a big lead.
Bird is fouled as he goes in.
- And you don't see Larry Bird often--
BYRON: We were a team that could play
any style of basketball that you want to play.
And we still gonna play our style at the end of the day.
We're still gonna get up and down.
We're still gonna be showtime.
But if you want to be half court and gritty,
we'll play that way.
If you want to be physical, we'll play that way.
And then we gonna still get up and down the floor.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to Boston Garden.
We go to game number six.
The Los Angeles Lakers have achieved a 3-to-2 advantage.
They want to stifle the Celtics here today
and become the 1985 World Champions.
ROB: There's no way I was gonna miss it.
I was shooting a movie. The studio wouldn't let me fly.
I'd hired a sea plane to secretly pick me up,
flew to Boston,
and got in my seats just in time for tip-off.
Unfortunately, they cut to me in the audience
in the broadcast.
ANNOUNCER: Rob Lowe, the actor here.
ROB: And the studio found out that I was there.
They were not happy.
ANNOUNCER: Kareem controls. Five rebounds for Kareem.
[exciting music]
♪ ♪
And Magic Johnson finds redemption a year later.
MAGIC: We were tired of hearing
how we were 0 and 8 against the Celtics.
So it was just a big relief for all of us, you know,
to finally get that monkey off our back.
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers are winning it.
Three in six years.
L.A. comes to Boston and wins the World Title.
KAREEM: We're the only team to win a World Championship
in Boston Garden other than the Celtics.
After what we had gone through the year before
being called sissies and fakers,
being able to come back after that and win it
in Boston Garden--
I'll go to my grave smiling about that.
LARRY: I really wanted to win it two years in a row,
'cause nobody's done it a long time.
And, uh, we were good enough to beat 'em.
Then they came in Boston and beat us in Boston.
I didn't think they could ever do that.
FLEA: They're so uplifting when they win championships.
And when they beat the Celtics and did it in Boston,
it's those things that suck you in forever.
- I feel it now. You know, I just--I just got a moment.
- God, was it fun to root against them.
Oh...the best.
REPORTER: Coach, does it make it any sweeter
defeating the Celtics here... - Yeah.
- Where you lost it last year? - Gad damn parquet floor.
On our championship rings, we're gonna have
a parquet floor with a diamond in the middle of it.
- This is what every kid who's ever picked up
a basketball dreams about doing.
I couldn't be happier, man.
I'm the happiest guy in the world right now.
- We had the people back in L. A. waiting on us now.
We know they're partying for us. It's just great.
- Now the title is back. - In L. A. Party hard.
Everybody in L. A., party for us.
'Cause we're gonna party
- We'll party for the rest of this summer.
- It's time to get down.
- Hey, look at this!
[overlapping shouting] [camera lenses snapping]
This has removed the most odious sentence
in the English language.
It can never again be said
that the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.
[cheers and applause]
JEANIE: When you've tasted that winning,
it's a-an addiction.
You wanna keep winning, and how is that gonna happen?
You know, my dad was determined.
This was, "Let's keep this going.
What else can we do? Bring it on."
PERSON: Ladies and gentlemen,
the unbelievable Dr. Jerry Buss.
[cheers and applause]
PERSON: We're number one. We're number one.
ALL: We're number one. We're number one.
JEANIE: But the ego that it takes to keep winning
may be what destroys the people around you.
[crowd continues cheering, chanting]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪