Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s palace fire was worse than it was at the time of the win
After this week, there is only one episode left in Winning time The series has not yet received a renewal for a third season. And they came out swinging.
Each episode felt like it doubled the emotional weight of the previous one, resulting in truly honest human examinations of characters who were mostly bawdy caricatures of their true selves in the first season. Winning time We were finally introduced to Pat Riley’s manageable madness when Adrien Brody transformed into the modern-day authoritarian who led the Showtime Lakers. This week, the penultimate episode blew the lid off issues prevalent throughout the season while subjecting some of our favorites to unexpected trials and tribulations.
Jerry Buss’ (John C. Reilly) relationship with Haney (Ari Graynor), whom he married earlier in the season, has become strained due to his erratic schedule managing the Lakers. Near the end of this week’s episode, that huge mansion feels even emptier after Honey storms out angrily, informing Boss that she knows he’s still legally married to his ex-wife, Joan Mueller. Meanwhile, the on-again, off-again relationship between Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and Cookie Kelly (Tamara Tomakele) reaches a new level after they get engaged after rekindling their love.
But no one’s world was rocked this episode like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes).
What happened during the fire at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s palace? Winning time?
Of all the flashy, short-tempered players on the Lakers in the 1980s, Abdul-Jabbar was the veteran who was respected for his stoicism. Outside Winning time Portrayed as a feisty curmudgeon who would tell an autograph-hunting kid to get rid of him, the Lakers legend has been mostly controversy-free. This all changed in the last episode of Winning time When Abdul-Jabbar returned to his Bel Air car to see his house engulfed in flames as news anchors covered the scene. Basketball trophies and a rare vinyl collection of more than 3,000 albums were charred and scattered in the street. Fortunately, his girlfriend and son were able to escape the fire.
According to the broadcaster, the family cat saved the day of his girlfriend and son. A shocked but relieved Abdul-Jabbar hugs his son and girlfriend inside the ambulance they sat in while recovering from the fire. Always a model of professionalism, Abdul-Jabbar avoided any time off in the wake of the fire and was ready to play in a November game against the Dallas Mavericks. But not before a crowd of dedicated fans paid their respects to the Lakers captain by mobbing him in the arena to give him vinyl records to replace the ones he lost in the fire. The gesture inspired Abdul-Jabbar to give his team a rousing motivational speech in the locker room about giving their all to the viewers who spend their last dollar to watch them play.
What happened during Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s fire in real life?
As frustrating as the palace fire was for Abdul-Jabbar in real life, Winning time There are still ways to dramatize it a little more while not quite matching the seriousness of real-life events. In the show, Abdul-Jabbar returns home to find his mansion on fire, but arrives in time to comfort his son and girlfriend after they survive the fire. Unfortunately, this was impossible in real life as the fire was extinguished 45 minutes after firefighters responded to the blaze while Abdul-Jabbar was in Dallas following a match in preparation for facing the Dallas Mavericks. Also, it was not only his son and his girlfriend who survived the fire, but also four other people who were sleeping in the mansion when the house caught fire. And this is just the beginning of the reviews.
During the episode, Johnson noted that Abdul-Jabbar taking time off after the fire was more important than “Dallas in November,” referring to a game against the Dallas Mavericks in the early part of the season. Placing the events early in the season makes narrative sense, given that Abdul-Jabbar gave a speech that would set the emotional tone for the season to propel the Lakers to the crucial 1984 NBA playoffs. While the Lakers faced the Mavericks after the fire, the fire occurred The actual one was on January 31, 1983, roughly ten months ahead of the show’s schedule. This did not happen before the Mavericks game, but rather four months after the January 1983 fire. The speech he gave to the team after the fire may also have been fabricated for dramatic effect as Lakers coach Pat Riley was quoted as saying in May 1983 The New York Times An article says Abdul-Jabbar “grew very internally” and had a business-as-usual attitude upon his return, but does not mention any speech.
Even if Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t have a heroic reconnection with his girlfriend and son or a change-of-season speech for his team, Winning time Captured the spirit of how Fire changed him. “Because at first I didn’t let it affect me; I had a lot of long, delayed reactions to the fire. The things I used to have, I didn’t have anymore, and I didn’t notice it until much later,” Abdul-Jabbar said in May 1983. The New York Times condition. Basically, Winning time It is an extrapolation of human emotions from historical events rearranged chronologically for maximum impact, and it accomplishes that with this intriguing final episode.
Senior editor
Keith Nelson is a writer by heart and a journalist by passion, and has connected the dots to shape the bigger picture for Men’s Health, Vibe Magazine, LEVEL MAG, REVOLT TV, Complex, Grammys.com, Red Bull, OKayplayer, and Mic, to name a few. Few.
