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HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty has created waves since it started airing. The sports drama chronicles the rise and domination of one of America's foremost basketball teams, the LA Lakers. The show has just aired its seventh episode, titled Invisible Man, on April 17, 2022.
Episode 7 of the acclaimed sports drama puts Jerry Buss (John C. Reily) in a complicated position, where he has to deal with a failing financial situation and the struggle with a head coach. Recently, the team's initial burst of form started fading under interim coach Paul Westhead (Jason Segel), which led to some debate in this episode about whether to let the team continue under his command.
Read on to find out what happened at the end of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty ending: A good day for arch-rivals?
This episode of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty opened with a shaky and uncertain Jerry Buss, who was having trouble deciding on the club's and Westhead's future. He was further instigated by Jerry West (Jason Clarke) to fire the interim coach and hire former LA Lakers player Elgin Baylor.
Thankfully, after a conversation with Jack McKinney, who was still in the hospital, Buss decided to give Westhead a few more games. This would consist of a five-day tour, where they would face two of the weakest sides in the league, along with the last game against the Boston Celtics, their arch-rivals.
After losing their first two games against the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, the LA Lakers went into the final game low on form and confidence.
A final shake-up
In preparation for the game, Westhead had some sort of wake-up call while arguing with Pat Riley (Adrien Brody). He went to the sidelines with greater poise and command. He even planned some surprise moves, like bringing on Spencer Haywood (Wood Harris).
After the LA Lakers initially secured the leading points, the players of the Boston Celtics slowly started to cause an upset. The referee was also unjust to the Lakers. This caused Riley and Westhead to lash out, but Riley took the blame and left the pitch, leaving Westhead to command the team for the rest of the match. And Westhead delivered.
He brought on Haywood, whose physicality was a problem for the Celtics, and infused the team with confidence from the sidelines. The game nearly ended with the Lakers trailing by a point. However, a last-minute score by Cooper ended the bad run for the LA Lakers, bringing in a much-needed victory and saving Westhead's job.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is now streaming on HBO Max.
