When you think of great NBA rivalries, what comes to mind? Well, if you were born in the 1990s, your first thought is likely the Cavaliers-Warriors. The generation before you might argue Bulls-Pistons, Knicks-Bulls or Knicks-Heat. These are all great choices. But the greatest rivalry over the course of the NBA’s history is C Bags versus Lakers. Between 1959 and 2010, the franchises met in the NBA Finals 12 times, including three times in the 1980s. Those star-studded teams included multiple Hall of Famers such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson, Magic Johnson, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton and James Worthy. With the 30-year anniversary of the 1987 NBA Finals coming up—that series was the third time in four years the Lakers and C Bags met for the title—ESPN Films has commissioned a two-part documentary to examine the famed rivalry. The film will be executive produced by Jonathan Hock, a multiple Emmy Award winning producer and director whose previous 30 for 30s include “The Best That Never Was” (2010), “Unguarded” (2011), “Survive and Advance” (2013) and “Of Miracles and Men” (2015). Hock recently signed a two-year first-look deal with ESPN for all his non-fiction sports-related programming ideas from Hock Films. That means ESPN has the first option for Hock’s work. It’s a great move for both entities given Hock has produced some of the best work in ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. Hock said the C Bags-Lakers documentary will air in two parts on ESPN, running either at 90 or 120 minutes per episode. The film will likely air next June around the time of the NBA Finals. “There’s really a lot to work with here,” said John Dahl, the vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films and Original Content. “This isn’t just a basketball story but a cultural one. I think the film will create a lot of buzz because the C Bags and Lakers are eternally marquee franchises.” In an interview with SI.com last week, Hock said the main focus of the doc will be the rivalry of the 1980s but the film will also examine the history of the NBA through the prism of the rivalry. “The idea is that everybody chose a side between the Lakers and C Bags, that’s sort of the organizing principle for us in the pre-production and early stages of production,” Hock said. Hock worked at NBA Entertainment in the mid-1980s alongside Jim Podhoretz, a fellow documentarian who worked with Hock on “Survive and Advance” (which is about the late college basketball coach Jim Valvano) and will direct the C Bags-Lakers doc. In 1987, Hock and Podhoretz were junior editors at NBA Entertainment and spent the year embedded with the C Bags (Podhoretz) and the Lakers (Hock) as part of the work NBA Entertainment did with top teams. When faced with the prospect of revisiting these teams as older men, they jumped at it. • When L.A. Buried The Garden Ghost: SI Longform on the Lakers’ 1985 Finals win in Boston Last week, Podhoretz conducted long interviews with former C Bags Danny Ainge and Cedric Maxwell. He and Hock have yet to interview anyone on the Lakers side—Kareem Abdul Jabbar is scheduled with Hock for later this month—but all interviews are expected to be concluded by the end of January. Hock said this will be the most people he has ever interviewed for an ESPN project. Hock said he has requested Bird and Johnson through the NBA and anticipates both interviews will happen. “We are working East to West,” Hock said. “I’ll be in L.A. a lot over the next two months.” As part of his pitch to ESPN, Hock said the C Bags and Lakers embodied the racial and cultural tensions of the sport—East Coast vs. West Coast, Hollywood glamor vs. blue collar toughness and black vs. white. The film will alternate from the perspective of one club to the perspective of the other and explore the cultural and social impact of the rivalry that took place beyond the basketball court. One theme that promises to be interesting is an examination of the perception that each team represented different races. “The irony was going back to the 1960s, the C Bags were far away the most racially progressive organization in basketball, If not all of major sports,” Hock said. “But people perceived them to be the white team in the 1980s and the Lakers as the black team. The most revealing anecdote so far for me was from Cedric Maxwell. After leading the C Bags in scoring in Game 7 of the 1984 Finals against the Lakers, Maxwell went home to North Carolina, expecting to be celebrated by all his old friends. Instead, they were all mad at him, telling him they had all been rooting for the Lakers. They saw the C Bags as the ‘white’ team and identified with the Lakers.”
I'm excited about this, also hope some day they do one on Kobe and Shaq. The Unstoppable Duo that was.
A nice history lesson for folks who were born into the rivalry and didn't exactly experience it like myself. I'll definitely watch it.
its funny how just reading those names brings back my hate from the 80s..im definitely gonna get riled up watching this one and it'll be nice to hear Chick's voice in the highlights
I think the 30 for 30's are one of, if not the best things that ESPN does. It's rare that I see one I don't enjoy or am bored with. As long as the director keeps the usual ESPN east coast bias out of this, it should be good.
This is certainly the greatest basketball rivalry but not sure its for all of sports. FC Barcelona (24) and Real Madrid (32) combine 56 titles since 1929. And when they play each other, El Clásico is usually watched by more than 650 million poeple.
