Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals

This slick, satisfying HBO Sports documentary serves as a dual bio of two NBA greats linked together by racial politics, headline hype, and their own fierce competitiveness to be No.1. Michigan's Earvin “Magic” Johnson, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Indiana's Larry Bird, recruited to the Boston Celtics, are two basketball phenoms who dominated the game throughout the 1980s, leading their teams to championships against each other. The very private Bird was one of the few white players to stand out, while Johnson was ingratiating and popular—basically two people, the nice-kid-from-Lansing named Earvin, and the Hollywood superstar dubbed Magic. While they ultimately became friends, both were all business when it came to winning. Johnson's shocking disclosure of an HIV-positive condition (contracted from a “sybaritic” L.A. lifestyle with basketball groupies) is paralleled with Bird's career-crippling back injury, incurred during a DIY home project. Although the media and misguided fans turned the pair's on-court face-offs into black-white duels, the two men here come across as sterling examples of good sportsmanship, both admirable and respectful. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, director Ezra Edelman's Magic & Bird intersperses interviews of the subjects with archival footage, photos, and background commentary from Pat Riley, Bryant Gumbel, Arsenio Hall, and others. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)