Jerry West isn't happy after winning the NBA Championship in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty episode 2, which is a puzzling emotion for him considering the circumstances. Although Jason Clarke's Winning Time character is the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers during the events of the show, Jerry West was an accomplished NBA player before this time. His silhouette became the NBA's logo, and while HBO's 2022 series focuses on a different era of the Lakers, the show still is incorporating the playing legacy of Jerry West into its main story.
Winning Time episode 2 puts more of a focus on West's life and relationship with basketball, as there are moments ranging from his childhood to his coaching career. The beginning of the episode includes a look at 1972 when the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship. Jerry West is shown among the players and crowd after the final buzzer sounds and the Lakers defeated the New York Knicks in five games. As everyone around West celebrates enthusiastically about winning the championship, he is not on the same emotional high. Instead, Winning Time episode 2 has him mistaken as someone mourning the loss of a friend at a bar because he looks so sad.
Jerry West's lack of happiness after winning the NBA Championship is most prominent at the bar 3 hours later, but it is evident while he is still on the court with the Los Angeles Lakers too. He lost his previous seven trips to the NBA Finals before winning the title in 1972, so this should've been the highlight of his career. It's an unexpected way to portray Jerry West, as Winning Time episode 1 even demonstrated how angry losing made him. This is the same man, after all, who was yelling in the prior episode about winning the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 despite losing the series to the Boston Celtics. Seeing him not elated because of the victory stands out, but it could speak to how the show is looking to explore Jerry West's life.
Archival footage and interviews from the 1972 NBA Finals depict Jerry West in almost a state of disbelief. While he spoke more highly of the accomplishment in his later years, West originally said he was at a loss for words to finally win the championship. This could be the emotion Winning Time episode 2 is trying to convey, although the show also certainly wants viewers to feel like Jerry West is experiencing a bit of sadness too. The show wouldn't take him to a bar and have him look so defeated otherwise. One possible reading of the situation is that drinking alone at a bar is the only way Jerry West knows how to experience the end of the NBA Finals, as he could've made similar trips in the past after losing.
There is also the potential explanation that Winning Time episode 2 shows Jerry West in this way to illustrate a feeling of an uncertain future after finally accomplishing a lifetime goal. Losing repeatedly in the NBA Finals was a huge motivator for the real-life Jerry West, so he could be a bit shocked not to have this same motivation anymore. The show is also teasing his complex love/hate relationship with basketball, so this could be an instance where winning the NBA Championship didn't bring him as much joy and satisfaction as he expected. As Winning Time dives into the beginning of the Lakers' dynasty without him as their coach, perhaps more insight into his emotions during 1972 will come then.
New episodes of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty release every Sunday on HBO/HBO Max at 9 pm EST.