For basketball fans this is amazing. Spectacular simple and easy to understand. Only thing lacking is that it is maybe not perfect for people like me who never watched a single game. You get the basics and understand their life story and how important they were to the game. Yet the doc never tries to hype them up or explain smaller things like tactics or NBA history. Rather we just follow their careers. Some pundits here claim that Magic and Bird saved NBA which is what I have heard too. Yet it is never explained. We just see them compete and then talk about it in 2010. No monetary deals are mentioned, no team history, no win streaks explained, no team profit margins revealed. It's just 2 great athletes. Which is a shame because if they did save NBA then surely that part is essential to their stories. Instead it looks like any doc about any good athlete. They played well, got sick, stopped. What did they influence?
Also, while Magic is presented as an amazing player Bird is kinda at times presented as just this White guy who is good at basketball who was hyped up for being White. They for example only mention he was good at shooting by having a teammate explain how he saw it in training. But Bird is still one of the best 3 point shooters of all time and clearly did this stuff in games. From the doc it was not clear what he did or what his playing style was. With Magic they go into greater details. Also, it did seem like Magic was a much bigger star overall which at times they didn't explain so it seemed like he was a way better player. Bird didn't like to give interviews or meet new people so Magic was a bigger showman overall and maybe Bird alone would not have saved NBA as he would just be a boring good player. The fight with Magic made him an essence of NBA. A showman by just playing.
Honestly if you know what they did to NBA already and how much profit they produced and how they popularized the game then this is ideal for you. You will not see how famous they were or are just that they were great players with many fans. Maybe having modern players and coaches talk about them too would have made this clear. Like modern Celtics and LA Lakers players and fans. That would illustrate it all to people who don't follow the teams. It would make it clear that they changed the game. Instead you just have to know this before watching it.
Also, while Magic is presented as an amazing player Bird is kinda at times presented as just this White guy who is good at basketball who was hyped up for being White. They for example only mention he was good at shooting by having a teammate explain how he saw it in training. But Bird is still one of the best 3 point shooters of all time and clearly did this stuff in games. From the doc it was not clear what he did or what his playing style was. With Magic they go into greater details. Also, it did seem like Magic was a much bigger star overall which at times they didn't explain so it seemed like he was a way better player. Bird didn't like to give interviews or meet new people so Magic was a bigger showman overall and maybe Bird alone would not have saved NBA as he would just be a boring good player. The fight with Magic made him an essence of NBA. A showman by just playing.
Honestly if you know what they did to NBA already and how much profit they produced and how they popularized the game then this is ideal for you. You will not see how famous they were or are just that they were great players with many fans. Maybe having modern players and coaches talk about them too would have made this clear. Like modern Celtics and LA Lakers players and fans. That would illustrate it all to people who don't follow the teams. It would make it clear that they changed the game. Instead you just have to know this before watching it.