Basketball: A Love Story

*Basketball: A Love Story*
Basketball: A Love Story
Genre	Sports documentary
Created by	Dan Klores
Directed by	Dan Klores
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	10 (divided into 62 short films)
Production
Running time	20 hours
Production company	My Three Sons Productions
Original release
Network	ESPN ; ESPN2 ;
Release	October 9 –; November 13, 2018

Last updated November 21, 2024

Basketball: A Love Story is a 2018 sports documentary film series directed by Dan Klores and distributed by ESPN Films. The 20-hour series features 62 "short stories" distributed across 10 episodes, with each story varying from five to more than 30 minutes in length and exploring various topics from all aspects of the sport of basketball, including the NBA, ABA, WNBA, college basketball, and the international game, as well as a broad variety of social and cultural issues related to or influenced by the sport. All 62 shorts were originally made available online via the ESPN App on September 18, 2018, and subsequently also aired on ESPN in a serialized format of four-hour blocks over six weeks, beginning October 9 and ending November 13, 2018.^[1]

Klores and a team of producers conducted more than 500 hours of interviews with 165 personalities representing all sides of basketball, including players, coaches, executives, and journalists. Interviewees include Adam Silver, David Stern, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Earl Monroe, John Havlicek, Bill Walton, Isiah Thomas, Moses Malone, David Robinson, Elvin Hayes, Mike Krzyzewski, Doug Collins, Rick Pitino, Phil Jackson, Hubie Brown, Cheryl Miller, Diana Taurasi, Bill Simmons, Stephen A. Smith, Jackie MacMullan, Pete Vecsey and Bob Ryan, among many others. The episodes are variously narrated by Chadwick Boseman, Michael Che, Chris Cuomo, Daveed Diggs, Ansel Elgort, Ashley Judd, Julianne Moore, Robin Quivers, Ahmad Rashad, and Fisher Stevens.^[2]

Production

Klores began interviews for a film project that would tell the complete untold story of basketball in 2013, intending at first to compile a total of 10 hours of documentary footage. He quickly ended up with much more material than could fit into that duration, and the film's length was doubled. The entire film consists of 62 short subject films, envisioned as "short stories", discussing a diverse array of topics related to the game at every level, from its origins to its technical aspects, the lives of its players and coaches, and the impacts it has had on society and culture around the world. The stories are deliberately not presented in chronological order. Klores explained: "It’s like opening a book of short stories... Even when it was 10 hours I never intended it to be a series of mini-biographical vignettes, if you will. That would have bored me, frankly. So it’s kind of like 62 different films, just short stories. But the transitions are logical."^[3]

Reception

Basketball: A Love Story met with mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Many praised the series' ambitious nature and "unprecedented" distribution format but criticized perceived thematic discontinuities, a lack of depth in certain topics, and equivocation about some of the game's most sensitive past and present issues, including racism, sexism, and violence committed by players and coaches.

Jack Hamilton of Slate criticized the documentary's tendency to gloss over or completely omit these unhappier aspects of basketball history, writing that "the film’s patchwork structure allows it to effectively ignore moments that would complicate its sunny-side-up presentation of the sports’ trajectory", and noted the inexplicable absence of seemingly relevant stories like that of the infamous "Malice at the Palace" brawl.^[4] Hamilton and Jen Chaney of Vulture both remarked that several previous 30 for 30 films have covered some of the same stories with much greater nuance and detail.^[4]^[5]

Episodes

Episode 1

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
1	Love of the Game	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	9:28
Players, coaches, and fans discuss their obsession with and passion for the game.
2	The Teachers	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	5:59
3	The Choke	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	10:21
NBA guard Latrell Sprewell's career was marred by a notorious 1997 incident in which he choked Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice.
4	Origins	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	10:40
From humble beginnings at a Massachusetts YMCA in 1891, basketball explodes into colleges, professional leagues, and American culture.
5	Scandal	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	16:17
6	Signature Moves: The Feel	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	10:48
7	The Spring of '57	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	32:32

Episode 2

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
8	Patriots to Protest	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	24:11
9	Signature Moves: The Touch	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	6:39
10	ABA: The Red, White and Blue	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	23:49
11	The Dipper and The Winner	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	18:48
12	Signature Moves: Discipline	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	5:16
13	Mayhem in Munich	October 9, 2018 (2018-10-09)	18:47
Against the backdrop of terrorism at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team meets the Soviets in a controversial gold-medal game.

Episode 3

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
14	Brotherly Love	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	16:45
15	The Witch Hunt	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	21:21
16	Birth of the Bruins	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	11:28
17	Tomboys	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	10:22
18	Rupp's Reckoning	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	18:41
19	Renegades	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	25:00
The fledgling ABA attracts a distinctive roster of turbulent players and talented coaches in the years before its merger with the NBA.

Episode 4

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
20	The Eighth Wonder	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	22:16
College stars Lew Alcindor and Elvin Hayes square off in a 1968 match between UCLA and Houston at The Astrodome.
21	Title IX: Immaculata	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	9:46
22	Joy or Relief?	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	10:16
For coaches as well as players, winning a championship is a deeply emotional experience.
23	Oscar and West	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	21:19
The story of Oscar Robertson and Jerry West in their successful attempt for their NBA Championship that had eluded them for years
24	Self-Expression	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	15:43
The flashy fashions and unique personalities cultivated by the game's biggest stars have given basketball a style all its own.
25	One and Done	October 16, 2018 (2018-10-16)	19:27

Episode 5

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
26	David versus Goliath	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	21:02
27	General Knight	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	17:42
28	Deal of the Century	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	10:44
29	Wild Days	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	23:55
The 1975 and 1976 NBA Finals as seen through the eyes of Rick Barry and John Havlicek.
30	Do or Die	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	7:14
George Gervin and David Thompson race for the 1978 NBA scoring title right up to the last day of the regular season.
31	Tailspin	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	22:17
Widespread drug abuse leads to on-court and off-court troubles for many NBA players in the late 1970s.

Episode 6

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
32	Portland's 1-Year Dynasty	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	16:40
The Portland Trail Blazers defeat the heavily favored Philadelphia 76ers to capture the 1977 NBA championship.
33	The First Lady	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	8:48
34	Don't Call Me Buckwheat	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	10:20
35	Genius Gene	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	9:17
36	John Thompson's America	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	20:08
Georgetown Hoyas coach John Thompson redefines east-coast college basketball.
37	NBA: It's Fantastic	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	11:27
In the mid-1980s, commissioner David Stern revitalizes the NBA's popular image with public outreach, clever marketing campaigns, and celebrity endorsements.
38	Contempt: LA vs. Boston	October 23, 2018 (2018-10-23)	27:29
The classic rivalry between the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Episode 7

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
39	The First Lottery	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	12:00
40	Signature Moves: The Mind	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	12:12
41	Born to Coach	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	18:47
42	Glasnost: The Walls Come Down	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	22:24
43	Little Big Men	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	11:45
In a game dominated by very tall players, the shortest ones have unique advantages and disadvantages.
44	Air Jordan	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	24:41
The prodigal rise of Michael Jordan and the shoe endorsement that changed basketball.

Episode 8

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
45	Magic	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	16:38
Magic Johnson's retirement due to HIV causes controversy in the NBA but helps to raise public awareness of the disease.
46	The Changing of the Guard	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	25:33
47	Dream Team	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	18:49
48	Phil Jackson and MJ	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	13:11
49	Pat versus Geno	October 30, 2018 (2018-10-30)	25:07

Episode 9

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
50	The W	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	15:30
51	The Spurs Way	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	14:59
Driven by a cast of international talent, the San Antonio Spurs under coach Gregg Popovich exemplify a dynamic brand of team-oriented play and capture four NBA titles in the process.
52	NCAA: Pay or Play?	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	6:00
53	Triangle: Kobe, Shaq, and Phil	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	26:34
Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and coach Phil Jackson join forces as the core of a Los Angeles Lakers team that wins three consecutive NBA championships, despite an often bitter feud between its two star players.
54	Size Matters	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	17:33
55	LeBron Enters	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	15:30

Episode 10

Story Number	Title	Original release date	Length (mins)
56	The Decision	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	17:04
NBA superstar LeBron James announces he will sign with the Miami Heat in a controversial 2010 television special.
57	America's Game	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	18:00
58	Battles Royale	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	27:35
The Miami Heat, led by a trio of star players, compete in four consecutive NBA Finals series from 2011 to 2014.
59	Analytically Correct	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	8:24
60	Golden State Emerges	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	14:56
The birth of a new Golden State Warriors dynasty in the 2010s.
61	Basketball Hysteria	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	9:23
62	Basketball Pass	November 13, 2018 (2018-11-13)	6:21

Related Research Articles

Richard Clay "Rip" Hamilton is an American former professional basketball player and current basketball analyst for CBS Sports HQ. Hamilton played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is best known for his nine-year stint with the Detroit Pistons, where he was a three-time All-Star. He helped lead the Pistons to six straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances, back to back NBA Finals appearances, their best record in franchise history and the 2004 NBA championship.

<i>Air Bud</i> 1997 film directed by Charles Martin Smith

Air Bud is a 1997 sports comedy-drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith. An international co-production of the United States and Canada, the film stars Kevin Zegers as a young boy who befriends a runaway Golden Retriever with a unique ability to play basketball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Miller (basketball, born 1980)</span> American basketball player (born 1980)

Michael Lloyd Miller is an American basketball coach, former professional player who is the boys' basketball head coach at Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee, as well as being a sports agent. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) after being selected by the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2000 NBA draft with the fifth overall pick. Miller was named the NBA Rookie of the Year with the Magic in 2001 and was voted NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2006. He won two consecutive NBA championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013.

John Vincent Calipari is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the University of Arkansas. He was the head coach at the University of Kentucky from 2009 until the end of the 2023–2024 season, which he led to one NCAA National Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Chaney</span> American basketball coach and player

Donald Ray Chaney is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most notable for winning two championships as a player on the Boston Celtics, and winning NBA Coach of The Year while leading the Houston Rockets.

Harry Jon Benjamin is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He is known for his voice roles in adult animated series, including Sterling Archer in Archer, Bob Belcher in Bob's Burgers, Ben in Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Kevin in O'Grady, Satan in Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil, and Coach McGuirk and Jason Penopolis in Home Movies, starring as the voice of Boy in the film Boy Kills World (2023) and the video game Super Dragon Punch Force 3 (2024). Benjamin was named 2014's male comedy performer of the year at Vulture's TV Awards for his work in Bob's Burgers and Archer. He also appeared in the 2001 satirical comedy film Wet Hot American Summer; its subsequent 2015 television series, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp; and the final installment of the franchise, the 2017 miniseries Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later.

Jay Scot Bilas is an American college basketball analyst who currently works for ESPN. Bilas is a former professional basketball player and coach who played for and served as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke University, as well as a practicing attorney in North Carolina. In February 2024, Bilas signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackie MacMullan</span> American journalist (born 1960)

Jackie "Mac" MacMullan Boyle is a retired American freelance newspaper sportswriter and NBA columnist for the sports website ESPN.com. She retired from ESPN on August 31, 2021.

Jeffrey Leib Nettler Zimbalist is an American filmmaker. He has been Academy Award shortlisted, has won a Peabody, a DuPont, 5 Emmy Awards with 17 Emmy nominations. He is the owner of film and television production company All Rise Films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Federman</span> American comedian

Wayne Federman is an American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.

ESPN College Basketball is a blanket title used for presentations of college basketball on ESPN and its family of networks. Its coverage focuses primarily on competition in NCAA Division I, holding broadcast rights to games from each major conference, and a number of mid-major conferences.

<i>Kobe Doin Work</i> American 2009 documentary film

Kobe Doin' Work is a 2009 documentary film directed by Spike Lee. It focuses on then professional basketball player Kobe Bryant before, during, and immediately after one game of the 2007–08 Los Angeles Lakers season against the San Antonio Spurs. Bryant granted filmmaker Spike Lee and 30 cameras total access to his life for one day. Bryant agreed to wear a microphone throughout the day capturing in-game, bench, and locker room conversations. Lee's cameras were also given unprecedented access to the Laker locker room. Kobe: Doin' Work premiered on ESPN on May 16, 2009.

30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts.

<i>The Fab Five</i> (film) 2011 TV documentary film

The Fab Five is a 2011 ESPN Films documentary about the 1990s Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players known collectively as the Fab Five: Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. It chronicles the recruitment, glory years, notorious time-out fiasco, cultural impact and the scandal that followed these players who are described as iconic figures in the media. The film originally aired on March 13, 2011, on a national broadcast on ESPN. On its original airing, the film drew 2.7 million viewers, setting a record as the highest-rated ESPN documentary ever.

Josh Swade is an American documentary filmmaker and author, working primarily in the sports and music genres. His feature films include Ricky Powell: The Individualist, about street photographer Ricky Powell, which premiered on Showtime in 2021; One & Done, about basketball player Ben Simmons, which premiered on Showtime in 2016; and the 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary There's No Place Like Home. He has directed and produced several ESPN 30 for 30 Shorts, and several short films on popular musicians, including The Black Keys, Rick Rubin, Sheryl Crow, Major Lazer, and Gary Clark Jr. He also wrote the book The Holy Grail of Hoops: One Fan's Quest to Buy the Original Rules of Basketball.

<i>Everything Sucks!</i> 2018 American comedy-drama web television series

Everything Sucks! is an American comedy-drama television series created by Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan. The series is set in the real-life town of Boring, Oregon in 1996, and focuses on a group of teenagers who attend the fictional Boring High School as they proceed to make a movie together while dealing with issues such as finding their sexualities, mental health, and growing up.

"No Good Read Goes Unpunished" is the fifteenth episode of the twenty-ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 633rd episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Jeff Westbrook. It aired in the United States on Fox on April 8, 2018.

<i>Evil Genius</i> (TV series) 2018 true crime docuseries

Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist is a 2018 true crime documentary series about the death of Brian Wells, a high-profile 2003 incident often referred to as the "collar bomb" or "pizza bomber" case. It was released on Netflix as a four-part series on May 11, 2018.

<i>The Last Dance</i> (miniseries) 2020 sports documentary miniseries

The Last Dance is a 2020 American sports television documentary miniseries co-produced by ESPN Films and Netflix. Directed by Jason Hehir, the series revolves around Michael Jordan's career, with particular focus on the 1997–98 season, his final season with the Chicago Bulls. The series features exclusive footage from a film crew with an all-access pass to the Bulls, and interviews of many NBA personalities, including Jordan's teammates and then-Bulls head coach Phil Jackson.

Jon Weinbach is an American film and television writer and producer. He is currently President of Skydance Sports and was previously the executive producer and executive vice president for Mandalay Sports Media, a media and production company that focuses on sports entertainment programming.

References

↑ Nesheim, Jay Jay (September 5, 2018). "ESPN Announces Unprecedented 20-Hour Film "Basketball: A Love Story"". ESPN MediaZone U.S. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
↑ "Basketball: A Love Story". IMDb. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
↑ Best, Neil (October 8, 2018). "'Basketball: A Love Story' is 62 stories told in 20 hours on ESPN". Newsday.com. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
1 2 Hamilton, Jack (9 October 2018). "Whole Lotta Love: ESPN's 20-hour documentary Basketball: A Love Story left me longing for Ken Burns". Slate. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
↑ Chaney, Jen (9 October 2018). "Basketball: A Love Story Is Good, But It's No Slam Dunk". Vulture. Retrieved 3 December 2018.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Nesheim, Jay Jay (September 5, 2018). "ESPN Announces Unprecedented 20-Hour Film "Basketball: A Love Story"". ESPN MediaZone U.S. Retrieved 22 November 2018.

[2] "Basketball: A Love Story". IMDb. Retrieved 22 November 2018.

[3] Best, Neil (October 8, 2018). "'Basketball: A Love Story' is 62 stories told in 20 hours on ESPN". Newsday.com. Retrieved 22 November 2018.

[Hamilton-4] 1 2 Hamilton, Jack (9 October 2018). "Whole Lotta Love: ESPN's 20-hour documentary Basketball: A Love Story left me longing for Ken Burns". Slate. Retrieved 3 December 2018.

[5] Chaney, Jen (9 October 2018). "Basketball: A Love Story Is Good, But It's No Slam Dunk". Vulture. Retrieved 3 December 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]