Pride and Passion: The 1984 NBA Playoffs and Finals (Boston Celtics vs. L.A. Lakers) (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)This video chronicles the 1984 season, which marked the beginning of the real boom for NBA basketball. 1984 was the first season where Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, college rivals from the past, met in the NBA Finals for the first time. It was also current NbA Commissioner, David Stern's first year at the helm, and marked the beginning of expanded playoff basketball. This event also marked the return of the historic Celtics-Lakers rivalry which had been absent for some fifteen years.
CBS video does a remarkable job chronicalling the season which marked many firsts, including the NBA All-star weekend. Fans should remember that it was there that the first NBA slam dunk contest took place. The video takes you in depth to the intensity of the 1984 playoffs, which included heroics from many of the game's future hall of famers including the Isiah Thomas - Bernard King duel in the first round of the playoffs. It also shows the Nets' improbable upset over the then defending champion Philadelphia Seventy-sixer team led by Dr. J.
What makes this video so enjoyable is that it includes both depth and entertainment into one of basketball's best years. Most NBA videos focus just on one player or one team, or include just highlights. This video gives notice to the whole league, without detracting from the video's main focus, the Lakers and the Celtics.
Dick Stockton does a superb job narrating the film, and its inclusion of music from the eighties makes it even more nostalgic. Any true fan will enjoy this video.
by Richard Bernstein Catholic University of America Columbus School of LAw

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Los Angeles Lakers: 2010 NBA Finals Series (Collector's Edition) (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)- Ron Artest, champagne-drenched, in his Game 7 post-interview: "What's the question? I''ll be here all day. Well, not all day 'cause I do want to go to the club."
So can one get enough of them L. A. Lakers? With that emotional, very classy ring ceremony just this past October 26th, I thought every possible drop of fan joy had been wrung out of the 2009-2010 Lakers Championship Team. But then this hefty DVD set rolls around with its eight discs, the first seven of which offer up the entire Games 1-7 of the tension-wracked 2010 NBA Finals series between Boston and Los Angeles. Note that the bonus eighth disc compiles a busload of post-game press conferences, spanning Games 1-7 and, yes, this includes Ron Artest's classic wacky, exuberant Game 7 post-conference interview on the dais ("I got Wheaties!").
This has been one of the most intense, most hotly-contested NBA Finals in recent memory, and I am mulling over how hard core of a fan I am, whether I actually really want to sit thru those soul-killing games in which the Lakers lost (I don't know if I could put myself thru that again). Anyway, each DVD that features a game also comes with a mini-movie which provides an overview of that game, and the sights and sounds leading up to that game (including sound bites from players, coaches, and fans). You should know that each of these mini-movies consists of clips lifted straight from the L.A. Lakers' NBA Championship 2009-2010 DVD, minus the voice-over narrator. Each of the first seven discs also comes with team score breakdowns for each quarter and team stats (field goal %s, offensive/defensive rebounds, turnovers, blocks, fouls). Note that the Game 7 disc also has Doris Burke' immediate and surreal post-game interview with Ron Artest ("Well, first off, I want to thank everybody in my 'hood...") and the presentation of the Larry O'Brien and Finals MVP trophies. I know this DVD set is pricey as heck but, for you Lakers fans, this is about as must-have as it gets.
The bonus 8th disc gives you the following post-game press conferences:
- Game 1: Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant
- Game 2: Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson, Ray Allen
- Game 3: Phil Jackson, Doc Rivers, Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant
- Game 4: Doc Rivers, Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, Nate Robinson & Glen Davis
- Game 5: Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett
- Game 6: Phil Jackson, Doc Rivers, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant
- Game 7: Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest

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NBA Legends Giftset - DVD Review

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MJ
Games
1986 Playoffs 1st round Game 2 vs. Boston Celtics: Jordan scores 63 points (excellent pic and sound)
1990 Reg. Season Game vs.Cleveland Cavaliers: Jordan scores 69 points (excellent pic and sound)
1993 NBA Finals Game 4 vs. Phoenix suns: Jordan scores 55 points (excellent pic and sound)
1997 NBA Finals Game 5 vs.Utah Jazz: Jordan scores 38
(excellent pic and sound)
1998 Nba Finals Game 6 vs.Utah Jazz Jordan scores 45
(excellent pic and sound.Includes before and after hype.)
videos
Come Fly With Me
Michael Jordan's Playground
Air Time
Above and Beyond
His AirnessBonus Footage
Jordan's 10 Greatest Moves ,Dunks,Shots and Assists
Highlights from Michael's Greatest Games Eight games
"It's Gotta Be the shoes" - Great Moments From Michael Jordan and Highlights From Brand Jordan
Music Tribute by Jill Scott
Great Michael Memories (interviews and estimonials from Jordan's NBA Peers)
Slam-dunk Contest Footage
Interactive Jordan Career Timeline
LARRY BIRD
Games
1985 Regular Season Game vs. Atlanta Hawks
Bird scores 60 (Excellent pic and sound)
1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 7
Bird and Wilkins Duel (Excellent pic and sound.NBA greatest games rebroadcast.Broadcast starts seconds into 1st Quarter,game is still complete)
1992 Regular Season Game vs. Portland Trailblazers
Bird scores 49 points in double overtime.(excellent pic and sound)
video
Larry Bird A Basketball Legend MAGIC JOHNSON
Games
10/12/1979' Magic's 1st NBA game (excellent pic and sound)
1980 NBA Finals Game 6
Magic plays at center and scores 42
(excellent pic and sound for a game this age)
1992 NBA All-Star Game (Excellent pic and sound.Includes great Magic Johnson footage before the game.
video
Always Showtime (with bonus footage)
Magic's Number Retirement Ceremony


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Rivalry Series - Basketball: North Carolina Beat Duke (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this for my grandfather (one of the oldest living UNC alums) and later bought a copy for myself. You can't beat the price! 3 great games, including a spectacular come-from-behind finish. DVD viewers get the advantage of the professional broadcast quality from the orginal network broadcast.
I loved it so much I even bought the "Duke beat UNC" DVD set too. I hate Duke, of course, so I use those 3 DVDs as coasters. At least that gets one copy of the "Duke beats UNC" DVD set off the streets.

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NBA Houston Rockets 1994 Champions: Clutch City - DVD Review

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(More customer reviews)This complete 7 game 1994 nba finals dvd showcases one of the best Hakeem Olajuwon and the houston rockets' performance ever...As an Olajuwon and Rockets fan, it feels great to relieve over and over again the cities first championship lead by one of the greatest center who ever played the game. And the dvd quality is very good though i hoped they made the celebration after game 7 a little longer. Disc 8 which featured the teams rise to championship was also magnificent..Truly a collectors item..I hope they release the 1995 championship vs. Orlando.. Houston Rockets fans, this is a must...

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NBA Dynasty Series - Los Angeles Lakers - The Complete History Review

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(More customer reviews)This set is certainly desirable for any die hard Lakers fan, and basketball fans who remember how great the game became after Magic and Larry Bird paved the way for unselfish play will surely enjoy it.
The edited games are great. The finals games featured between the Lakers and the Sixers are mindblowing because of how fast paced they were. It's pure fast break basketball at its best. The games between the Lakers and the Celtics are intense and you also realize what an excellent job Dick Stockton did for CBS when he was the play-by-play man. In retrospect, even Stockton's color man partner seems pretty balanced, even though he was a Celtic great and even though he had the incredibly irritating habit of placing the subject of his sentences at the very end, Tom Heinsohn.
No set is going to be perfect, but I think where the box set is a bit of a letdown is in the "history" aspect. It's really just a compilation of all the NBA films that they do at the end of each year for the champion. And while they are all pretty good and I rented them all years ago, they don't really tell the history of the team. They tell the history of the champtionship seasons.
If you're looking for history, Disc 1 is probably the best, with old footage and more recent interviews. But there's no description of the Lakers of the '70s and how they got Kareem and what the team was like before Magic and how the Lakers drew about 11,000 fans per game. I think that is missing from this and I would have liked to have seen more of that. Also too bad someone couldn't dig up more interviews with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West talking about how frustrating it was to lose all those years to the Celtics, although there is a good feature on Rod Hundley and Tommy Hawkins talking about the '85 Lakers win.
Two other criticisms: (1) On the whole the editing of the games is very good, but on the early games is a bit choppy. We lose the last few minutes of the 71-72 Lakers championship, which was the team's first and there's no footage of West running off the court with Pat Riley. It should have been there. (2) Not enough about Chick Hearn and his role with the Lakers. He's featured prominently as the narrator on the '87 overview, but there should have been more devoted to him. Also, it would have been nice if they could have taken one or two of the games and replaced the network commentary with Chick Hearn and Stu Lantz.
Still, any Lakers fan should have this.

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Over the past 50 years the Lakers have won an unprecedented 14 championships, making them the best NBA franchise ever. This five-disc special edition collector's set features the complete Lakers history including year-end compilation programs highlighting the Championship seasons from the 1950s through 2002. Plus for the first time ever on DVD, the team's most memorable Finals games including its first championship win in Los Angeles, Magic's "baby hook" game in 1987, and back-to-back title games.

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Los Angeles Lakers 1999-2000 NBA Champions (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all : I'm not a Lakers fan. I bought this DVD because I love basketball and from the first day i had my DVD Player i wanted to have NBA DVDs. This Edition is a must have for Lakers fans. You have everything : from the regular season to the finals, the parade in LA, featurettes on Kobe, Shaq, Phil Jackson and Ron Harper. One of the things i like the most is the Top 10 plays of the 99-00 season. Maybe I would have liked to have more of the regular season and not so much focus on the finals (you can watch a resume of every game). The image is really good and you have a nice 5.1 mix.

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