By the mid-1980s Paul Westhead had worn out his welcome in the NBA. The best offer he could find came from an obscure small college with little history of basketball. In the same city where he had won an NBA championship with Magic and Kareem, Westhead was determined to perfect his non-stop run-and-gun offensive system at Loyola Marymount. His shoot-first offense appeared doomed to fail until Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, two talented players from Westhead’s hometown of Philadelphia, arrived gift-wrapped at his doorstep. With Gathers and Kimble leading a record scoring charge, Westhead’s system suddenly dazzled the world of college basketball and turned conventional thinking on its head. But then, early in the 1989-90 season, Gathers collapsed during a game and was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat. Determined to play, Gathers returned three games later, but less than three months later, he tragically died on the court.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
That was an excellent one.
How sad is this?
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
I am sure that my summary got a few folks' attention! This is because although the talk of lawsuits only occupies a tiny portion of this episode of "30 For 30", it is THE thing that stuck out for me when I watched "Guru of Go". More about that in a few moments...This episode of the great ESPN series is about the coaching career of Paul Westhead--with a particular focus on his time at Loyola-Marymount. It begins with him coaching with the LA Lakers--and taking them to a championship. Amazingly, two years later, he was fired--and landed on his feet, somewhat, with the Chicago Bulls. But, this was during the bad years before Michael Jordan and he didn't stay for long. However, after this, he really hit it big in college with Loyola-Marymount, as his wide open style of play resulted in taking this small school to the NCAA tournament. However, when one of his players literally died on the floor during a game, here is when the vultures,...I mean lawyers came out in droves. A young man dies from a heart condition (for which he was apparently NOT taking his medication) and suddenly it's time to sue and soon Westhead is fired! Crazy. Fortunately, he did go on to other things--with some success. But to me it's the story of how a GREAT program with the perfect coach for the program being driven off by lawsuits instead of folks pulling together. I am sure this was not the intent of this excellent episode of "30 For 30"--but that's what I got from it. Well made...and profoundly sad.
30 for 30: Guru of Go (2010) *** (out of 4) ESPN documentary takes a look at head coach Paul Westhead who won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers before being ran out of town due to Magic Johnson. After a few other losing seasons he found himself only able to get hired by the small Loyola Marymount where he put in his "run and gun" style of play. His fortunes turned when he landed superstars Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers but soon tragedy would strike when Gathers would die on the court. This episode is yet another winner but I there's one major problem with it. It seems like the producers or director didn't know what type of story they wanted to tell. It starts off being about Westhead and his fast style of basketball but it quickly centers in on Gathers and his shocking death. There's no doubt that Gathers' story is the most interesting one so I'm curious why they didn't just make the documentary about him. Westhead's early career is looked at quickly as was his post-LM days so why they tried to make him center stage is beyond me. The documentary does work as a nice tribute to Gathers as we get interviews with his teammates, trainers and even his brother who is still heartbroken by his death. I thought the documentary did a very good job at showing how magical his talent was and how important the NCAA tournament was after his death.
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