It might not entirely be hate-watching given the substantial role of the Boston Celtics in the new HBO series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” as the Lakers’ primary NBA rival under superstar forward Larry Bird, but plenty of Celtics fans have been tuning in to watch the series unfold.
And a big part of the reason they have been is to see the job actor Michael Chiklis does portraying legendary Boston team president Arnold “Red” Auerbach in the series (spoiler: pretty solid!), set in the 1980s as both the Lakers and Celtics were on the come-up as contenders and rivals again.
Chiklis, who went to Boston University in that era, recently spoke to The Athletic’s Jason Jones on how he managed to recreate that tension between the two clubs and their leaders, and how that stemmed from their different outlooks on the sport.
