NBA Awesome Endings (Video 1989) Poster

(1989 Video)

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10/10
Awesome
jday-127 September 2004
This is a well crafted video that details last second shots, great games with great finishes, and a conclusion featuring a rivalry that transcends Awesome Endings itself.

Everything works in Awesome Endings. The narration is simple and effective and the voice does not detract from the basketball images. The video also devotes most of its time to both the early days of the NBA and up to the modern era (late 1980s). But it also clearly leans towards the Boston Celtics. One gets the impression that the Celtics is the favorite team of the producers. Indeed, the final sequence of the video chronicles the great rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics. Some other highlights include the last second shots segment, the Willis Reed story (with vintage Marv Albert commentary), the Greatest Game Ever Played--Game 5 of the 1976 Finals, and the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals.

It is a great time capsule into life in the NBA in the pre-Jordan era, when Magic, Bird, Kareem, Dr. J, Chamberlain, and West dominated their teams and time spans. But perhaps the most effective part of Awesome Endings? The writing. Great over the top lines read with deadpan seriousness such as: "But Bird quickly doused the flame as he refused to be denied"; "On that day, Larry Wright shed his anonymity and stood alone in the spotlight"; "The glare of the spotlight becomes too harsh on its would-be heroes"; "...led with reckless abandon by Dave Cowens"; "Philly was confident that lightning couldn't strike twice. Could it?"; "The Sixers looked homeward for salvation."

Awesome Endings showcases great plays and players in a video that seems Classical. It hints that in basketball lies destiny. And redemption. For me, this has been a great video of inspiration. It's been in my possession since 1990 and I still bust it out every few months. In fact, when I want to just kick back, this is the ideal video to pop in. When I'm in a good mood, I'll put it in. The last time I watched it, I wanted to celebrate the great mood I was in because I was going on a date the next night and so I watched Awesome Endings. If you're a Celtic fan, it ends on a downbeat note. Because the video ends with the collapse of the Celtic Regime. And so you rewind, and watch it again. "It's like you're putting your hand in the basket and as it goes through your taking your hand out. It's an awesome feeling." -- Isiah Thomas
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10/10
Preternatural at Worst
jdatr9717 March 2005
This NBA Film could be called Amazing Endings were it not for popular 80s vernacular. Scenes from the first 40 odd years of n.b.a.a., or national basketball association action, will leave the viewer breathless and longing for those days to return. Wistfully the reviewer recalls the days when this video was new, and the game was already old, and the results are still the same: misty eyes, pounding heart, and an inexplicable urge to take the faded, cracked basketball outside and reenact Magic's running hook or Larry's steal or even Kareem running down the court, arms flailing in four wide eyed, jubilation. Nothing surpasses Awesome Endings. Who can sit idly by while HENDERSON STEALS THE BALL! or Gar Heard nails a jump shot? Clutch like West. My only complaint is that the climax is too much like that of the Neverending Story; this film indeed ends. And not enough Jeff Malone. But I love this game.
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10/10
Grew up with this tape!
eastbayhustler26 November 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I've had Awesome Endings for over a decade now and I probably watch it at least once a year. Maybe it's simply the nostalgia that keeps me watching it over and over again, but most likely it's the over the top lines delivered by the narrator. The dramatic narration combined with the dramatic musical score literally sends chills down my spine.

Until I saw this tape, I never knew Bernard King single-handedly won a series with the flu and two broken fingers while playing in a sauna ("I'll explain to you how hot it was...I had to take off my coat." - Hubie Brown). Until I saw this tape, I never knew that the intensity of Michael Cage and Charles Oakley battling for a rebounding title could rival the drama of a Shakespeare novel. Until I saw this tape, I never knew that Harvey Catchings probably considered suicide. Until I saw this tape, I never knew that following Sedale Threatt's foul shot, Philly would not score again. Until I saw this tape, I never knew that Dudley Bradley was the most unlikely guy in all of basketball to shoot that shot. Until I saw this tape, I didn't expect Derek Harper to jump off the sears tower.

Simply put, Awesome Endings provided me with knowledge and inspiration that changed my life. Wherever the narrator is today, I salute him.
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