Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman
A Book Review
Chronicling the journey of the 1996–2004 Los Angeles Lakers, Jeff Pearlman delves into the magic, mayhem, and interpersonal conflicts that ultimately lead to a three-time championship winning streak and a restoration of the Lakers as a formidable franchise. Woven through this story, and perhaps as its central fabric, is the rivalry between teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Opposites in many ways — Shaq was a larger than life persona who enjoyed being liked by his teammates through his big brother supportive mentality and generosity, while Bryant was not interested in forging any social connections with his teammates on or off the court and was singularly focused on his own progress and living up to the legendary status he always believed he had. They were very often at odds — Kobe did not like being outshined by anyone and Shaq didn’t like when Kobe constantly rejected his offers of support. Coach Phil Jackson is also an important thread in their winning streak — especially in his unique ability to read people and create a dynamic in which a group of players so at odds with each other could still be able to solidify itself into a cohesive unit capable of winning championships.
I don’t know anything about basketball or about Kobe and Shaq other than that they’re known for being exceptionally talented and skilled. Regardless, I was still drawn into the book and found it an engaging read. There is a lot of basketball history, play by plays of some of the most pivotal games, interviews and newspaper snippets from a multitude of sources, as well as the author’s own conversations with those who witnessed the events from the inside. It’s incredibly well researched, with tons of anecdotes and humor. One of the things I liked most is the author’s wit and wordplay. I laughed out loud several times while reading. He is a wellspring of knowledge about basketball and its most important figures. This is the most recent pick in Noah’s Book Club (check out Noah Syndergaard’s social media for more information about his book club), and it taught me a lot about basketball. Fans of the game will definitely appreciate how thorough and well-researched it is. The play-by-plays were exciting to read even as someone who hardly ever watches basketball and knows very little about the sport.
The story begins when Magic Johnson officially retires in 1996 after a brief comeback following a hiatus due to an HIV diagnosis. After Magic is officially out of the picture, the Lakers were in need of new talent. This is where Kobe Bryant enters the picture and the author explains Bryant’s early life and how it lead to him being drafted right out of high school. The book paints a portrait of someone who is extremely determined to the point of stubbornness, extremely confident to the point of arrogance, and extremely focused to the point of shutting out his teammates.
Reading about Kobe’s giftedness, drive, and determination made me think about Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. There are at least eight areas of intelligence: bodily kinesthetic, musical, linguistic, visual / spatial, mathematical, interpersonal (people smart), intrapersonal (self smart), and naturalistic (nature smart). Clearly Kobe had an extremely high level of bodily kinesthetic intelligence that he was able to actualize through his intense drive, determination, and hard work. But while a person may have extreme intelligence in one area, they could be equally lacking in another area, which creates a profound gift but also a profound weakness. Kobe was obviously lacking in interpersonal intelligence and didn’t seem to put much effort into building it, as anyone who knew him during his Lakers years would attest to.
Kobe and Shaquille both signed with the Lakers in 1996 — two powerhouses with very different personalities coming together at the same time. There was bound to be great triumph and great challenge in that merging. Coach Phil Jackson was skilled in navigating personalities and getting the best out of people. He was experienced as a coach, with several championships under his belt already, and was well-suited to the task of creating a cohesive unit out of the team. As the book says, “The veteran coach somehow kept a roster overflowing with egos and arrogance in one piece; somehow convinced O’Neal to ignore Bryant’s cockiness; and somehow convinced Bryant to accept life in the shadow of a larger-than-life big man.”
On the verge of collapse in 2000, the Lakers managed to string together a 19 game winning streak, and after a fight between Kobe and an opposing player, Kobe’s teammates supported the man they usually criticized as being selfish and arrogant. According to the author, this incident acted as a unifying force for the team and it happened just as they were heading to the playoffs. They did win the ring that year, and it was Shaq’s first championship win — an accomplishment he always wanted to achieve. They repeated this victory the next year, and the year after that. There are some exciting play by plays from pivotal games, especially those with the Sacramento Kings — a team which was expected to win despite its history of being a poorly run organization. The Lakers were able to once again tap into their inexplicable team synergy for a miraculous comeback in game 4 — which was a necessary win in bringing them to the championship for the third time. After defeating the Kings, they triumphed over the Nets in the finals and were the first team to win three straight NBA titles since Jackson’s 1996–1998 Chicago Bulls, as the author explains.
Their goal became four championships but they were unable to keep the momentum going. The things that had worked for them before began to get old — the feud between Shaq and Kobe and even Phil Jackson’s coaching style and zen mindset. Also, Shaq was not eating right or taking care of his body, and other teams were making additions with the specific intention to dethrone the Lakers. Pearlman thoroughly outlines the people and events that lead to the end of the Lakers’ reign as champions.
I liked the author’s humorous way with words and laughed out loud several times while reading: the footnote where it said Dennis Rodman stole a 400 pound crystal from a yoga studio, when Jackson called Popovitch “Popobitch”, and especially at the ridiculous story of Sam Cassell of the Timberwolves doing what is called the “big balls dance”. Pearlman says “Thanks to the Big Balls dance, Cassell had either strained his groin or torn it…this costing them a championship was too much to digest.” I was in a quiet lounge on my lunch break when I read this part and couldn’t hold in the laughter.
Despite beating the big balls Timberwolves in the playoffs, the Lakers were still not able to muster the synergy and power that had won them three previous championships. Too much individual ego was like a cancer on the team and they all seemed over it at this point. This quote sums it up poignantly, and is my favorite quote of the book because it’s so profound and true — not just in sports but in so many situations where community and group synergy is important: “A team will always beat a group of individuals.” And by this point, the Lakers had disintegrated from a team into a group of individuals.
The Lakers’ reign was incredible but also fragile. With a combination of talent, skill, determination, good coaching, and maybe a dash of fate — one team was able to become something larger-than-life not once but three times. But as the book explains, legacy is rarely a simple matter as there are always complexities running below the surface and many aspects that must come together in just the right way to make it work. It’s remarkable that they made it work for as long as they did, and Jeff Pearlman offers a thorough, engaging picture of this wild “three-ring circus”.
