Calvin and his friends, who all live in an orphanage, find old shoes with the faded letters MJ connected to a powerline. One stormy night, they go to get the shoes when Calvin and the shoes are struck by lightning. Calvin now has unbelievable basketball powers and has the chance to play for the NBA.
After emigrating to Greece from Nigeria, Vera and Charles Antetokounmpo struggled to survive and provide for their five children, while living under the daily threat of deportation. Desperate to obtain Greek citizenship but undermined by a system that blocked them at every turn, the family's vision, determination and faith lifted them out of obscurity to launch the careers of three NBA champions.
The remarkable coming-of-age story of Stephen Curry—one of the most influential, dynamic, and unexpected players in basketball history—and his rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion.
Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights. After conquering Europe, they both went to USA where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic's Croatia and Divac's Serbia. Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war. As Petrovic and Divac continued to face each other on the basketball courts of the NBA, no words passed between the two. Then, on the fateful night of June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic was killed in an auto accident. This film will tell the gripping tale of these men, how circumstances beyond their control tore them apart, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the death of a friend before they had a chance to reconcile.
Using unprecedented Olympic footage and behind-the-scenes material, The Redeem Team tells the story of the US Olympic Men's Basketball Team’s quest for gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing following the previous team’s shocking performance four years earlier in Athens.
Key figures from an infamous 2004 incident between players and fans at an NBA game in Michigan discuss the fight, its fallout, and its lasting legacy.
In 1990 Chicago, a taxi driver recounts to his passenger, a sportswriter, his life story. He reveals himself to be Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, one of the first African Americans to play in the NBA.
Years after serving time for betting on games he officiated, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy revisits the scandal that shook up the league.
Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history, lives his life by the motto "always believe," and that guided him to greater heights than anyone could have predicted.
Raw and unflinching examination of the courageous life of basketball star and social justice activist Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Born Chris Jackson, he overcame tremendous adversity to reach the NBA and found his true calling when he converted to Islam. His decision not to stand for the national anthem, however, turned him from prodigy to pariah. Told candidly by Abdul-Rauf himself more than 20 years later it’s the remarkable story of one man who kept the faith and paved the way for a social justice movement.
The world had rarely seen a frenzy as the one the Dream Team created when it arrived in Barcelona, Spain, in July 1992. The Dream Team featured 11 future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame players and three future Hall of Famers on the coaching staff, including head coach Chuck Daly.
The Year of the Yao is a documentary film telling the first year of basketball player Yao Ming in the United States.
"Michael Jordan Above and Beyond" provides a much-needed look at Michael Jordan's fantastic return from retirement in 1995. The first 20 minutes or so recap his retirement, attempt at minor league baseball, and his dealing with his father's murder. It picks up when it starts looking at the huge frenzy that was his return to the NBA in the Spring of 1995. It covers his mediocre first game back against the Pacers, his Friday night Chicago return against the Magic, and his subsequent return to form with a game-winning shot against Atlanta, and a career night dropping 55 on the Knicks.
The late Len Bias still leaves more questions than answers. When Bias dropped dead two days after the 1986 NBA Draft, he forever altered our perception of casual drug use and became the tipping point of America's drug crisis in the mid-80's. Future generations continue to face the harsh punishment of drug policies that were influenced by the public outcry after his heartbreaking death. Instead of becoming an NBA star, he became a one-man deterrent, the athlete who reminded everyone just how dangerous drug use can be. Amazingly, questions still linger about his death nearly a quarter-century later. How good could he have been in the pro ranks? Has he become underrated or overrated as the years pass? How could a University of Maryland superstar and Boston Celtics lottery pick be derailed by a cocaine binge? Was Bias a one-time user as we were led to believe, or was there a pattern of recreational use that led to his fatal last night? Did he fall in with the wrong crowd.
This documentary showcases basketball player Michael Jordan's awe-inspiring moves, providing behind-the-scenes and on-the-court action, including footage of Jordan and the Chicago Bulls going head-to-head against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals. Phil Jackson and Bob Costas are interviewed (among others), and the awesome soundtrack includes songs by Earth, Wind and Fire, Fatboy Slim and Freddie King.
This made-for-video production mixes highlights of Michael Jordan from the '80s with a fantasy storyline of a high school teen named Walt, who has been cut from his basketball team. Doubting his abilities, Walt gets some lessons from Michael Jordan himself, on the magical Playground known as Michael Jordan's Playground.
Introducing his never before seen 'leaping one-hander' to the masses on a national level, Kenny Sailors quickly grew to be a fan favorite while leading his Wyoming Cowboys to the Collegiate National Championship in Madison Square Garden in 1943. But after playing on several losing teams in an unstable, emerging league now known as the NBA, Kenny disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness only to be forgotten by the sport he helped pioneer. Now, nearly sixty years later, the multitude of people he has touched along the way have forced Kenny’s humble reemergence.
LeBron James faces the biggest challenge of his career as he teams up with the Tune Squad to save his son, the Looney Tunes, and their universe. Can LeBron and the Tune Squad defeat The Goon Squad to save his son? Only time will tell... welcome to the Space Jam!
An American direct-to-video film that features highlights and bloopers from the NBA from its beginning to the film's release in 1989. The film is hosted by broadcaster Marv Albert and former Utah Jazz coach and executive Frank Layden. The video features brief biographies of NBA personalities including Darryl Dawkins, Bill Walton, John Salley and Frank Layden, as well as footage of dolphins playing basketball, a group playing basketball while riding horses and a group playing basketball on ice skates. Recaps of the 1989 and 1990 NBA slam dunk contest are also shown.
In June of 2012, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat made good on a promise to deliver a championship to the basketball fans of South Florida. It seemed unlikely that they would ever be able to match the drama and the intensity of that title run in an encore performance. But this was no ordinary basketball team. From the opening night of the 2012-13 NBA season, the Heat were determined to prove that not only were they up for the daunting challenge to repeat as champs but they were also destined to become one of the most successful and celebrated teams in history. No one could have anticipated the breathtaking 27 game winning streak that would catapult the Miami Heat into one of the biggest stories of the year. And after sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks, dispatching the Chicago Bulls and outlasting the Indiana Pacers, Miami would take home their second consecutive title after an epic seven game series with the San Antonio Spurs.
