Why is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fighting Bruce Lee?
That might be a question for some who watch the ESPN "30 for 30" "Be Water" this weekend. That documentary will explore the life of Lee, who was a world-famous martial arts instructor and movie star in the 1970s.
Lee unexpectedly died in 1973, but his iconic status lives on today. Abdul-Jabbar was an NBA star with the Milwaukee Bucks at the time, but his connection with Lee began before he played professional basketball.
Kareem met Lee at UCLA
Abdul-Jabbar expressed disappointment with how Lee was portrayed in the Quentin Tarantino movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" in his column for The Hollywood Reporter on Aug. 16, 2019.
Abdul-Jabbar described his student-teacher relationship with Lee, which began in Los Angeles. An excerpt from the article :
"I first met Bruce when I was a student at UCLA looking to continue my martial arts studies, which I started in New York City. We quickly developed a friendship as well as a student-teacher relationship. He taught me the discipline and spirituality of martial arts, which was greatly responsible for me being able to play competitively in the NBA for 20 years with very few injuries."
Abdul-Jabbar led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship in 1971, and that coincided with Lee’s breakthrough in Hollywood.
Lee’s star took off
Lee appeared in 26 episodes of the TV series "The Green Hornet," but his film career took off in the United States with the releases of movies such as "Marlowe" (1969), "The Big Boss" (1971), "Fist of Fury" (1972) and "The Way of the Dragon" (1972).
Lee began working as the director of "Game of Death," in which Abdul-Jabbar has a starring role as one of the villains.
Lee died, however, before the film was released. Lee was working on "Game of Death" when he was offered to star in "Enter the Dragon," but he died during production. "Game of Death" was not completed until 1978.
At that time, Abdul-Jabbar was in his fourth season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Jabbar-Lee fight scene is amazing
Lee, who was 5-8, pulls off an amazing fight scene with Abdul-Jabbar, who was 7-2. The full fight scene can be seen here.