He couldn't.

It nearly drove him to madness.

In 'Winning Time,' actor Jason Clarke was brilliant as West.

Hell, brilliant.

He nailed his slight West Virginia twang, his cocksure strut, his at-all-costs love for the Lakers.

There's a scene in the pilot in which West explains to team executives that it would be a mistake to select Michigan State's Johnson with the first pick in the 1979 draft; a safer bet would be Sidney Moncrief of Arkansas.

When Jerry Buss (played by John C.

Reilly) asks why, West—with all the earnestness one can muster—says, 'He's too tall.

' Buss scoffs at the suggestion, as do those standing nearby—and West loses it.

He storms off, snaps his golf club in half and, while stomping away, growls, 'I f---ing busted my shaft, Pedro!' It's awesome stuff, and I still laugh whenever the scene crosses my screen.

But it's also (ahem) not real.

The moment never happened.

There was no Pedro, and while West was (in a rare bout of personnel misjudgment) truly opposed to selecting Johnson, he certainly didn't break it down to Buss on a golf course.

In that same episode, West is shown launching the 1969 Finals MVP award through his office window (didn't happen) and has Buss advise him to switch to an alcohol that doesn't cause his breath to reek (didn't happen).

Throughout the series, West is often cursing, snarling, snapping, biting.

It's tremendous television.

For my money, Clarke carried the show.

But, in the real world, West wasn't a cursing, snarling, snapping, biting guy.

He was a burdened, haunted, troubled man who—while certainly capable of a good outburst—primarily internalized his demons.

He also was a beloved basketball lifer who embraced the diversity of the sport he cherished.

As creator of the source material, but also as someone involved with the show, I often found myself publicly backing Clarke's version of West by offering up explanations like 'It's paying homage' and 'This is how the medium works.

' But, sitting here today in the aftermath of West's passing, I am forced to ask myself whether that was me being true to myself or just being a guy with the golden ticket of an HBO show justifying an experience that I simultaneously loved and profited from.

The Washington Post accepts opinion articles on any topic.

We welcome submissions on local, national, and international issues.

We publish work that varies in length and format, including multimedia.

Post Opinions also thrives on lively dialogue.

If you have thoughts about this article, or about anything The Post publishes, please.