Professional

The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul

For the countless basketball fans who were spellbound by the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2003– 2004 high-wire act, this book is a rare and phenomenal treat. In The Last Season, Lakers coach Phil Jackson draws on his trademark honesty and insight to tell the whole story of the season that proved to be the final ride of a truly great dynasty. From the signing of future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton to the Kobe Bryant rape case/media circus, this is a riveting tale of clashing egos, public feuds, contract disputes, and team meltdowns that only a coach, and a writer, of Jackson’s candor, experience, and ability could tell. Full of tremendous human drama and offering lessons on coaching and on life, this is a book that no sports fan can possibly pass up.

Banner 17: Boston Celtics Return to Glory in a Magical Championship Season

In Banner 17: Boston Celtics Return to Glory in a Magical Championship Season, the editors of The Boston Globe bring you all the drama and action-filled photography capturing the 2008 championship run, and they also reach back for a full history of championships past. The Globe's deep and talented staff provides the recap of every gripping court moment, compiled in a uniquely told book that is sure to become a classic keepsake for any fan.

Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association

What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still -- decades later -- just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports -- told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.

The Jordan Rules

A SUPER TEAM...A SUPERSTAR...A SUPER EGO

The most gifted athlete ever to play the game, Michael Jordan rose to heights no basketball player had ever reached before. What drove Michael Jordan? The pursuit of team success...or of his own personal glory? The pursuit of excellence...or of his next multimillion-dollar endorsement? The flight of the man they call Air Jordan had been rocked by controversy. In The Jordan Rules, which chronicles the Chicago Bulls' first championship season, Sam Smith takes the #1 Bull by the horns to reveal the team behind the man...and the man behind the Madison Avenue smile. Here is the inside game, both on and off the court, including:

• Jordan's power struggles with management, from verbal attacks on the general manager to tantrums against his coach

• Behind-the-scenes feuds, as Jordan punches a teammate in practice and refuses to pass the ball in the crucial minutes of big games

• The players who competed with His Airness for Air Time -- Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright -- telling their sides of the story

• A penetrating look at coach Phil Jackson, the former flower child who blossomed into one of the NBA's top motivators and who finally found a way to coax "Michael and the Jordanaires" to the their first title

A provocative eyewitness account, The Jordan Rules delivers all the nonstop excitement, tension, and thrills of a championship season -- and an intense, fascinating portrait of the incomparable Michael Jordan.

Sweet 17: Boston Celtics 2007-08 NBA Champions (NBA Championship: East (Paperback)) (NBA Championship: East (Paperback))

Boston's basement-dwelling days are over. With the Celtics capturing the 2007-08 NBA championship, the franchises 17th, the lengthy title drought of a proud franchise has ended in dramatic fashion. All the postseason heroics and regular-season highlights are captured within this 128-page, full-color tribute to the team, with feature articles and photography from the Boston Herald. From the flurry of preseason trades that brought the team 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett and perennial All-Star Ray Allen, to the redemption of Bostons beloved guard Paul Pierce, this collectible book explores the memorable themes and colorful personalities that made this season one for the ages.

Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game

Americas favorite sportswriter and the legendary Boston Celtics coach join forces to produce one of the most richly entertaining books ever written about the game of basketball. The hardcover edition appeared on the extended New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and has sold more than 100,000 copies to date. Auerbach colorfully recalls all the players and coaches he worked with and played against: Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain, Sam Jones, and Michael Jordanyou name them, the basketball greats are here. John Feinstein has written two of the bestselling sports books of all time, A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled, and his books have been a fixture on bestseller lists for the past two decades.

Loose Balls

The American Basketball Association (1967-1976) gave birth to Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs, the Slam Dunk contest, flashy moves, and the three-point basket. During its nine seasons, the ABA generated scorn and laughter--and made a lasting impact on how the game is played. 24 pages of photographs.

More than a Game

AS THE GAME REVEALS THE PLAYER, SO DOES THIS BOOK REVEAL THE COACH

Phil Jackson is the most celebrated coach in basketball today, earning that respect by guiding his teams in Chicago and Los Angeles to an astounding eight NBA championships. The key to his success, he thinks is his ability to understand the complexities of the players as well as the intricacies of the game. With this memorable book, Phil joins his friend Charley Rosen, a former player and coach who knows success at the game's highest levels, to bring new insight to the challenge of coaching and to honor the innate grace of basketball and its players.

Jackson and Rosen take you from the cracked blacktop courts of the inner city to the polished hardwood of the country's finest arenas, exposing the demanding reality of professional basketball: a world of glamour, glitter, and greed, in which nobility can still be found in the single-minded pursuit of athletic perfection.

From his playing days in college and with the world champion Knicks of the 1970's to his victories courtside with the Bulls and the Lakers, Jackson relates his philosophy of coaching, fondly talks about the memorable players and plays of the past, and candidly expresses his feelings about today's rules and referees. Simply a must for any fan, this book reveals the very heart of the sport, reminding us that basketball is much more than just a game.

Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever

Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns

In Seven Seconds or Less, Sports Illustrated's chief NBA writer, Jack McCallum, gets in the paint with the Phoenix Suns and takes a season-long look at the NBA's most exciting and controversial team.

A few weeks before the 2005-2006 NBA training camps began, Jack McCallum called the Phoenix Suns ace director of public relations to propose a story idea for Sports Illustrated. He would spend the preseason with the team as an "assistant coach" and then write a story about his experiences. He was quickly granted access, and while his role as "assistant coach" lasted only through the preseason, McCallum stayed on with the team throughout their amazing 2005-2006 season. McCallum was looking for real inside access and he certainly got it. He spent the season in the locker room and in the coaches' meetings, learning what makes this wildly popular, innovative, and international assemblage of talented players and brilliant coaches tick.

For years, NBA basketball was marked by a plodding, dull-as-dishwater style of play -- that was until coach Mike D'Antoni, point guard Steve Nash, and the high-flying Phoenix Suns set the league on fire with their old-school, run-and-gun approach to offense. Along the way they won back legions of disillusioned fans and demonstrated the virtues of team play to a league preoccupied with one-on-one theatrics.

In Seven Seconds or Less, McCallum describes his year trying to keep up with the fast-breaking Suns on and off the court. He takes readers inside the heads of Nash, the team's mercurial floor general; the maverick D'Antoni; and dozens of others who make up the close-knit Suns family. On the court, there's excitement as the Suns overcome a rash of injuries to once again battle for a conference title. Off the court, controversy rages as the team endures a major front-office change in midseason. Throughout it all, the team continues to bedevil opponents and challenge the status quo with their throwback style.

In the spirit of Buzz Bissinger's Three Nights in August and John Feinstein's A Season on the Brink, Seven Seconds or Less is an in-depth look at one of the greatest shows in sports.