When The Game Was Ours takes a look into the most important era that shaped the way we now experience professional basketball.
Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson are two of the greatest players in NBA history. The book covers their early days on the playground, as teammates during international play all the way up to their lives after basketball. The fabled 1979 NCAA Championship game, which many thought as the beginning of their fated careers, was merely a stepping stone toward bigger things to come.
Eventually the storied Lakers-Celtics rivalry will snatch the headlines of national newspapers during its peak. Magic’s HIV Announcement in 1991 and their time spent on the 1992 Dream Team for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain are also covered in this book.
The narrative is an in-depth look at two players who changed the NBA from the moment they started their legendary careers. From humble beginnings to super-stardom, Bird and Magic come from similar backgrounds. It’s no wonder why their paths have crossed more frequently than any other duo in NBA history.
Magic and Bird personified basketball in the 1980′s. Both players had personalities that were polar opposites of each other. Those personalities ultimately embodied the teams they played for. Basketball eventually shifted from being about black and white to being about Celtics and Lakers.
This book is a must read! For any fan of history, this book gives us a glimpse into not just two larger-than-life legends, but the growth of the NBA into an international brand. The book follows the state of the NBA through the early 1980′s into the 1990′s closely. Very well written! Definitely a great break from reading fiction.
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When The Game Was Ours by Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson (w/ Jackie MacMullan) is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It can be found in hardcover, paperback and audiotape.
