The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball

Eleven championships in thirteen years. If the Boston Celtics of the late 1950s and 1960s aren’t the greatest dynasty in the history of American professional sports, they’re surely in the top three. Growing up in Greater Boston in the 1970s, watching those eleven banners flutter from the rafters of the old Boston Garden, I was aware of the Celtics’ history but never knew the details. Now, thanks to John Taylor’s superbly written book, I do.

The rise (and rise and rise) of the Celtics under legendary coach (later general manager) Red Auerbach is one of three stories that Taylor tells in The Rivalry. The other two are the NBA’s transformation from a glorified barnstorming circuit to a major professional sports organization, and show more the titular clash of wills and styles between Russell and Chamberlain: the era’s two dominant centers and the NBA’s first two black superstars. That Taylor keeps all three stories moving seamlessly forward, and still has time to work in deftly sketched portraits of other key teams – notably the LA Lakers of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor – and observations on sports and race in America, is testament to his skill not just as a writer, but as wrangler of material. Like a perfect jump shot, it only looks effortless.

I’m the most casual of basketball fans, and so in no position to pass judgment on Taylor’s assessments of players and coaches, strategies and games. What I can say is that they made intuitive sense, and that his descriptions of the action on the court – like John McPhee’s in A Sense of Where You Are – felt vivid and real without ever bogging down in detail. I have no idea what dedicated fans would make of this book, but I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the place of sports in American culture . . . or in an extraordinary story. show less