The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Celtics and the NBA's Greatest Team of All Time

by Peter May

Overview

From Simon & Schuster, The Last Banner by Peter May is the story of the 1985-1986 Celtics—the NBA's greatest team of all time.

The Last Banner offers a behind the scenes look at this team with up close and personal profiles of the unforgettable players, coaches, and opponents that made the 1985-1986 Celtics truly unique.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416552123
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	996,393
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Peter May is the author of many sports books including The Last Banner: The Story of the 1885-1886 Boston Celtics, the NBA’s Greatest Team of All-Time and The Big Three: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish. He was a staff sportswriter at The Boston Globe for two decades where he covered three Super Bowls, two World Series, and the 2004 Olympics. May’s work has also appeared in the New York Times, ESPN, and Boston Magazine. He is a lecturer in journalism at Brandeis University.

Editorial Reviews

In their history the Boston Celtics have hung 16 NBA championship banners from the roof of their home arena, the last won by the 1985-86 team. The team ended the 1984-85 season by losing the seventh game of the final series, and those in charge felt the loss was a result of the weak bench, thus forcing the five starters to play too many minutes. So, in an unprecedented move, management got rid of all the bench players and restocked the team, their major acquisition being backup center Bill Walton. He joined Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson to form a team that went 67-15, with a 40-1 record at home, and, of course, won the championship. May, who covers the Celtics for the Boston Globe, makes a convincing case here for judging the team the best in NBA history, not so much for the talents of its players, which were considerable, but because of the dedication to teamwork and the lack of ego of the players. This careful analysis of the season is also a thorough portrait of each of the team members going back to childhood. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Whether the 1985-86 Boston Celtics were the greatest NBA team of all time is certainly debatable, but there is little doubt they were the best of a long line of outstanding Celtic squads. May (The Big Three, S. & S., 1994) argues here that although Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge formed a potent starting five, it was the bench, led by Bill Walton, that lifted the team to championship status. As for the team's place in history, he contends "they played at a time when the competition was never better and the game was not yet contaminated by the ravages of expansion." How such a surfeit of talent came to be assembled and blended in a cohesive unit makes for an interesting study. For popular collections.-William H. Hoffman, Ft. Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., Fla.

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