The Book of Basketball Interactive Guide

Interactive Guide

for Paperback

Welcome to The Book of Basketball interactive guide. Here you will find various links and YouTube clips that correspond to things mentioned in the book. In some cases, there are direct mentions of games or articles, in other cases (as with the Pyramid players), there are simply corresponding clips. All the links are consolidated onto one page, so if you want to search for something just use Command/Ctrl-F. If you would like to contribute or comment to this guide, email us at bookofbasketball(at)gmail.com

Foreword (by Malcolm Gladwell)
PROLOGUE: A Four-Dollar Ticket
ONE: The Secret
TWO: Russell, The Wilt
THREE: How The Hell Did We Get Here?
FOUR: The What-If Game
FIVE: Most Valuable Chapter
SIX: The Hall of Fame Pyramid
SEVEN: The Pyramid: Level 1
EIGHT: The Pyramid: Level 2
NINE: The Pyramid: Level 3
TEN: The Pyramid: Level 4
ELEVEN: The Pyramid: Level 5
TWELVE: The Legend of Keyser Söze
THIRTEEN: The Wine Cellar
EPILOGUE: Life After The Secret

Foreward (by Malcolm Gladwell)

Page xi: Interview with Bill Simmons about his campaign to become Minnesota's GM (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Prologue: A Four Dollar Ticket

Page 6: NBA at 50: Dave Cowens (Bio--no Newlin foul)

Page 8 & FN8: Keith Wilkes' in Cornbread, Earl and Me (trailer, full)

Page 9: Game 7 of 1976 Western Finals, Suns @ Warriors, Rick Barry and Ricky Sobers fight (fight starts at 1:30)

Page 10: Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals, Suns @ Celtics, Double OT finish

Page 14: "Classic Bird Moments"-Larry Bird drops 60 on the Hawks and their bench celebrates (:39 story about it, 7:07 full highlight)- Larry Bird and Dr. J fight

Page 15: 1981 East Finals, Philly @ Boston (Dr. J vs. Bird) Game 7 (full game 10-part playlist)

Page 16: 1984 East Finals, NY @ Boston (Bernard vs. Bird) Game 7 (Bird highlights)

Page 16: 1984 Finals, LA Lakers @ Boston (heat game) Game 5 (full, 10 part playlist)

Page 17: 1986 Finals, Rockets @ Boston Game 6 (Bird highlights- endgame cheering at 9:12, full game- playlist)

Page 18: 1991 East Finals, Indiana @ Boston, Game 5 (full playlist, Bird highlights with head bang at beginning)

Page 18: 1992 Portland @ Boston, Bird scores 49, hits three to send it to OT (highlights-- 6:45 game-tying three)

Page 18: 1991 Playoffs, Pistons @ Celtics (Game 2 or 3)-- an actual bird flies onto court.

Page 21: 1978 John Havlicek's final game (fans don't stop cheering) , Hondo and Simmons

Page 22: Questioning does greatness have a shelf life: 2007 East Finals, Cleveland @ Detroit, Game 5, LeBron drops 48 (SC highlights)

Page 23: Jordan's "killer" moments
- 1992 Finals, Portland @ Chicago, Game 1, Jordan destroys Drexler (highlights)
- 1998 East Finals, Indiana @ Chicago, Game 7, Jordan steals game via foul line (highlights)
- Jordan ends Chicago career with layup-steal-jumper sequence in Utah
- Wait Till Next Year- book by sports columnist (Mike Lupica) and Hollywood screenwriter (William Goldman) regarding athletes' legacies

Pages 26-27:
- 1987 East Finals, Detroit @ Boston, Game 5, Larry Bird steals inbounds, wins game
- 1987 East Finals, Detroit @ Boston, Game 7 (full game playlist)
- 1987 Finals, Lakers @ Celtics, Game 4 (Bird's 3 with 30s left, Bird's miss to end the game)

ONE: The Secret

Page 41-42: 1988 Finals, Detroit @ LAL, Game 6, (full game playlist, Isiah hurts ankle, end of the quarter shot and layup replay)

Page 48: Gregg Popovich explains the Spurs' philosophy to SI (3/9/09)

Page 51: Rick Barry talks about the secret in SI (12/16/74)

Page 53: Jordan and Pippen finish off the Pacers in Game 7, 1998

Page 54 (P1): Simmons on Colbert Report (Oct 29, 2009)

Page 55-56: Bill Russell's post-game interview after winning the 1969 championship

Page 56: Ellis "Red" Boyd in the cornfield scene in The Shawshank Redemption

TWO: Russell, Then Wilt

Russell/Chamberlain Interview (1997)

Page 61 (FN 5): 1957, St. Louis @ Boston, Game 7 (highlights without backboard pass)

Page 63: 1965 Finals, Sixers @ Celtics, Game 7 (Havlicek stole the ball!)

Page 67: General Bill Russell Highlights re: skills on tape

THREE: How the Hell Did We Get Here?

1954-1955: The Lifesaver

Page 88-89: Video remembering Danny Biasone (Syracuse Post-Standard)

1963-1964: The Sit Down Strike
Page 97-98: 1964 NBA All-Star Game (brief)

1971-1972: The Streak

Page 110 (P5): Bill Simmons' Article on Rasheed Wallace (Apr 7, 2010)

1974-75: Racial Progress ...or not
Page 117: Feature on 1975 finals featuring two black coaches
Page 117: 1975 Finals feature with Oscar commentating badly

Page 118-9: Rick Barry insults Bill Russell

Page 123: 1998 Finals with Isiah and Doug Collins Commentating (open, full game)

1975-75: The Dunk Contest
Page 123: 1976 ABA Dunk Contest (full- 2 parts, highlights)

1977-1978: The Blown Tire
Page 133: SI article about "the Enforcers" (10/31/77)
Page 134: Kermit & Kunnert fight
Page 136-7: Knicks/Bulls fight, 1994 Eastern Finals Game 3

1979-80: Threeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Page 141: 1986 NBA "Long Distance Shootout"
Page 141: 1986 Playoffs- Boston sweep over Milwaukee- Bird hits 4 threes in the 4th quarter
Page 141: Dudley Bradley winning game over Philly
Page 141: Jeff Malone hits three

1980-81: Nose Candy
Page 143: SI- "Flying High Once More" (11/17/80)- David Thompson "being old soaring self"
Page 144-5: SI- "Blinded By The Light" (12/7/81) About Eddie Johnson

1981-82: The Perils of Overcoaching
Page 145: SI- "The NBA Goes Back to School" (11/9/81)- Ed Rush Comment
Page 146: SI- "Don't blame it on me, I just want to have fun!"- (11/30/81)- about Magic

1982-83: The Connection
Page 148: CBS intro
Page 148: NBA It's FANNNN-tastic Commercials - First Ever Aired (first mentioned) - "I'm So Excited" - Buzzer beaters - "One on One"
Page 150: Marvin Gaye's National Anthem at 1983 All-Star Game

1983-84: We're Here
Page 151: Larry Coon's CBA FAQ

All-Star Weekend 1984 (Pages 152-153)
- NY Times article about All-Star Game turning into a weekend
- Old-Timers Game (highlights, 1:57; Maravich highlights)
- Dunk Contest (full, 3 parts, highlights)
- All-Star Game (highlights)

1984 NBA Finals (Pages 154-155)
- A Rivalry Renewed Special
- Larry Bird Finals Highlights
- Game 2- Gerald Henderson's Steal
- Game 4 (highlights, OT final minute)

- Game 7 (full game- playlist, final moments)

FOUR: The What-If Game

Page 163 (FN 10): Chad Ford 2003 Draft article, Bill Simmons 2004 Draft article

Pages 167-70: Pacers/Pistons Fight

Page 203 (P15): Bill Simmons' Open Letter to Blake Griffin before the '09 Draft

Page 206 (P16): Kareem almost traded in 1982 Draft

Pages 209-217: 1984 NBA Draft (Akeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Michael Jordan)

Page 214 (P17): Sam Bowie Poster

FIVE: Most Valuable Chapter

Page 220-21: Bill Simmons Schnozzaroo article

Page 221: Kwame Brown-- Wizards / Lakers (pictures)

Page 222: Iverson's mom at a game (picture)

Page 261: SI article about Malone for 1998 MVP

SIX: The Hall of Fame Pyramid

SEVEN: The Pyramid: Level 1

96. Tom Chambers (Page 287-88)

- "his eighties hairdo (blondish brown hair parted in the middle with some girth in the back) made him look like a cross between Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff and every women’s softball player from 1985 to 1989"- picture comparison

Table of Contents