Sports Illustrated, the most respected voice in sports journalism, has covered the NBA for the much of its existence, documenting its expansion from fledgeling league to global force. Curated by editor and bestselling author Chris Ballard, this anthology features the best hoops writing from the SI archives along with new postscripts from nationally renowned basketball journalists including Jackie McMullan, Jack McCallum, Jeff Pearlman, S.L. Price, Lee Jenkins, Frank Deford, and more.

In 1946, Boston hardly seemed like a city where basketball's most successful franchise would take root and grow. It was a hockey town, and original Celtics owner Walter Brown knew almost nothing about basketball. Still, as head of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation, he jumped at the chance to own part of the new club. The Boston Celtics Basketball Vault: The History of a Proud Franchise recounts that humble beginning and details how the team rose from mediocrity to become arguably America's most successful sports franchise. Author Roland Lazenby includes tales about such celebrated Hall of Famers as Bob Cousy, John Havlic, Tom Heinsohn, Bailey Howell, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Fans will also discover vintage photographs, artwork and memorabilia drawn from the Boston Celtics' archives, including rereproductions of old game programs, historic tickets, stickers and other amazing replicas tucked into dozens of pockets.

Celebrate the championship glory, Hall of Fame personalities, and passionate fans that make the Boston Celtics one of the most revered teams in basketball Sports Illustrated™ celebrates basketball greatness with The Boston Celtics at 75, an extraordinary collection of classic stories and photographs from the pages of SI. This commemorative book salutes hall of famers like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Paul Pierce, and coach Red Auerbach. Fans will unearth countless gems from the Celtics' past on each page of this diamond celebration.

New York Times Bestseller "On the subject of his love of Red Auerbach and his Celtic teammates, Russell is loud and clear. He might object to my use of the word 'love,' but deny it though you will, Mr. Russell, that's what sits at the heart of this beautiful book." — Bill Bradley, New York Times Book Review In Red and Me, Boston Celtics basketball legend Bill Russell pays homage to his mentor and coach, the inimitable Red Auerbach. A poignant remembrance of a life-altering relationship in the tradition of Big Russ and Me and Tuesdays With Morrie, Red and Me tells an unforgettable story of one unlikely and enduring friendship set against the backdrop of the greatest basketball dynasty in NBA history. Red Auerbach was one of the greatest basketball coaches in sports history. Bill Russell was the star center and five-time MVP for Auerbach's Celtics, and together they won eleven championships in thirteen years. But Auerbach and Russell were far more than just coach and player. A short, brash Jew from Brooklyn and a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland, the men formed a friendship that evolved into a rare, telling example of deep male camaraderie even as their feelings remained largely unspoken. Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach, which shows how he produced results unlike any other, and an inspiring story of mutual success, in which each man gave his all and gained back even more. Above all, it may be the most honest and heartfelt depiction of male friendship ever captured in print.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The NBA according to The Sports Guy—now updated with fresh takes on LeBron, the Celtics, and more! Foreword by Malcom Gladwell • “The work of a true fan . . . it might just represent the next phase of sports commentary.”—The Atlantic Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining basketball addict known to millions as ESPN’s The Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA. From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

The Boston Celtics official 75th Anniversary illustrated history commemorative coffee table book

This is the ultimate insider's look at the personalities of the players and coaches who contributed to Celtics Pride. The late Johnny Most describes in vivid detail his firsthand accounts of the greatest Celtics moments in history! A referee once said that Johnny Most could cause a riot at a High Mass with his emotional, pro-Celtic descriptions. He turned shoving matches into bloodbaths and minor fouls into vicious muggings. As Danny Ainge, Boston's recently appointed director of basketball operations commented, I always believed we had thirteen guys on the active roster-twelve wore uniforms--and the thirteenth, Johnny Most, was the voice of the celtics!