Title/Author:
“Golden Days: West’s Lakers, Steph’s Warriors
and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball” by Jack McCallum
Tags:
Basketball, professional, Lakers, Warriors, championship
Publish date:
October 24, 2017
Length:
336 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
Two of the best teams
in the history of professional basketball are the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers
and the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors.
Both teams had lengthy winning streaks – Golden State had a 24 game
streak and the Lakers had a 33 game streak that still stands as the longest
winning streak by a professional team in the four major sports. Both teams won their respective championships. Both teams had several all-star players on
the roster. The comparison between the
two teams is captured in this wonderfully written book by Jack McCallum,
considered one of the better basketball authors in the business.
There is one link between
the two teams from different eras – Jerry West.
West was one of those all-star players on that Lakers team, and was
relieved to finally win a championship after many years of finishing second to
either the Boston Celtics or New York Knicks.
After his playing career, he worked in the front office for several
teams, but his best work was with the Warriors in putting together the team
that includes Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Drayman Green.
The book is fast
paced, has many humorous passages and is a wonderful looks back at both teams’
construction and the championship seasons.
One chapter is dedicated to each game of the Lakers’ historic winning
streak – this was my favorite section of the book as a reader will either have
great memories of the team or, if too young to have seen this team, will learn
what the culture of professional basketball was at the time and the colorful
characters that made up the Los Angeles Lakers.
This doesn’t mean
McCallum shorts changes his quality work for the Warriors either. The reader will learn how the Warriors went
from laughing stock to domination through the hard work of new-thinking owners,
sheer luck on draft night in 2009 that allowed them to draft Curry and how they
have become the hip team of the current basketball culture. I enjoyed reading about this team as well,
mainly because McCallum writes in such a manner that he shows great respect for
both teams without the book coming off as a love fest for either one of
them. It is simply a lot of great information
and stories about two legendary teams. This book is highly recommended for all basketball fans of all ages.
I wish to thank
Ballantine Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for
an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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