Upon review of my TBR list - or should I say mountain - there are many upcoming basketball books this winter so it is time to break them out and read about hoops while we are in the off-season despite the calendar saying October. Here is my review of a book on the 2008 champion Celtics, "The Big Three"
Title/Author:
“The Big Three: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and the Rebirth of the Boston Celtics" by Michael Holley
Tags:
Basketball, professional, Celtics, championship, history
Publish date:
December 1, 2020
Length:
288 pages
Rating: to
5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review:
Basketball fans are aware that the Boston Celtics have won 17 championships, a record they held themselves until the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers tied that mark. This book by Michael Holley, who has been called "the premier chronicler of Boston sports", tells the reader the complete story behind the 17th title, which was won in 2008. It is a fascinating look at the complete picture of the era of the "Big Three" in Boston, from the first day that former Celtics player Danny Ainge considered a front office job with his former team to the last chance for the team as it was constructed in 2013 to get back to the Finals.
That last chapter of the team's saga, with Ray Allen having already departed the Celtics in favor of the then-rival Miami Heat, was especially painful considering the stories from the previous chapters. For the most part, the "Big Three" players mentioned in the subtitle – Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen – all had similar NBA careers before they were teammates. Pierce had spent his entire career in Boston and was getting antsy to be able to add a banner to the rafters of the TD Garden. Garnett, having already won one MVP award in Minnesota, was growing frustrated with the inability of the Timberwolves to build off their one year of playoff success in 2004. Allen was starring in Seattle but wasn't happy with all the side talk about the team moving to Oklahoma City.
Here is where Ainge, along with coach Doc Rivers, puts together two brilliant trade packages to land Allen and Garnett to play alongside Pierce, making up the Celtics' "Big Three". It is to the author's credit that he does not try to make this seem like a historic collection of stars – indeed, he frequently mentions an earlier "big three" combination for the Celtics of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, who were all teammates of Ainge. The latter of those three remained friends with Ainge and that connection was the key in obtaining Garnett as McHale was the GM of the Timberwolves at the time.
The story of the Garnett trade, with not only that trade itself but what Ainge did to ensure that he collected all the parts Minnesota wanted to make the trade, was Holley's writing at its finest. While he certainly writes about the on-court action well, especially during the 2008 NBA finals when the Big Three won their only championship together, it is his writing about the front office workings and the conversations between the players or players and Rivers off the court that makes the book stand out. Any reader will learn a lot about the Celtics and their use of analytics before it became as big as it is now, one very important part of why Ainge was successful at putting together team that for five years was among the very best in the NBA, making it to at least the conference finals three of those five years.
There is also good material on important items in the league that didn't directly involve the Celtics but had an impact on them, such as LeBron James moving from Cleveland to Miami and the NBA lockout of 2011. Holley makes sure to tie these back to the Celtics and what these meant to the team. This was important to help paint the complete picture of the Boston Celtics from 2007 to 2012. If this is a topic about which a reader wishes to learn more, this is an excellent source.
I wish to thank Hachette Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-big-three-michael-holley/1133984060?ean=9780316489942
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