More than a Game » (Reprint)

CHARLEY ROSEN is a former college basketball player and the author of several books, including two with coaching legend Phil Jackson.

CHARLEY ROSEN is a former college basketball player and the author of several books, including two with coaching legend Phil Jackson.

AS THE GAME REVEALS THE PLAYER, SO DOES THIS BOOK REVEAL THE COACH

Phil Jackson is the most celebrated coach in basketball today, earning that respect by guiding his teams in Chicago and Los Angeles to an astounding eight NBA championships. The key to his success, he thinks is his ability to understand the complexities of the players as well as the intricacies of the game. With this memorable book, Phil joins his friend Charley Rosen, a former player and coach who knows success at the game's highest levels, to bring new insight to the challenge of coaching and to honor the innate grace of basketball and its players.

Jackson and Rosen take you from the cracked blacktop courts of the inner city to the polished hardwood of the country's finest arenas, exposing the demanding reality of professional basketball: a world of glamour, glitter, and greed, in which nobility can still be found in the single-minded pursuit of athletic perfection.

From his playing days in college and with the world champion Knicks of the 1970's to his victories courtside with the Bulls and the Lakers, Jackson relates his philosophy of coaching, fondly talks about the memorable players and plays of the past, and candidly expresses his feelings about today's rules and referees. Simply a must for any fan, this book reveals the very heart of the sport, reminding us that basketball is much more than just a game.

Publishers Weekly

At first glance, this book is a strained synthesis. During the first half, storied NBA coach Jackson and CBA coach-turned-writer Rosen alternate chapters. Each details his upbringing, life in basketball and friendship with the other. Even though Jackson is the star here, he gives little attention to his years with the Bulls (covered in his earlier book Sacred Hoops). Later in the book, Jackson recounts, game by game, his championship first season with the previously undisciplined Lakers. It seems a somewhat perfunctory treatment of a surprising season, until the book's true (and higher) purpose slowly becomes clear: it is a magnificent tribute to Tex Winter's triangle offense, the perfect scheme. In describing their attempts to implement the triangle in the CBA, the authors illustrate its effectiveness, even its necessity. Jackson and Rosen depict the Lakers learning to make the offense work, finally suggesting that the triangle could work for any team that Michael Jordan wasn't the only reason Chicago won six rings under Jackson. And through it all, they show that the only thing standing in the way of many teams adopting the triangle, just as many NFL teams have taken up the West Coast offense, is player ego. For the heart of the scheme is the individual's sacrifice of status and spotlight for the greater success of the team. The technical details in this wonderful book will give any fan a better appreciation of the game. (Mar. 25) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.