The City Game: Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds

One of the best basketball books ever and certainly for anyone who was following the sports in the 1960s and 1970s. Pete Axthelm brings the games to light and delves into the backgrounds of NBA stars and neighborhood heroes. If you're a basketball nut, do not miss this book. First published in 1970. Cannot believe it took me this long to buy it.

Pete Axthelm has a handle on what makes basketball a wonderful sport, and why many of us are in love with it. He doesn't seem to know exactly what he wants to do with this book. Is he reporting on inner-city basketball heroes? On their gravity-defying dunks, or their lightning-quick handles? Or is he reporting on 1970, the year the Knicks won the NBA Championship. The two stories don't intertwin seemlessly as he would have them, and you are left feeling like you haven't been fulfilled on either of the stories in this book. I gave this book 4 stars based more on his obvious joy in writting it (which makes it very fun to read) than his actual skill in writting it. I would have been much happier buying two books as long as this one, one on inner-city basketball in New York City, and one on the Knicks Championship of 1970.

This book was in mint condition. Shipping was fast and the price was amazing for this classic book. Would highly recommend this seller and the merchandise.

This is THE one you must own if you are a "oldschool" NBA fan, a NY Knick fan or a fan of the greatest "proving ground" in basketball lore -the schoolyards and playgrounds of NYC !!.I owned the original printing as a kid in 1970 and it quickly became the "must have" for every Knick fan due to the amazing "blow'by'blow" description of the "Miracle on 33rd.St", The NBA Championship won by The 1969 NY Knicks . Quite possibly the greatest NBA team ever assembled.

I am reading through the Sports Illustrated's top 100 sportsbooks of all time and this book is deservedly on the list. I found it a little dated but the research that Axthelm poured into the book makes it worthy of a read. It has become a historic book and one that I am proud to own.

I purchased this one for my son also. He is a retired athlete and just loves books about the history of sports in general and everything concerningsports. He says he learned alot about the development of basketball by reading this book. He gives it a "thumbs up" rating.

I would consider this a classic among basketball books.

I did love it. The rating doesn't reach the top because I feel the prose might have been more fascinating; but the stories, the people, the environment are marvellous.

This is the best book I have read about street ball.I was born and live in London (UK) so I have heard of the Rucker Rucker tournaments but living in the UK that is all you do, here about it.This book is amazing in the way it was writing, some say that this is the best sports book ever written and I can see why a lot of people say this.When reading this book I felt like I was there, you may laugh but a brilliantly written book will do this. I felt like I was the little boy sitting in the tree seeing the Hawk make his way down the road to play in the Rucker Tournament, I got goose bumps when reading parts of this book. The best part of this book is that it has a chapter about the best street ball player that ever played the game, Earl Manigault (The Goat). See the movie Rebound about his life starring Don Cheadle as the lead actor.

thx

Se sei appassionato di basket da playground, devi leggere questo libro! do 4 stelle perchè ho trovato un pò difficile comprendere il linguaggio in cui è scritto a differenza di altri libri in inglese che sono più facili e immediati, ho dovuto rispolverare il vocabolario.

Libro a dir poco fantastico. Parla di pallacanestro newyorchese a 360 gradi, dai Knicks dell'NBA fino alle leggende che hanno scritto la storia dei playground americani. Se si mastica la lingua inglese e si ama la pallacanestro non si può fare altro che acquistarlo!

L'ho preso fondamentalmente per saperne di più su The Goat, ma poi Pete Axthelm è così coinvolgente che mi ha condotto sapientemente su tutta la pallacanestro degli anni 70 nella città della Grande Mela, facendo un mix straordinario tra il campetto e i Knicks in Nba. Libro incredibile, e se è stato nominato uno dei migliori 100 di sempre nella sezione "Libri sportivi" da Sports Illustrated c'è un motivo. Consiglio veramente a tutti!