Boston -- Jun 10th, 2010 -- As we watch the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers trading years as world champions, one can’t help but look back to the last thrilling time that was the case — the 1980s, when Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson orchestrated one of the most dramatic eras in NBA history, recounted in their New York Times bestselling book with Jackie MacMullan, When the Game Was Ours, published last fall by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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When the Game Was Ours Celebrates Legendary Rivalry between Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers
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When the Game Was Ours transports readers back to professional basketball’s golden age and reminds us that before Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce captivated our attention from coast to coast, there was another duo that commanded the spotlight. Bird and Johnson’s epic battles of the 1980s raised the teams’ rivalry to new heights and set the stage for Celtics-Lakers showdowns for years to come.The two legendary players maintained an uncommonly competitive relationship that came to symbolize the most exciting rivalry in the NBA — Celtics vs. Lakers, East vs. West, physical vs. finesse, old school vs. Showtime, even white vs. black. Bird and Johnson pushed each other to greatness, together collecting eight NBA championships and six MVP awards and helping to save a floundering league.The book is “the ultimate insiders’ account of the rivalry that launched the modern NBA” (Tom Verducci).
