The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Celtics and the NBA's Greatest Team of All Time [Paperback]

I consider myself among the top handful of 1980s Celtic votaries, and as a former college basketball player from the 80s and student of the history of the NBA, this book was one of the most thrilling publications to which I have ever been exposed. I have a tape collection that includes about 35 of the 100 playoff and regular season games the 86 Celtics played, and I have maintained for years that this is the greatest team to ever grace a basketball court. After living through so many painful Bulls championsips, capped by that revolting, 72-10 1996 season and all of the associated "Best Ever" pronouncements, I would, and still do, argue to friends and foes alike that the best teams of all-time were situated in the mid-1980s. The very best among the best, I argue, were the 85-86 Boston Celtics. Seeing May's book for the first time was like finding a beautiful resting place amidst a turbulent, seemingly endless sea of hostile waters, which, under this analogy, took the form of publications, paraphernalia, and television broadcasts extolling Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O'Neal, the Chicago Bulls, and the current NBA in all its shocking ineptitude and lack of substance.

The reading is wonderful, and the memories the reading inspires are gratifying, especially when supplemented with the 86 Celtic game tapes I so greatly treasure. In short, May's book brings to life a much better era for the basketball purist, an era whose chief exponents, the 80s Lakers and Celtics, were represented at their pinnacle--by no matter of coincidence, the pinnacle of the sport of basketball itself--by the 85-86 Boston Celtics. Peter May, this is a breakthrough book that needs elaboration: perhaps a more thoroughgoing, analytical piece devoted to comparing the 80s NBA champions to their 90s counterparts, advancing the thesis that the 80s champions were the better teams.

I would like to meet Peter May and express my appreciation to him directly for his wonderful project. I would also like to be! the individual charged with the duty of writing the successor, analytical piece discussed above. A great book about a team for the ages. Thank you, Mr. May.

Dan Galperin, San Francisco, CA (dgalperin@dir.ca.gov)

is to counteract the plethora of IDIOTIC opinions such as the last one that have no sense of historical context. Notice how the last reviewer's greatest list consisted of teams of the past decade (which by all accounts and standards consists of watered-down teams and play) and the 1986-87 Lakers (which btw wasn't even the best Laker team of all time in terms of record or strength of competition) while "he" called the Celtics teams from 1957-1969 who won 11 out of 13 years "OVERRATED". What's next? Titanic is the greatest movie of all time? Leonardo DiCaprio is the greatest actor? Justin Timberlake is the best singer?

Although I am a Celtics fan, esp. of the incredible 1985-86 team which I do think is the best for many of the same reasons as stated in the book, I can objectively state that really only four teams deserve to be in the discussion as the greatest single season team: the 1967 Sixers, the 1983 Sixers, the 1986 Celtics, and the 1972 Lakers. The books that chronicle these other teams also make good points too. This book does a reasonable job of showing why these 1985-86 Celtics should be there. In addition, this book gives a great chronicle of the entire 1985-86 season.

One more opinion that I would state is that at any given time, the 1986 Celtics could put on the court FOUR of the NBA's Top 50 (and s/b 5 because Dennis Johnson was certainly worthy of being in the list). The only other team who could even possibly boast this would be those "overrated" Celtics teams from the 1950s and 1960s.

BTW, if this opinion seems far-fetched, note that on a recent ESPN poll show, this 1985-86 Celtics team was ranked third of teams of all time and the number 1 team on that poll, the 1996 Bulls, was deservedly ridiculed by the second-guessers. The number 2 team, the 1972 Lakers, is too tough to argue against. There are also many articles on the web that state why the previous reviewer's argument is greatly flawed.

Another note, the past reviewer was right about three things, 1) the 1985-86 Celtics team was the best Celtics team of all time (which is obvious given that it is in the top 5 of greatest teams of all time), 2) yes you can see the old games on DVD, the old games show just how incredibly talented and in sync the 1986 Cs were, and 3) the 1986 Rockets were that good, so good that they beat a team that was quite similar to the 1987 Lakers in 5 games. However, when you lose by double digits in 3 games to the Cs, bad calls will almost never explain that. But believe this, if the 1986 Celtics could handle both Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, they can certainly deal with Shaq plus whatever scrub big man was next to him and they certainly would've obliterated the 1987 Lakers if the Cs were at full strength (even at half strength the Cs pulled off two victories against a Laker team that on paper should've swept them and this was after the Cs playing two consecutive seven game series with one of them being the eventual champion Detroit Pistons).

The 85-86 Boston Celtics are, without question, the greatest team in NBA history. And, Peter May's book is the best account of the team and their experiences. No other book goes into detail about the individual games and the players themselves. This is a true accomplishment! A must for any Celtics fan!