When The Game Was Ours (Hardcover)

Bird and Magic...from the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle.Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. Each pushed the other to greatness—together Bird and Johnson collected eight NBA championships and six MVP awards and helped save the floundering NBA at a critical time. When the relationship started they were rivals, but along the way they became lifelong friends.
With intimate, fly-on-the-wall detail, When the Game Was Ours transports readers to an electric era of basketball and reveals for the first time the inner workings of two players dead set on besting each other. From the heady days of trading championships to the darker days of injury and illness, we come to understand Larry’s obsessive devotion to winning and how his demons drove him on the court. We hear him talk with candor about playing through chronic pain and its exacting toll. In Magic we see a young, invincible star struggle with the sting of defeat, not just as a player but as a team leader. When he learns he has contracted HIV we hear in his own words how that devastating news affected his relationships in basketball and beyond. But always, in both cases, we see these men prevail.