The Rivalry

The Rivalry; Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, And The Golden Age of Basketball, John Taylor, Random House, New York, 2005

The title of this book is very misleading. From the title you would think it would focus on duels between Russell and Chamberlain and give them equal time, or close to it. Instead it is primarily the story of the Celtic dynasty led by Russell.

Taylor does an excellent job of bringing in background, showing influences that guided the formation of Russell and Chamberlain as new types of players, and the Celtics as a new type of team. He also is excellent at showing the "nitty-gritty" of NBA basketball in its blooming years as it became a big-city, big time game.

He goes quite in depth in many seasons of the Celtics. However, the seasons of the Chamberlain teams are relegated to seemingly far fewer pages. It quickly becomes obvious Taylor is a huge fan of Russell, not so much of Chamberlain.

There are entire seasons where he really covers the Celtics seasons in depth and glosses over the Chamberlain part of the story. This is unfortunate.

Be that as it may, for anyone who has never read the stories of Chamberlain and Russell, there is a great deal of valuable information. The presentation is dark and dreary and will not, in all likelihood, lead to any liking for Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, or Wilt Chamberlain. And that is unfortunate because it is a valuable bit of NBA history.