Nonfiction
Book
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Details
PUBLISHED
©2026
EDITION
DESCRIPTION
xvi, 367 pages, 4 unnumbered leaves of unnumbered plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
ISBN/ISSN
LANGUAGE
NOTES
Prologue: The speech -- Part I: ABA. Call me the Doctor -- The prodigy -- The red, white, and blue -- Dissolution -- The start of the odyssey -- Part II: NBA. The Philadelphia monster -- Individual versus team -- Rise and drift -- The Philadelphia reboot -- Collision course -- The Boston mystique -- Of rebounds and planets -- Then end -- Part III: Merger. The unanticipated suitor -- Perfectly mismatched -- The Philadelphia machine -- Role reversal -- The final fo' -- The alliance -- Epilogue: The unraveling -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index -- About the author
"In the early 1970s, playground courts across the United States were jammed with hoops buffs experimenting with showy moves and aerial shots that were changing the look and feel of a sport once stubbornly earthbound. Out of this scene emerged a pair of incomparable yet dissimilar streetball sensations, both of whom would make their name in the American Basketball Association, an upstart professional league characterized as much by flamboyance as invention. Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J, became a mythic figure whose airborne acrobatics inspired an army of high-flying acolytes. Moses Malone, a down-and-dirty banger, scrambled basketball apprenticeships forever by skipping directly from high school to the pros. Into the 1980s, Erving and Malone switched leagues, won MVPs, shattered records, and led their respective clubs into the playoff's championship round. But one prize eluded them: an NBA title. After suffering perennial defeat at the hands of Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird's Boston Celtics, the two eventually joined forces on the Philadelphia 76ers, blending their contrasting talents into a seamless whole. Together, Erving and Malone set out to accomplish what no other NBA team fronted by ex-ABA superstars had managed."--Amazon