More entertaining when he talked about the playground legends than the 1970-71 Knickerbocker team.

A groundbreaking book in the sense that Axthelm used interviews to chronicle the playground aspects of the "city game," but the Knicks sections are merely standard (albeit reasonably well written) year-in-the-life fare. There's no real effort to link this material together, although connections to the playground pasts of Chamberlain, Alcindor, et al are occasionally made.

Great basketball playground book

This was a mixed bag for me. I loved the idea of getting a more intimate knowledge of 60s NYC street basketball and I liked that this book did provide a glimpse to that world. As I expected, it brought the human aspect of the game and how the game was elevated due to its importance for a struggling community, and being a means of escape from drab day-to-day life for a lot of the kids. However, I expected even more of this and more in-depth detail on certain personalities or events of the city games. Instead, the book tried to stretch the similarities between the streetball and what was happening at the MSG. I found this to be the weakest part of the book. I.e. when it focused on the street, it was great, when it focused on the Knicks it was good but when it tried to combine both it felt weak.

Overall, it was a nice read especially for a book of merely 200 pages, so I guess it could be great introduction to both worlds for those who have very limited prior knowledge.

Great look back at basketball in NYC in late 60s/early 70s, great background on playground legends you don't hear much about.

Somewhat disappointing and dated. Axthelm as a young journalist wanted to write a book about the phenomenal season the New York Knickerbockers had in winning the 1969-1970 NBA Championships. He noted, however, that many established writers were writing on that topic as well. One way he could differentiate from the others was to try to link the success the Knicks had with a study of the game played by African Americans in Harlem and the Bronx.

Axthelm goes back and forth between examining what happens at the playgrounds across New York with the season the Knicks enjoyed--culminating in their championship. While he describes some interesting playground players, including Herman the Helicopter and Funny Kitt, and while he is or was very good at painting the difficulty these street players had in trying to catch the eye of professional basketball recruiters and their experience as recruits to minor college teams in places such as Sheridan, Wyoming or Laurinburg, North Carolina--the parallels with the Knicks' journey are tenuous. One also gets the feeling that Axthelm only interviewed a handful of players and spectators of the game of the streets, one of which warns him not to paint the street game as a great gate of escape, as "for every one that does make it, there are many more who don't". Not a surprise, except that Axthelm feels he has to quote someone saying this to make the point.

Still, in describing the drugs and stereotypes against which those breaking out of "the ghetto", Axthelm does provide some valuable insights into the frustrations in the African American community of the late 1960s--with Vietnam still going on and in the wake of Black Power protests.

To readers more than 50 years later, the description of the Knicks' victories against Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and the Milwaukee Bucks, or against Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlin of the LA Lakers is entertaining, as well.

Some small insights: the importance of private schools recruiting young players to play basketball, but also to invest in these players' education--noting that the public school teachers in which these players previously studied "did not care" and did not teach any classes that could have helped these students prepare for college. Incentives totally missing there, were--perhaps selfishly--made up for by the private schools that recruited the street players.

The writing was a bit cliche and here and there labored, as with "Playing with the haunting knowledge that a playoff defeat would dull a lot of the glitter of their lavishly praised season..."

But on the whole, as a time capsule of especially New York City in the last 1960s, one could do worse than read this book.

Truly enjoyed this all too short recounting of the effect of Basketball on New York in the 60's and early 70's. At times, written with almost poetic style, Axthelm has produced a beautiful sports themed novel. His stories about the Knicks of that era as especially the young men who dominated the city on the outdoor courts is a wonderful read and a must for any fan of the game.

Excellent story about basketball in NY comparing and contrasting 1969-70 Knicks to playground stars

The City Game: Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds by Pete Axthelm (University of Nebraska Press 1970) (796.323) (3741).

I have looked forward to reading this book for many years. The City Game: Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds has long been considered the definitive volume about New York City playground basketball and the anonymous legends of the asphalt blacktop.

I finally broke down and ordered a used PB copy in very good condition on 5/22/22 for $6.34 from Amazon.

To my surprise, this little book is only nominally about playground hoops.

Author Pete Axthelm wrote for Sports Illustrated and was a columnist for one of the New York daily papers. He actually penned this book to feature the New York Knicks’ 1969-1970 NBA championship season; the street basketball angle was simply a tangential aside about local New York City sports and sports heroes which mushroomed into many pages. Rather than writing two separate book manuscripts, Axthelm rolled the two threads into The City Game.

I was surprised how little coverage the volume actually devotes to the playground game. There are several chapters about New York’s most legendary playground superstars. The author avers that the first two among equals were the unstoppable players Earl “Goat” Manigault and Herman “The Helicopter” Knowings. Axthelm devotes a chapter to these superior players.

The rest of the book is almost entirely about the 1969-1970 New York Knicks season and playoff run. Though I had no idea that the Knicks were an unnamed subject of this book, I was delighted to read about the team. This Knicks team featured an entire lineup of future legends: Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, (future US Senator) Bill Bradley, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and Cazzie Russell. As an eleven year old kid in early 1970, I watched those Knicks on television as they tore through the playoffs by dispatching the Baltimore Bullets (led by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe), the Milwaukee Bucks (led by rookie center Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar), and the Los Angeles Lakers, whose stars included Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain.

I remember the drama of the last game of the championship series when injured Knicks center Willis Reed unexpectedly hobbled out of the locker room to jump center against the Lakers’ Wilt Chamberlain. Reed was the hero of the series. It was thus quite a coincidence to be reminded about this game and to think about Willis Reed for the first time in many years, only to learn that Willis Reed had died the day before - on March 21, 2023.

What are the odds?

My rating: 7/10, finished 3/22/23 (3741).

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This is a great book for anybody interested in the history of basketball. It was written in 1970 and tells the story of the Knicks championship season while juxtaposing the personalities on the Knicks (Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, etc) with New York's playground legends (Earl Manigault, Herman the Helicopter, etc.)

It's a really nice snapshot in time of New York basketball, and a must-read if you've ever found yourself on YouTube watching great Rucker Park videos like this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_TdqITTvZlY

After having this book referenced in many others I read, I had to pick it up. Very cool how the author intertwined the 1970 Knicks NBA Championship with stories about the legends from the playgrounds in NYC. The pinnacle of the basketball world (and the Knicks have not won a Larry O’Brien trophy since) takes a backseat to stories, memories, and many tragedies of playground legends from the 60s and 70s. The author also had a sad end to his life, succumbing to the effects of alcoholism at 47 years old (the age I was when I read the book) in 1991.

This sports book was groundbreaking back in its day (1970). The book was a forerunner to many later great sports nonfiction books, and ultimately, to the ESPN 30-for-30 documentaries. "The City Game" tells two intertwined stories that took place in New York City in the late 1960s and 1970: the rise of the New York Knicks through their championship run in 1970, and the stories of a number of New York City playground basketball legends - some of whom made it to the NBA, but many who didn't. The one theme that is consistent throughout is New York's love of basketball, and the fact that the sport truly is a city game, unlike our other major sports. Axthelm does a great job with both storylines, and it is amusing at this point to contrast where the NBA is today compared with where it was back in 1970. A couple of examples that stood out were the fact that teams played their games in multiple locations (for example, the Knicks played the Seattle SuperSonics in Portland and the Golden State Warriors in Fresno) and court side playoff seats were bought by high rollers for $12.50 a ticket.

As a kid who grew up as a Knick fan, I particularly enjoyed the book. My era came slightly later (starting with the 1973 championship team), but the story told here sets the table for all that came after. All of the big names are here - Reed, Bradley, DeBusschere, and Frazier (although Earl the Pearl Monroe was on the Bullets at this time). Another interesting aspect was the way that the big men of the era were perceived - Bill Russell (just recently retired), Wilt Chamberlain (nearing the end of his career), and Kareem (just getting started). I definitely enjoyed the book and recommend it for any basketball fan.