The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Celtics, the NBA's Greatest Team of All Time

by Peter May

A portrait of the most recent Boston Celtics championship team, a squad that included Larry Bird and Robert Parrish, follows their amazing sixty-seven win season and march to the NBA title

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

see Peter^^May for the novelist
see Peter^^^May for the schoolbooks author
see Peter^^^^May for the cricketer

Reviews

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these 80s basketball books. Fun to read about behind the scenes of one of the greatest NBA teams of all time.

[Peter Parziale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read many sports-related books, so I don't have much to compare vis a vis the literary qualifications of the genre. That said, I enjoyed reading the background of how a great team was put together and then the important parts of how the season evolved, all of which led to a championship. The chapters delved into each of the players on the roster and several of the administration: what made the laid-back K.C. Jones so crucial for this team, where did Jerry Sichting (or Dennis Johnson, or Kevin McHale, or Danny Ainge, or Tom Kite...) come from and where did he go, how did the team maintain its focus during the lengthy season, etc.? I really liked the way author May laid out the story. The '85-'86 Celtics could play the bruising style of the eastern teams and the run-and-gun style of the western teams, most notably the rival L.A. Lakers. The engine of the team was the incomparable Larry Bird. Fun fact: that team lost only one home game all season, including in the playoffs.

I don't think that the reader has to be a Celtics fan to appreciate the book, but I am, so I'm biased. But I'm more a fan of great teams playing the sport.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was already on my way to the airport when I realized I'd forgotten to pack any of the books I'd been planning to read on the flight. I wanted to fix this, but didn't want to spend any real money, so I quickly stopped at a Goodwill. Their book section was tiny, and this was the only thing that looked like it might hold my interest, so I paid a buck and picked it up.

It did, indeed, keep me suitably occupied on the plane. That said, this isn't a stellar example of the "follow a championship team through a season" genre; the insights are mostly surface-level, and the prose is workmanlike. I did note that, with the exception of Bill Walton, nobody on this team came across to me as all that enjoyable to spend time with; I'm not a big fan of dumb, lowbrow humor or of trash talk, and that (in addition to basketball) is what this team thrived on.

Anyway, the book did its job and made the flight okay, but I don't think it's going to make the return trip home with me.

[Chris Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable book about quite possibly the best NBA team of all time. The author does an excellent job of providing profiles on each player, a comprehensive review of the season and makes his claim that this Celtics team is the best ever. His argument is fairly compelling and those who lived through this season will recall it well, if not fondly.

[Jonathan D Kopplin · Rating 4 out of 5]

May's retelling of the story of the 1985-86 Boston Celtics was written 10 years after that season. He sets an interesting narrative and attempts to make a compelling case for the greatest team of all time. Although, I don't fully buy the argument, the book was an entertaining read.

[Chuck Abdella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of the legendary 85-86 Celtics both as a team and as individuals.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a good book if you're a Celtics fanatic which I am not and certainly wasn't during their run in the '80s. It's an enjoyable read but takes a predictable turn after a while. Basically it's - write up of stage of the season Celtics were in followed by 3-5 page tangents/background stories on individual players like Parrish, Bird, Ainge, McHale, DJ, Walton, Sichting, etc. A lot of good stuff on the games. Interestingly, the writer seems to go into more detail on the games they lost than the ones they won. The better game write-ups are from the playoffs. Some interesting tidbits I hadn't known regarding some potential trades that never happened (Lakers trading Worthy for Mark Aguirre and draft rights to Roy Tarpley after the '86 season). Overall a nice easy read but probably not the greatest book in the world about the greatest team of all time.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it tells the story of Larry Bird's achievements and classical games between Erving"Magic"Johnson and the LA Lakers and Micheal Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, also The Dream Team. It also talks about Larry Bird outside the court and how he made it big with the Boston Celtics.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of background on each of the players and a lot of game stats. I have the DVDs of the Celtics-Houston finals and it was fun to watch the game after reading the stories. The update at the end is, of course, horribly outdated by now.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

McHale and Bird together were great and with Bill Walton added that was a fun team to watch and funny in person. Can't forget Danny Ainge, Robert Parish and the late Dennis Johnson either.

[Mick Maye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on their championship season by a well respected author.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

read SOMETIME in 1997