Top of the World: The Inside Story of the Boston Celtics' Amazing One-Year Turnaround to Become NBA Champions

by Peter May

I'm on top of the world!” shouted Kevin Garnett after the Boston Celtics demolished the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers for a league-leading seventeenth NBA championship. Peter May chronicles the amazing run of the team, who went from having the second-worst record in 2007 to leading the pack in 2008. Drawing on interviews with the players, Coach Doc Rivers, and General Manager Danny Ainge, May charts the pivotal moments of the Celtics' magical season. From rebuilding the team to capping off their stunning year with another championship, Top of the World brings readers every key moment of the Celtics' wild ride.

Genres: Basketball, Sports, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I proofread this book. Being a Bird/Carr/Johnson/McHale era fan, I had no connection with this team or this style of ball. Reading this book let me get to know some of these players and grow to love them. Go Celtics!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this again for the first time in at least 12 years bc my 11-year-old son plays basketball and needs to draw inspiration from Kevin Garnett. This book certainly doesn’t proffer much in the way of helpful tales of KG’s sociopathy, but it’s a nice view from 15,000 feet of the 2008 championship.

[Lennon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lennon's Book Collection Review: Bleed green while you read. The amazing run all the way to the Championship of a the BIG THREE chronicled in this book. #Celticpride

[Brian King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top Of The World, a Non-fiction novel written by Peter May, gives amazing insight as to what went on before and during the Boston Celtic's historic 2008 championship season to make it all happen. The first few chapters dive back into the history of the Celtics (especially the last couple of horrendous years leading up to 2008), and talk about how they came about to acquire forward Kevin Garnett, and shooting guard Ray Allen in order to create what we now know as "The Big Three" , with the captain Paul Pierce. The author then goes on to describe traditions created in the offseason, and how coach Doc Rivers had to find a way to get his team to bond together, and play as a team. The author also provides really interesting backgrounds to most of the less-famous role players on the team, describing their past life and what happened leading up the season. The book concludes with the telling of their thriller of a playoffs, and ultimately how they got past the heavy favorites, the Los Angeles Lakers, to earn their seventeenth championship banner.

A character I found interesting would be the captain of the Celtics, Paul Pierce. Not many know about his rough past, and to me he is the epitome of hope. Paul stuck with the Celtics through thick and thin, and hasn't changed teams since he's been drafted in 1998, something extremely impressive in the modern era. He has the heart to go through anything, even when he was stabbed 11 times in September of 2000, only to play 3 weeks later. His work ethic and heart is something I envy, and I think he is an influential character, as well as future Hall-Of-Fame basketball player.

I would recommend this book to any basketball fan. Although I consider this a great book, it is very factual and I'd assume for a casual reader it to be quite boring. I seemed to get lost in the statistics and numbers everywhere sometimes, but I stuck with it because I love the Celtics and the story-line of the book had great appeal to me. At times the author goes in depth when discussing player routines and traditions, and if you don't know the game of basketball well you wouldn't be able to understand them. If you are an avid basketball fan though, this is a fantastic book, and a must-read. I liked this book a lot, and it taught me a lot of new things i didn't know before about the coaches and players. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars, it was really good.

[Michael S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Boston Celtics had an amazing championship run in 2008, which turned Boston sports around. In the novel, Top of the World, by Peter May, the author gives us the inside story of the amazing one-year turnaround of the Boston Celtics. Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett, who were the big three, led the team to a championship victory! A message of the story is to never give up because big things will eventually come! This novel truly shows what it takes to not give up to achieve a great goal, an NBA championship.
My favorite character and player on the Boston Celtics was Kevin Garnett. He truly bled green which makes him the type of person he was. I got the chills when Garnett screamed into an ESPN microphone,” Top of the world, man. Top of the world”. (7) I can remember these exact words he said on the night they won. They still ring through my head when I see Garnett. Also, Garnett played the game with so much passion and that is another reason why he is my favorite character. Garnett played with lots of anger and played,” 110 percent every time. I never give up.” (160) Watching him play games was a very special thing. You never knew what he would do next! The author intended these quotes to have personal reactions. Kevin Garnett in this novel gave me the chills and made me love him a lot much more.
Imagine being an NBA champion up there with the great players in the history of the game. Just imagine! In the novel, Top of the World, by Peter May, the writer shows us the story of a struggling Boston team to NBA champions in 2008.This novel was really interesting because it gave you a good in depth look at the historical Boston Celtics championship year in 2008. I would certainly recommend this novel to basketball or Celtics fans! The day Kevin Garnett was traded was one of the worst days of my life! He will always bleed Boston GREEN!

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top of the World, a novel by Peter May, expresses the ambitious run of the Boston Celtics to becoming N.B.A. Champions. Coming off of a previous terrible season, the Celtics look to bounce back with a few new additions to the team; stars Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen who in turn help Paul Pierce who is the current star player of the team at this time. Going into the 2007-2008 season, the Celtics have a cold-blooded mindset. Winning about 80% of their games in the regular season, leading to the playoffs and eventually the N.B.A. Finals where they will face off against the rival L.A. Lakers to conted for a long deserved title.Overall, I personally thought that this was a great read because it shows a person where they could go if the put their mind to work in anything that the do in life. If you are dedicated enough to anything that you are doing, you should attack it full throttle, and believe that the sky is the limit!

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good to be a sports book. This book was about how the Boston Celtics had a turnaround season when they acquired Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Ray Allen from the Seattle SuperSonics, and Paul Pierce who has already been on the team. That season picking up that big three was a huge thing for them because they won the championship the next season against the LA Lakers. Not only does this book talks about basketball it also talks about the team personal life off the court like point guard Rajon Rondo, center Kendrick Perkins, and rookie power forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis.

[Dru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a Celtics fan, although I wasn't entirely familiar with the history, this was a fun read! I throughly enjoyed learning more about the key players for the 2008 championship and how they reached it. Not only that, but after I put down the book, I found myself respecting the team as a whole even more, especially Doc Rivers.

For ANY sports fan, whether you root for the Celtics, I would recommend this!

[Dannar Leitmaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a waste of time. I have read plenty of basketball books and also so called "a season on the brink"-esque style books about one single season, but this book did not give almost any new information about players. The season itself was described by few short chapters and only advantage was pre-season part. Road to title was like an adventure in teletubbieland for three lovely chaps.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big non-fiction fan, but so far so good. I love KG so it is an interesting topic for sure.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

[Carson Bubert]

i am on top of the world! shouted kevin garnett after to boston celtics deomolished the hesvily favored los angeles lakers for the league-leading seventeenth NBA championship in 2008.

[Richie Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any book about the celtics is good reading.

[Kein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look into the journey of the Celtics championship in 2008. Not as good as the other biographies on the Bulls dynasty, but still worth a read for Celtics fans.

[Brad C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview and background on the 2008 Championship. Gave a pretty good biographical description of each player's background and what led them to end up in Boston with the Celts.

[Adam J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty straightforward narrative of Celtics' run to the title.