Miracle on 33rd Street: The New York Knickerbockers' Championship Season, 1969-1970 (Contemporary Sports Classics) [Paperback]

The newest addition to the Contemporary Sports Classics series, 'Miracle on 33rd Street' is an account of the Knicks' first and only NBA title from the pre-season through the playoffs. It has gained a following because Berger covers not just the baseline jumpers and backdoor passes - he took readers out of bounds and captured the whole story: legendary coach Red Holzman shouting at the team in practice; beer-swilling Knick fans shouting at the participants and spitting on the court; life on the road in and out of hotels, where players are left to their own devices between games. This particular Knick team featured some of basketball's all-time greats such as Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, and Bill Bradley. More than anything else, this team is remembered for stumbling toward the championship despite key injuries, internal dissension, and a number of outside pressures - and they did it without a true superstar player.

" . . . a book that does for basketball what Jim Bouton's Ball Four did for baseball."
Sport Magazine

When it was first published in 1970, Miracle on 33rd Street pushed the envelope of sports journalism and created a story that had never been told in any previous book about basketball. In this timeless book, veteran sportswriter Phil Berger revealed the world of the remarkable 1969-70 New York Knicks as they lived it, from preseason workouts to the victorious finish of their first championship. The life they shared beyond the lights at Madison Square Garden. The camaraderie. The laughs. The conflicts.

The result was such an intimate and revealing portrait of the team that the Knicks' brass banned Berger from the locker room after the book's publication. But his honest account enthralled fans and sportswriters alike. He took readers out-of-bounds to capture the whole story in all its gritty details from up-close portrayals of key personalities such as Bill Bradley, Willis Reed, and Dave DeBusschere to the frenzied Garden fans shouting at the players and spitting on the court to life on the road, in and out of hotels. Including an insightful introduction by Marv Albert, Miracle on 33rd Street relives the magical, sometimes turbulent Knicks' season, with Berger and the reader along for the exciting ride.

An award-winning sportswriter, Phil Berger was the author of more than a dozen books, including Forever Showtime: The Checkered Life of Pistol Pete Maravich and the landmark Blood Season: Tyson and the World of Boxing. A boxing reporter for the New York Times from 1986 to 1992, Berger's work also appeared in Playboy, Esquire, Inside Sports, The Village Voice, Penthouse, and the Washington Post. Berger died in 2001.

Marv Albert is a sportscaster with NBC Sports and longtime voice of the New York Knicks.