Tall Men, Short Shorts: The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter
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- Create Date：2021-07-10 06:18:55
- Update Date：2025-09-08
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- Author：Leigh Montville
- ISBN：0385545193
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Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Big Bam
A clash of NBA titans。 Seven riveting games。 One young reporter。 Welcome to the 1969 NBA Finals。
They don't set up any better than this。 The greatest basketball player of all time - Bill Russell - and his juggernaut Boston Celtics， winners of ten （ten！） of the previous twelve NBA championships， squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again。 Russell's opponent？ The fearsome 7'1" next-generation superstar， Wilt Chamberlain， recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league's first dream team。 Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain， Jerry West and Elgin Baylor。 The 1969 Celtics are at the end of their dominance。 The 1969 Lakers are unstoppable。
Add to the mix one newly minted reporter。 Covering the epic series is a wide-eyed young sports writer named Leigh Montville。 Years before becoming an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated， twenty-four-year-old Montville is ordered by his editor at the Globe to get on a plane to L。A。 （first time！） to write about his luminous heroes， the biggest of big men。
What follows is a raucous， colorful， joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history。 Set against a backdrop of the late sixties， Montville's reporting and recollections transport readers to a singular time - with rampant racial tension on the streets and on the court， with the emergence of a still relatively small league on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry， and to an era when newspaper journalism and the written word served as the crucial lifeline between sports and sports fans。 And there was basketball - seven breathtaking， see-saw games， highlight-reel moments from an unprecedented cast of future Hall of Famers （including player-coach Russell as the first-ever black head coach in the NBA）， coast-to-coast travels and the clack-clack-clack of typewriter keys racing against tight deadlines。
Tall Men， Short Shorts is a masterpiece of sports journalism with a charming touch of personal memoir。 Leigh Montville has crafted his most entertaining book yet， richly enshrining luminous players and moments in a unique American time。
A clash of NBA titans。 Seven riveting games。 One young reporter。 Welcome to the 1969 NBA Finals。
They don't set up any better than this。 The greatest basketball player of all time - Bill Russell - and his juggernaut Boston Celtics， winners of ten （ten！） of the previous twelve NBA championships， squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again。 Russell's opponent？ The fearsome 7'1" next-generation superstar， Wilt Chamberlain， recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league's first dream team。 Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain， Jerry West and Elgin Baylor。 The 1969 Celtics are at the end of their dominance。 The 1969 Lakers are unstoppable。
Add to the mix one newly minted reporter。 Covering the epic series is a wide-eyed young sports writer named Leigh Montville。 Years before becoming an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated， twenty-four-year-old Montville is ordered by his editor at the Globe to get on a plane to L。A。 （first time！） to write about his luminous heroes， the biggest of big men。
What follows is a raucous， colorful， joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history。 Set against a backdrop of the late sixties， Montville's reporting and recollections transport readers to a singular time - with rampant racial tension on the streets and on the court， with the emergence of a still relatively small league on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry， and to an era when newspaper journalism and the written word served as the crucial lifeline between sports and sports fans。 And there was basketball - seven breathtaking， see-saw games， highlight-reel moments from an unprecedented cast of future Hall of Famers （including player-coach Russell as the first-ever black head coach in the NBA）， coast-to-coast travels and the clack-clack-clack of typewriter keys racing against tight deadlines。
Tall Men， Short Shorts is a masterpiece of sports journalism with a charming touch of personal memoir。 Leigh Montville has crafted his most entertaining book yet， richly enshrining luminous players and moments in a unique American time。
Reviews
Lance
，
Leigh Montville， a well-known Boston sportswriter， covered the 1969 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for the Boston Globe and it was one of the biggest assignments in his burgeoning career。 His reflection on both his writing about that event and the two teams involved is the subject of his latest book。 The book reads like the current septuagenarian Montville wants to talk to his 25-year old self。 However， that isn't because he has advice that he has learned over the y Leigh Montville， a well-known Boston sportswriter， covered the 1969 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for the Boston Globe and it was one of the biggest assignments in his burgeoning career。 His reflection on both his writing about that event and the two teams involved is the subject of his latest book。 The book reads like the current septuagenarian Montville wants to talk to his 25-year old self。 However， that isn't because he has advice that he has learned over the years and wants his younger self to treat the plum assignment any differently。 Instead， it reads almost like a time travel memoir in which the older man is back in 1969 and viewing what his younger self was doing while covering the last hurrah for one of the longest dynasties in professional sports。In 1969， the Celtics were getting older as their star throughout their dominance in the 1960's， Bill Russell， became their player-coach and knew that his time left to play was getting short。 They were not their usual dominant selves in the regular season but had enough left to make it back to the finals， where they had won 10 of the last 12 NBA championships。 On the other side were the Lakers， who were frequent victims to the Celtics in those years。 They too had their superstars， had just recently acquired Wilt Chamberlain to match up against Russell and also had an aging star， Elgin Baylor， who wanted his one last shot at a title。The writing in the book on the teams and the players （including other stars on the teams like Jerry West and Sam Jones） was very good- and much of it was due to his columns written during that series。 However， it is the manner in which he reflects on his more daring self during that time that makes the book a great read。 Montville refers to his younger self never by name but by "the bright young man" or TBYM。 This is the case even when that TYBM makes some youthful mistakes， but these are never documented in a scolding or regretful way。 Indeed， the whole book reads like one great wonderful memory from his youth and that is why it is such a fun basketball book for any fan， of any era。 While the Celtics did go on to win that series in seven games and capture that 11th title in 13 years， it is not one that only Celtics fans should read， nor is it the typical sports memoir。 As noted above， anyone who enjoys basketball should read it。 I wish to thank Doubleday for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review。 https://sportsbookguy。blogspot。com/20。。。 。。。more
Olive Fellows （abookolive）
，
Review forthcoming in the Christian Science Monitor！
Matt
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3。5 stars
Stephanie
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