When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 302 ratings

Price: 18

Last update: 01-30-2025


About this item

The gritty, no-holds-barred account of the 1987 NBA season, a thrilling year of fierce battles and off-the-court drama between Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, and Michael Jordan—from New York Times bestselling author Rich Cohen.

“Plug in to a world where rivalries really mattered.”—Bob Ryan, sports columnist emeritus, The Boston Globe

AN ESQUIRE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Four historic teams. Four legendary players. One unforgettable season.

The 1980s were a transformative decade for the NBA. Since its founding in 1946, the league had evolved from a bruising, earthbound game of mostly nameless, underpaid players to one in which athletes became household names for their thrilling, physics-defying play. The 1987–88 season was the peak of that golden era, a year of incredible drama that featured a pantheon of superstars in their prime—the most future Hall of Famers competing at one time in any given season—battling for the title, and for their respective legacies.

In When the Game Was War, bestselling author Rich Cohen tells the story of this incredible season through the four teams, and the four players, who dominated it: Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers, Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons, and a young Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. From rural Indiana to the South Side of Chicago, suburban North Carolina to rust-belt Michigan, Cohen explores the diverse journeys each of these iconic players took before arriving on the big stage. Drawing from dozens of interviews with NBA insiders, Cohen brings to vivid life some of the most colorful characters of the era—like Bill Laimbeer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Danny Ainge, and Charles Oakley—who fought like hell to help these stars succeed.

For anyone who longs to understand how the NBA came to be the cultural juggernaut it is today—and to relive the magic and turmoil of those pivotal years—When the Game Was War brilliantly recasts one unforgettable season and the four transcendent players who were at the center of it all.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Michael D
    5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding
    Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024
    The sheerest sign for me that a book is outstanding is when I can’t wait to wake up and begin reading again. This was that book. Some of it, I admit, is rooted in nostalgia, but nonetheless, it is expertly written, well researched, and just a joy to read.
  • JC J.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Fudges Facts
    Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2023
    I love the story as this was the era of basketball that I am most familiar with. This is also the type of book I like to read.

    That said, it does get irritating when some facts are fudged...as an example it is mentioned that Scottie Pippen was acquired by Chicago when Krause acquired a second first round pick right before the 1987 draft. This is not accurate as Chicago acquired what turned out to be the 8th pick the year before, 1986, when they traded Jawann Oldham to the Knicks. They already had 2 first round picks way before the draft. While it is true that Krause orchestrated the 3 way trade right before the draft to acquire Pippen, the part about acquiring a second first rounder then was wrong. Not sure if this was for dramatization or just wrong info.

    That said, and despite a few similar fudging of facts, I did enjoy the read and would buy it again.
  • Helen S
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023
    This book is cool, brilliant, funny, alive, very human, and just plain thrilling. No one writes about sports the way this author does. The book is about basketball. But like all the best sports writing—all the best writing—it’s really about character. It's about what you're willing to do, to make yourself do, when everything is on the line. If actual non-locker-room life stuff being on the line is accretive. It's sort of on the line a little bit every afternoon across a multi-decadal scale. Sports, especially the playoffs, especially the playoffs in the year(s) the writer covers, everything is on the line every night. Here's the kind of moment I mean: "The Forum got quiet—it was the kind of uncanny silence only a crowd can make.”

    That's the thrill of it. ( Who else but this author could make you feel a thing like that?) And Cohen is able to get the magic and drama of that across: of Isiah Thomas, Earvin Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, finding out just what it is they have inside themselves. What kind of engine, how much mileage, how much drive. It makes you consider what you might—or might not—have inside yourself. You walk on the court with these players, stagger back into the locker room, celebration or hurting; you see how they became the people they are. (I loved Larry Byrd's story: very, very different from what I imagined. I hear "midwest" and think like haylofts and grain silos. Larry Byrd is like the diner-back-alley Midwest, the Elmore Leonard Midwest; his rivalrous friendship with Magic is one of the book's most magical effects.)

    He brings to life famous games and famous fights. He writes about Isiah Thomas setting a post-season record playing on a bum ankle. "He moved like a supermarket cart with a punk wheel." Going back into the game, finding it himself to dominate: it's a Luke Skywalker scene, a John Wayne scene. "Isiah became a symbol in those twelve minutes, an embodiment of everything that a person who wants to live ecstatically should be. He played with fury and joy. He loved his teammates and his opponents—you could see it in every move."

    Fury and joy. The book is written with fury and joy.

    Who else could produce a book like this? It's a brilliant story being lived by these superheroes: we learn from both their cape selves and the alter egos. And in both guises, Cohen relates, they are versions of us. It’s us out there, learning how much we can take, and how much we can give.

    Also, the story about Chuck Nevitt—one of the most famous "twelfth men” in the game—is just about the funnest, funniest thing I've read this year.
  • Franklin Curtismore
    5.0 out of 5 stars The book brought a lot of great memories back!
    Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2023
    I was in my early 20's and living in Detroit from 1984 through 1990 when the NBA was at peak fandom in my opinion. The Jordan and Shaq 90's are a very close second, but there were so many great teams during that time like the TrailBlazers, Sixers and Knicks who played the game very differently; today teams are focused on the 3 and there is less focus on the big men.
    The book gives you a great insight into how much these teams disliked each other, and tbh I had no idea Larry Bird was a legendary trash talker. If you were over the age of 16 and watched the NBA in the late 80's, your amygdala will flood you with really fantastic memories while reading, throughout the book. Many of the memories I had forgotten about and really enjoyed stepping back in time.
    Honestly, I'm not a huge reader but I am a huge Detroit sports fan and my eldest son got me a copy of the book for Father's Day. When the Game Was War kept me riveted and really made me miss those days of professional basketball, when the game was war and it was must-see TV. If you were a fan of the NBA in the "gold days" of the NBA, or are a historian of the game, you'll love this gem, highly recommended.
  • Maira
    3.0 out of 5 stars Seems based on the HBO series
    Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024
    I lived through the Laker side of this story through the 80s I agree with the general premise of the book, which states that the 87-88 season was the greatest year the NBA has ever seen. Saying that, I'm a little perturbed by some of the facts I've read so far. In the Magic Johnson section of the player profiles, the author claims that Magic and Norm Nixon actually claim to blows and that Nixon was traded because they weren't cohesive enough. Is going to the finals three out of four years with that guard tandem cohesive enough? Magic and Norm played amazingly well together in 80 when they won a title, 82 where they won ANOTHER title (people forget they had one the most potent fast breaks ever) and lost in the finals in 83 when Nixon was playing hurt. Norm Nixon and Magic were incredible teammates and that's not taking anything away from Byron Scott, but the Lake show wins another title in 84 if Nixon is the teammate. It blows me away that the author would cite that horrible HBO series as a reference because everyone knows that it wasn't factual and they took liberties with how they portrayed Jerry West, Magic, Norm Nixon and Bird. So far, not loving this book as much as I wanted to. I'm not giving up but it better get more factual. I didn't dish out my money to read a version of the now cancelled HBO series!
  • SportsChump
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read!!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024
    Best book I've read about basketball in a while. Poetically written, a throwback. Didn't want the book to end just as I didn't want that era of basketball to end. A great read for any fan of the NBA of that time.

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