Synopsis
The Boston Celtic front line of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish dominated the National Basketball Association with three championships in five years in the early 1980s. May, a veteran Celtic beat reporter, examines each player's career from youth through college and into their NBA years. Though he relies to a great extent on game accounts and basketball anecdotes, May tries to probe beneath the surface. Not only does he reveal the private side of each player's personality, he also examines why they were able to work so well as a unit. He doesn't gloss over the negative aspects of each, either, exploring, for example, the belief that McHale wasn't an especially hard worker and the stories of Bird's failed marriage and Parish's three children born out of wedlock. Though May makes a noble attempt to explain the chemistry between the Celtic big three, he can't ever quite manage it. Chemistry is impossible to define even when one is a part of it; dissecting it from outside is even harder. Still, NBA fans will appreciate the effort and enjoy reliving the glory days of three shoo-in Hall of Famers.