Search results for ""author michael holley""

The first of "The Big Three" was Paul Pierce. As Boston Celtics fans watched the team retire Pierce's jersey in a ceremony on February 11, 2018, they remembered again the incredible performances Pierce put on in the city for fifteen years, helping the Celtics escape the bottom of their conference to become champions and perennial championship contenders. But Pierce's time in the city wasn't always so smooth. In 2000, he was stabbed in a downtown nightclub eleven times in a seemingly random attack. Six years later, remaining the sole star on a struggling team, he asked to be traded and briefly became a lightning rod among fans.Then, in 2007, the Boston Celtics General Manager made two monumental trades, bringing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston. A press conference on July 31, 2007 was a sight to behold: Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen holding up Celtics jerseys for the flood of media. Coach Doc Rivers made sure the team bonded over the thought of winning a title and living by a Bantu term called Ubuntu, which translates as "I am because we are." Rivers wanted to make it clear that togetherness and brotherhood would help them maximize their talent and win. What came next-the synthesis of the Celtics' "Big Three" and their dominant championship run-cemented their standing as one of great teams in NBA history, a rival to Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James's Cavaliers.This is the team that brought excitement back to the Garden, and therefore to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. They met their historic rivals, the Lakers, in the 2008 NBA Finals, winning the series in Game 6, in a rout on their home court with a raucous, concert like atmosphere. Along the victory parade route, Paul Pierce smoked a cigar-as a tribute to legendary former Celtics Coach Red Auerbach. In a city now defined by a wealth of championships, "The Big Three" joined the club. Michael Holley, the premier chronicler of Boston sports, brings their story to life with countless untold stories and behind-the-scenes details in another bestselling tome for New England and sports fans across the country.

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In Patriot Reign (2004), Michael Holley wrote a bestselling look inside what makes the Patriot organization tick and win. In War Room (2011), Holley explored the draft and personnel strategy that makes the Patriots win year in and year out. Now, in BELICHICK & BRADY, he examines how the relationship between these two men has formed the core of arguably the greatest dynasty in the modern-day NFL. Holley is interviewing current and former Patriots players and coaches to provide an unprecedented portrait of Belichick and Brady, two future Hall of Famers. Timed for the beginning of the 2016 NFL season, this book reveals how their partnership has yielded four Superbowl rings, a feat unsurpassed by any other NFL team in recent history. Holley explores their partnership, how they strategized together, weathered controversies, and the big game wins, all fueled by behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information. It will be required reading for Patriots fans and students of the game of football.

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Long before the Patriots took the 21st century by storm and became the most dominant team in NFL history, pro football was something entirely different in New England, something comically atrocious and riddled with heartbreak. Before those juggernaut years of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and sold-out crowds at Gillette Stadium came a hapless franchise that managed only a single playoff victory in a quarter century and spent its entire first decade of existence just trying to establish a permanent home field (and even when they did, none of the toilets worked). In From Darkness to Dynasty, bestselling author Jerry Thornton irreverently chronicles those easily glossed-over, downtrodden decades--years when the team claimed more headlines for lawsuits, arrests, power struggles, drug problems, and inept, bizarre, behavior from players, coaches, and owners than for anything they accomplished on the field. Relive the behind-the-scenes dysfunction, the turmoil of prolonged irrelevance, and the improbable way the Patriots finally ascended to greatness. By turns hilarious and eye-opening, this is an essential history for fans and disparagers alike, and a pointed reminder that the best stories of triumph start with humble beginnings.

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