Pete Axthelm was an editor for "Newsweek." Rick Telander is a sports columnist for the "Chicago Sun-Times" and a writer for "ESPN Magazine."

"Superb . . . [Axthelm combines Knick history, player backgrounds, seasonal anecdotes and court triumphs with another phenomenon--city basketball in the crowded ghettoes of the nation. The areas he focuses on primarily are the asphalt playgrounds of Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant. There basketball has its special code of behavior, its pecking order and its own culture heroes. . . . A few city playground aces have made it to college . . ., and a few have found an escape route to the Harlem Globetrotters or the Eastern League. But many others have become strung out on poverty or drugs or have been imprisoned. . . . The book offers absorbing insights into the most unique and gripping of all city sports."--Rex Lardner, "New York Times"--Rex Lardner "New York Times "