What started with a desire, and a personal work to remember the 1998-99 season, has finally been the subject of a book: ” NBA 1998-99, The crazy story of a historic season ”, at Amphora.
When Anthony Saliou (@PredBE on Twitter and editor of Basket Retro) embarked on his writing project in 2018, he did so first to relish the crazy season of his favorite Knicks and to relive the incredible imbroglio of the lockout, to which is added the (second) retirement by Michael Jordan, freshly crowned with his sixth (and last) title.
“There are several things. When we talk about season 99, most of them say: ‘We forget, we put it aside’. When I talked about it, I often heard: ‘This is a year of shit! The players were out of shape, the level of play was disgusting. Basically, it was a year to forget. So, I agree and disagree at the same time! Yes, the level of play was rather low but it was certain circumstances that also made us come to this, there was actually eight months of hiatus, and overnight, we told the players, we resumes. Some have accused a certain overweight… ”
Under the spell of American basketball upon his arrival on the French airwaves in the early 90s, or even at the end of the 80s, Anthony Saliou fell head over heels by watching a Knicks – Bulls at Madison Square Garden. An unforgettable memory that will make the 98-99 season even tastier with the New York epic, qualified in extremis in the playoffs in eighth place but NBA finalist against Spurs.
“It’s been a long time since I wanted to write something that is a bit like an NBA guide”
“The first memory that comes back to me is necessarily the Knicks”, explains the author by phone. “A regular season where they get lynched, during which they do just about anything, on and off the field. During a game in Chicago, lost in addition, against the Bulls of 99 what must be emphasized, Jeff Van Gundy is desperate and he knows he will be fired. He sees Latrell Sprewell in the hallway having a laugh, who doesn’t give a shit. And then, later, at the very end of the season, the Knicks clicked. It was done in Miami. They were playing without Ewing and they were at -20 and then they made a comeback to win there and that was the trigger for their end of the season in cannonball to have after the big confidence that they had in the playoffs. “
Having decided to evoke each team one by one, then each series of playoffs to draw an overall assessment, Anthony Saliou finally wanted to pay tribute to the “literature” of the time, this information that we received in a trickle. on this side of the Atlantic.
“It’s been a long time since I wanted to write something that is a bit like an NBA guide. I loved the NBA guides of the time, in the mid-90s, World Basketball, Major five. There was really content. It was the magazine I expected the most every year. But at the time, I was doing my own box scores. I took A4 sheets that I filled from A to Z. It was my little personal delirium… But apart from the basketball guestbook which comes out every year, but this is international, there is not too much of book like that which takes stock of the American season. Afterwards, it was almost more for me that I wanted to do it without knowing if it would please. It was sort of a gamble. “
With many anecdotes and reactions from players and coaches, but also testimonials from basketball personalities such as George Eddy or Jacques Monclar and Pascal Legendre, or even a little reminder of what was happening elsewhere in other sports , and the pop culture of the time, we are completely in it, caught up in the corridors of time. A real ode to the generation of small (or large) French people bottle-fed in the NBA with Canal + sauce.
“It’s a bit of a declaration of love for the 90s and the Canal generation! “
“It’s true that this book is perhaps more focused on the generation that followed basketball in the 90s, but not that. It is also for those who want to discover the history of this sport and who have curiosity. But yes, it’s a bit of a declaration of love for the 90s and the Canal generation! When I started to dive into it at the end of 2018, I was just watching that and suddenly I kinda disconnected from the current season, and after a while, I almost thought I was in. 1999! You have your computer with all your games, your stack of magazines, you have lots of memories going back… It was our youth! “
And who says youth, for Anthony Saliou, necessarily says New York Knicks! Fan of the New York franchise, he inevitably took the greatest pleasure in retracing their epic, around Latrell Sprewell in search of redemption and a talented but characterful team behind Allan Houston, Marcus Camby but also Larry Johnson and Patrick Ewing , finally injured for the playoffs …
But the 98-99 season was also the post-Bulls season, with Jordan retired therefore, but his former partners, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, also on a farewell tour, the first in Houston and the second to the Lakers. For eventful episodes on both sides!
“The Knicks were one of the coolest things to write because there was so much stuff out there. Otherwise, I enjoyed writing about the Rockets with the highly publicized arrival of Scottie Pippen and the high expectations around their team. It’s simple: Pippen comes up with a big contract and he thought he had a lot of balls in attack before realizing that he also had to be spun to Barkley and Hakeem in the racket and that he remains behind the 3-point line, this which is not his game at all. I saw several Houston games that season and as soon as he had a few freedoms, Pippen had a blast, he played like in Chicago, a little libero and Houston played. good. It was not static and there he was having fun. But Houston’s season has been a bit special. And then there were also the Lakers who were nice to talk about with the Rodman episode. I believe they win ten games in a row after he arrives. We tell ourselves that this is going to be the team to beat and unfortunately, as there was no Phil Jackson or a player capable of reasoning with him, he left to do anything and everything, spending his money right to right. left, going to get married to divorce a few weeks later… There was the Kings – Lakers game at the end of March, which was broadcast on Canal. I watched him as usual, half-heartedly, the little weekly game. But I was stuck from start to finish. An absolutely incredible match. It’s one of the best regular season games for me, all seasons combined. There haven’t been many this season but this one stands out! “
“You have to reach both the purist and the general public”
With Jason Williams and his ultra-spectacular game, the Kings were in fact one of the revelations of this season largely shortened and necessarily very special. But 98-99, it was also the discovery for the general public of the phenomenal marsupilami, Vince Carter. A new generation would gradually take power in this post-Jordan perilous for the Great League.
“On the lockout, I only did ten pages in the end, but if you want to do more, obviously I could have done twenty or thirty but wouldn’t I have bored the reader with some stuff? a little more technical, a little heavier … You have to reach both the purist and the general public and then, in concrete terms, I had page limits. Initially, it should have been between 200 and 300 pages but after a while, I was already at 550! We had to limit. But it’s hard to keep everyone happy. “
In any case, whether we want to relive this season as if we were there with extensive recaps for each playoff match until the Finals, or whether we simply want to peck some information here and there , this very complete book offers a vast panorama rich in information. What to embark on a series, and offer in the same format, other seasons. From the 90s or other?
“It’s going to depend on a lot of things. Is there demand? Will we have met the sales objectives? I have the motivation to do it but will I have the time, because it takes a lot of time if we want to do things seriously. I have already been asked to do this or that year. If I had to continue this kind of projects, I think I will stay in the 90s, and why not, little excluded, I think it would be 1995-96 to trace Jordan’s second “three-peat”, and therefore start with 95-96. “
NBA 1998/99 – The crazy story of a historic season
Author : Anthony Saliou
Editor : Amphora
480 pages
Price : 22 euros
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