There are some terms in basketball that are firmly associated with a particular event. For example, The Shot describes Michael Jordan‘s decisive shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 1989 playoffs. Or LeBron James’ famous block against Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals is referred to as The Block. As far as I know, however, no entire books have been written about either The Shot or The Block. This is different with The Punch, written by John Feinstein.
Even though there have been plenty of shots and plenty of blocks in the history of the NBA, these terms are firmly linked to certain situations as described. There have been some punches in the NBA, especially back in the day, but fans of NBA history also associate The Punch with a specific event involving Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich. During a game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers on December 9, 1977, there was a scuffle, as a result of which Washington punched Tomjanovich in the face with such force that his life was even in danger for a while.
The Punch changed Basketball forever
The subtitle of the book is “One Night, Two Lives, and the fight that changed basketball forever”. I don’t think this statement is an exaggeration and The Punch by Feinstein also makes it clear why this is the case. After that horrific night in 1977, there was a rethink in the NBA and the league introduced new rules to prevent fights as much as possible. That’s one of the reasons why it’s much less common these days.
Of course, The Punch is not just about the punch and the immediate aftermath, because that story would be told relatively quickly. The author also tells the story of the two main characters up to this point (which is similar in some respects) and the impact the punch had on Tomjanovich and Washington not only immediately, but also years and decades later.
I found the part leading up to the punch itself particularly interesting. The book shows quite well that Kermit Washington was a different person before the punch and why many companions were shocked when they heard the news. As in the book The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam, Washington is also presented here as a rather shy and nice guy. I also learned a lot about Tomjanovich (who I only knew as a coach and not as a player). Above all, that just like Washington, he had a pretty difficult childhood, wasn’t given anything and had to work hard every step of the way to becoming an NBA pro. His problems with alcohol and how he successfully dealt with his addiction during his time as a coach are also described in detail. I found the background information on both people in this book very well done.
Interesting book with weaknesses
However, some reviews on Amazon, for example, also mentioned that the book is very repetitive in places and should have been revised better. It begins with the punch itself, then comes the above-mentioned information about both players before that night. Then the punch itself and the immediate aftermath is described again, and some sentences are simply copied 1 to 1 and reused here. I was a little confused once or twice, thinking that I must have already read this passage before realizing that it was simply the same sentence from the beginning of the book being reused here.
So that’s definitely a weakness of the book. Overall, I still think it’s worth recommending to fans of the NBA and its history because you do learn some new things and the author treats both sides of the story fairly and doesn’t make any judgments. The reader can form their own opinion. However, Feinstein does not conceal the fact that Washington, for example, describes things that are not entirely true. He apparently feels like a victim and believes that he was treated unfairly because of the punch and Tomjanovich’s serious injuries and therefore no longer got any jobs. However, the book describes how he was offered jobs several times, which he then turned down.