Magic or Mysticism?

It's a fascinating thing, this ability of certain athletes to make the players around them better. Some seem to think it's mystical, like suchness itself, impossible to define or describe. I say that's the result of a misperception about the game of basketball.

Maybe it shouln't come as a complete shock that the players who have been said to have this ability were also the best team players.

The network vision of basketball is that it's a one-man sport, which it was when Michael Jordan ruled, overlooking that even MJ didn't win until he had the right complement of players and learned to trust them.

The network vision is, of course, wrong-headed. Basketball is a team game. The most exciting plays come when "five players function as a single unit." That's the beauty of basketball, not hero shots.

Within that unit, if there's one player who's capable of making those around him better, it tends to be contagious and now there's five players doing it. According to Bill Russell, sometimes all ten players on the floor are consumed by this frenzy of team spirit, running back and forth as in a basketball ballet. Because this feeling also involves playing to the utmost of one's abilities, Bill called these moments 'magic'.

So, what is it? Here's a happy thought: maybe it's something only Celtics fans can understand.

Bill Russell, in Red and Me, talking about the time before he even joined the Celtics, wrote "Nobody knew it, but I had been assiduously studying all my teammates' tendencies, to learn their strengths and weaknesses so that I could help them all improve their games." There it is, the big secret, the magic of team play.

Choir here.