Overall Summary of The Last Season

The Last Season, written by Phil Jackson is my favorite book. The Last Season is about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2003-2004 season. This book talks about how the Lakers had many problems during the season, such as the rape allegations of Kobe Bryant and the contract dispute of Phil Jackson. The Lakers also had conflicts within the team, such as the main conflict between Shaq and Kobe. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were two of the best players in the league, and with them working together, the Lakers were the best team in the league. The Lakers also had Gary Payton and Karl Malone, two other hall of fame players. The 2003-2004 Lakers were one of the best NBA teams ever, and having one of the best coaches in Phil Jackson omly made matters better. For the first three years of the twentieth century, the Lakers were the best team in the league and every other team feared them. Their three consecutive championships reflected this skill.

Summary of first 30 pages of Game of Shadows

 Game of Shadows is a book about Barry Bonds, arguably the best hitter baseball has ever seen. Barry Bonds was accused of using performance enhancing drugs and human growth hormone, and as soon as he was accused of using steroids, this book was published. In the first 30 pages of this book, the authors of this book talk about how Barry Bonds was first accused, and how every reporter wanted to talk to him about it. Bonds had over 200 interviews throughout the investigation. Throughout this investigation, other atheletes were convicted of using steroids, such as track star Marion Jones, and football player Bill Romanowski.

Collage with captions

Three future hall of famers - Karl Malone
Gary Payton, and Shaquille O'Neal

 

Karl Malone snatching a
rebound, one of the many
thousands.

The Cover of the book The Last Season

Phil Jackson doing what he does best, coaching

A preview poster for the
2003-2004 L.A Lakers

Kobe Bryant discussing his
rape allegations

Kobe Bryant and
Devean George celebrating a win

Skill, Talent, Abilty,GreatnessThe LA

The Lakers three - peat
championship poster

The main theme in The Last Season

There is one main theme in The Last Season, the first theme there is no "I" in the word team. We learned that there is no "I" team when the feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant began. Shaq and Kobe were two of the most talented players in the league, and this one of the reasons why they did not get along with each other. Since they are both superstars, they thought they should be the focal point of the team. When Shaq thought Kobe was turning into a "ballhog", he waqs not happy. Kobe thought that he deserved to get the ball more, and Shaq often confronted Kobe about his continuous shooting. When Sahq and Kobe were not on the same page, and did not want to work together, the Lakers were a good team, but they were not championship contenders. When Shaq and Kobe were on the same page, the Lakers were definately a force to be reckoned with and the best team in the league. We learned that Shaq and Kobe, two of the best players, when working together, made the Lakers better than any other team. When they did not pass the ball and get along, the Lakers were an average team.

Dialogue the first 100 pages

In non-fiction books, there is usually a lot of dialogue. Dialogue is just a conversation between two people. We use dialogue everyday, and it is probably the most common language device. Dialogue is usually put in quotation marks to indicate what someone has said. On the sixth page, Phil Jackson, the coach of the Lakers was having a conversation with Jerry Buss, the owner. "I'd like to win two more championships" said Jerry. "Gee, I don't know Jerry", said Phil, who was skeptical about whether the Lakers could win two more championships, which would tie the Celtics for most championships. Another example of dialogue is found on page 9, between Phil Jackson and Gary Payton. "Do you feel you've still got that defensive killer instinct?", Phil asked Gary. Gary replied "Yeah I'm still there".

Dialect in the first 100 pages

In non-fiction books, there is almost always some dialect. Dialect is basically slang, or any form of conversation that is not proper or in the dictionary. Dialect comes from verbal story-telling and people making up words.One example of dialect is found on page 35, when Kobe says "He popped off", referring to Shaquille O'Neal. If someone who was not used to this kind of language read this, they would probably have no idea what it meant. By this, Kobe meant that Shaq "ran his mouth" or said something that he shouldn't have said to Kobe. This all traces back to the feud between Shaq and Kobe. Another example of dialect is found on page 50, when Phil Jackson said "He'll hit the shots we need". He'll is the conjunction for he will, and since conjunctions aren't in the dictionary, this sentence is slang. Phil Jackosn implies that John Paxson, a former player of his, was a good shooter that could make important shots at important times. Also, on page 90, an unknown Laker player says "Oh Phil, he's just tweaking us". This laker player implies that Phil Jackson is deceiving them, or tricking them.

The Main conflict in The Last Season

There is one main conflict in The Last Season. That is the conflict between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. This is an external conflict. Shaq and Kobe, who are both very talented players, and will one day be in the hall of fame, did not always work together well. they had problems working together well because both players were superstars, and they wanted to be the head of the team. In the triangle offense, the main objective is to get the ball close to the basket to make it easier to score. Shaquille O'Neal loved the triangle offense because it gave him an opportunity to showcase his offensive skills. Kobe, however, was not too fond of this offense because he was more of a perimeter player, and did not get a lot of scoring opportunities. When Kobe started to disregard the Triangle Offense and take over the game, Shaq became irritated. Even though the Lakers were still winning, Shaq' number of touches was decreasing, and he felt that he didn't have the ball enough. Shaq and Kobe eventually settled their differences and The Lakers rose back to top of the NBA.