Apart from the central discussion of the 1979–80 Blazers season, Breaks provides a history of the NBA, discusses the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers NBA championship squad, the life of departed star Bill Walton, and the struggles of Kermit Washington after his 1977 suspension. Halberstam worked as an embedded reporter and traveled with the team during the season. He was suspended for the remainder of the season because of the incident, and Tomjanovich's injuries forced his retirement. While with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1977, Washington threw a punch which nearly killed Rudy Tomjanovich. Kermit Washington arrived on the Blazers in the trade that sent Walton out. He was traded to the San Diego Clippers shortly before the 1979–80 season. He sat out the following season in protest.

Before the next season Walton was disgruntled because he felt that the Portland medical staff should not have cleared him to play in the playoffs. Walton was nonetheless named Most Valuable Player of the league for that season. After winning the championship they started the 1977–78 season with a league best 50–10 record before Walton broke his foot, and when he came back to play in the playoffs, he re-injured the foot. The 1977 NBA championship Blazers team was a young team built around Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas, and Lionel Hollins, and coached by Jack Ramsay. Popular sportswriter and television producer Bill Simmons has repeatedly talked of his admiration for the book. The book was also given a positive review by Sports Illustrated upon its release, and later listed number 17 in Sports Illustrated's list of best sports books ever written. Īt the time of its release, the New York Times gave it high praise. The book also puts basketball into a social context and contains extensive discussion on race in the NBA. Aside from a recap of the Blazers' season, the book attempts to give a detailed history of the NBA, the 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers championship team, the injuries faced by departed star Bill Walton, and the life of Kermit Washington after his two-month suspension for punching Rudy Tomjanovich. The Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team which plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Breaks of the Game is a 1981 sports book written by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Halberstam about the Portland Trail Blazers' 1979–1980 season.

Breaks of the game