The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever

With his unique style and bone-deep knowledge of basketball, the bestselling author of Hard Courts tells the story of how one moment of aggression changed two lives, the NBA, and all of professional sports forever. You'll be glued to the page--Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly. 8 photos.

When a fight broke out between the Houston Rockets & the LA Lakers in 1977, All-star Rudy Tomjanovitch raced to break it up. He met Kermit Washington's fist, which delivered 1 of the most ferocious punches ever seen in sport. It deslodged his skull & he required years of surgery & therapy to get him back to normal but he was never the same. Washington was an average player, 6' 8 & one of only 6 athletes to be both an Academic all-American & a basketball all-American. By all accounts he was an exemplary man but the split-second in which he threw his fist devastated his reputation. No team in the NBA would employ him in any coaching capacity. Tomjanovitch, on the other hand, is a star: head coach of the 2-time world championship Rockets & coach of the 2000 Glympic Gold winning team. With his unique insight, style & bone-deep knowledge of basketball, John Feinstein finally reveals the truth of that night & how it changed basketball forever. Through this one cataclysmicevent he casts light on the NBA's darkes...