NBA Play-offs looming and big-time books about basketball all over the place. What follows is your faithful reviewers picks – all slam dunks.

Golden by Marcus Thompson II (Touchstone, $26.00, 259 pages) is sub-titled “the miraculous rise of Seth Curry” and it is all about that and much more.  Thompson, who it claimed has been witness to every dribble of Curry’s pro career”  and had limitless access to his subject and all those around him that formed “the family and friends and support circle” made good use of it.  This is a terrific book insightful, at times controversial, always worth reading. MUST READ

“Return of the King” by Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin (Grand Central Publishing, $28.00, 264v pages) is all about as its sub-title proclaims: LeBron James, The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History. Both authors like Thompson II had limitless access it seems to the words and the deeds of the player many consider the brightest star in the NBA galaxy. We are there frontstage and backstage, thru the ups and downs, inside the locker room and on the court. TERRIFIC READ

“FURIOUS GEORGE” by George Karl with Curt Sampson (HarperCollins, $27.99, 228 pages) is a heck of a book that covers four decades of George Karl’s experiences in the National Basketball Association. The ex-coach spares no one as he recounts all the details of what his basketball life was like. Controversial, eye opening, on point, honest – if only all sports memoirs were like this. OUTSTANDING   

BOOKENDS: College Football’s Greatest edited by Bill Syken (Sports Illustrated, $32.95, 256 pages) is a mother lode of images, stats. Accounts of the programs, the big men on campus, the running backs, the coaches, the rivalries.