SIDEWAYS GLANCE A MAGICAL JOURNEY THROUGH PRO HOOP HYSTERIA.

Byline: - Tom Hoffarth

--The book: ``At the Buzzer! The Greatest Moments in NBA History''

--The author: HBO Sports' Bryan Burwell

--The bonus: Two CDs of radio and TV game calls, plus interviews. Narrated by Bill Walton.

--The other essential info: $50, NBA Properties Inc. and Doubleday Publishing, 215 pages.

--The scoop: The nine-chapter, coffee-table-sized book with fabulous glossy photos stands on its own. But the accompanying CDs make it all the more a complete package and must-have for armchair historians.

In all, 74 moments are captured - beginning and ending with Magic Johnson, and plenty of Lakers in between.

To open chapter one's ``Great Shots,'' there's the baby hook Magic hit in Game 4 of the 1987 Finals against the Celtics, recounted in detail better on the CD. The call Chick Hearn did for radio goes: ``To the left side Magic ... he's got it. He didn't shoot it. Five seconds left. Magic down the middle, just like I thought. A hook shot from 12 - good! Whooo- weee.''

It gets better.

The second moment is Magic's first game, Oct. 12, 1979, when the Lakers beat the San Diego Clippers on a long hook shot by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Magic was so excited he nearly choked Kareem at midcourt with his bear hug. ``Magic Johnson is out there celebrating like they just won an NCAA championship,'' says CBS' Brent Musberger on the call.

Then, the third moment relives the 60-footer Jerry West hit at the buzzer to tie the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the 1970 Finals. The call from New York play-by-play man Bob Wolff is priceless: ``Two seconds, one second ... West throws it up ...'' Then count the seconds of silent disbelief.

Appropriately, Hearn gets plenty of air time, making this as much a book honoring his best calls in the context of league history. The final moment, however, is described by NBC's Dick Enberg from the 1992 NBA All-Star Game. Magic hits the 3-pointer to end it, provoking Enberg's signature ``Oh, my!'' call.

--The secret pleasures: Discovering nuggets of information make this much more than just a nostalgic trip.

As in chapter three's ``Great Moves,'' when Knicks announcer Marty Glickman recounts how the team had to travel in the 1940s. Going to Fort Wayne to play the Pistons, they had a routine - make a nonscheduled train stop in the middle of the Indiana prairie at 5 a.m., then summon a woman at the Green Parrot Cafe to drive them the last 40 miles.

In chapter four's ``Great Duels,'' we find the little-publicized NBA-ABA All-Star games in 1971 and '72 - imagine Julius Erving going in for a dunk on Wilt Chamberlain.

Even a small story by Jamaal Wilkes, included in the piece on Magic's 42-point, 15-rebound game against Philadelphia to clinch the 1980 NBA title, is priceless. Wilkes, who scored 37 points, calls that the most memorable game of his career, in case you forgot.

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