Watcha talkin' 'bout Willis DTS

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

Willis Reed DTS at 80.. i remember watching him limp onto the court in game 7 at MSG to the roar of the crowd when no one expected him to play... helping the team to a championship... Mr WIllis, you rest in peace, you were a good one...

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

x

His accomplishments — seven All-Star selections, two NBA Finals MVP awards among them — would have warranted Hall of Fame induction by themselves. During the 1969-70 season, he became the first player to sweep the MVP awards for the regular season, All-Star Game and NBA Finals.

But his spot in history was secured simply by walking onto the floor on the final night of that season.

Reed had injured a thigh muscle in Game 5 of the series between the Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, tumbling to the court in pain. He sat out Game 6 as counterpart Wilt Chamberlain had 45 points and 27 rebounds in a Lakers romp that forced a deciding game at Madison Square Garden.

Reed’s status was unknown even to his Knicks teammates as he continued getting treatment until shortly before Game 7. Both teams were warming up when Reed came out of the tunnel, fans rising and roaring when they saw him emerge from the tunnel leading to the locker room.

“And here comes Willis and the crowd is going wild,” radio announcer Marv Albert said.

The Lakers stopped to watch Reed, who then made two quick jump shots in the early minutes of the game, running back down the court after both with a noticeable limp. He wouldn’t score again but the Knicks didn’t need it, with their captain’s return and Walt Frazier’s 36 points and 19 assists energizing them to a 113-99 romp and their first NBA title.

Frazier’s performance was one of the finest ever in a deciding game, but it was forever a footnote to Reed’s return. In 2006, to coincide with the NBA’s 60th anniversary, it finished third in voting of the league’s 60 greatest playoff moments, behind Michael Jordan’s championship-winning jumper for his sixth title in 1998 and Magic Johnson ending his rookie season by filling in for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center in Game 6 of the 1980 finals to lead the Lakers to a championship.

Long afterward, a player’s return from injury has sometimes compared to Reed, such as when Boston’s Paul Pierce was carried off the floor with a knee injury in Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against Los Angeles before quickly returning. But Phil Jackson, a teammate of Reed’s and then Lakers coach, dismissed that because of how serious Reed’s injury was.

 

[Cal20sailor]

I watched the game live and it was the embodiment of 'brothers in arms.'

"I would not desert you, my brothers in arms."

 

[dacapo]

The Captain. My dad’s favorite knickerbocker.

 

[Blue Crab]

Super athlete and man. It was a great time to be an NBA fan when the players were also modest gentlemen who happened to be tall.

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

The Captain. My dad’s favorite knickerbocker.

there were so many good ones on those teams..

Walt, Dean, Dave, Phil.. Bill

 

[Mrleft8]

I thought you were talking about Gary Coleman, but he died years ago.