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Many of today’s basketball fans associate Pat Riley with the Miami Heat. But he crafted his identity and resume as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers back in the 1980s.
Riley started out as a player in the NBA in the late 1960s and 1970s, and most of his playing career was spent with the Lakers. Early in the 1979-80 season, which was Magic Johnson’s rookie campaign, Riley became an assistant coach under Paul Westhead and was a part of L.A.’s first championship team of the Showtime era. Two years later, he became the team’s head coach and guided it to another championship, and three more followed under his leadership in 1985, 1987 and 1988.
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On Sunday, before the Lakers faced the Boston Celtics, their ancient rivals, the franchise unveiled a statue of Riley outside of Crypto.com Arena. A number of people were on hand for the event, including two-time Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, who once played Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.”
Douglas said that Gekko’s slicked-back hair was based on Riley’s iconic hairdo.
Magic Johnson, Riley’s right-hand man throughout the Showtime era, spoke and not only praised his old coach, but also told a story about when Riley decided to make him the No. 1 option offensively.
“One of the best days is when he said ‘Buck, you’re gonna have to score more.’ That means I gotta shoot more then. He said ‘that’s what I’m asking you to do.’ I said ‘did you ask Kareem?’ He said yes. I said ‘okay then.’ Because nothing could happen on our team without permission from Kareem”
Then it was Riley’s turn to speak. He ended his speech by imploring the Lakers to defeat the hated Celtics, hearkening back to a motivational speech he gave his iteration of the Lakers during the 1985 NBA Finals, the first time the franchise had ever defeated Boston for the world championship.
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The statue was unveiled, and it is a thing of beauty. It portrays Riley with his fist in the air, which was a signal for his players to get the basketball down low to legendary center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The inscription on the statue flashes back to that speech Riley gave the Purple and Gold prior to Game 2 of the 1985 finals, after they had been embarrassed by 34 points in Game 1, that inspired them to assert their manhood and claim what they deserved.
While the Lakers have had great players and coaches in the 36 years since Riley left, Riley played a huge role in defining the Lakers’ mystique and helping turn what was already a great team in the early 1980s into arguably the greatest team in NBA history by mid-decade.
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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Highlights from Pat Riley’s statue unveiling on Sunday
