Willis Reed, leader on New York Knicks’ two title teams, dies at 80

NEW YORK(AP) — Willis Reed, who dramaticallyemerged from the lockerroom minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finalsto sparkthe New York Knicks to their first championship and create one ofsports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, diedTuesday. He was 80.

Reed’sdeath wasannounced by the NationalBasketball Retired Players Association, which confirmed itthrough his family. The cause was not released, but Reed had beenin poor health recently and was unable to travel to New York whenthe Knicks honored the 50th anniversary of their 1973 NBAchampionship team during their game against New Orleans on Feb.25.

The Knickstweeted a photographpicturing Reed frombehindwalking onto the floor as his teammates werewarming up for the 1970 finale, one of the most memorable momentsin NBA and Madison Square Garden history.

“As wemourn, we will always strive to uphold the standards he left behind— the unmatched leadership, sacrifice and work ethic thatpersonified him as a champion among champions,” the team said. “Hisis a legacy that will live forever.”

Nicknamed“The Captain,” Reed was the undersized center and emotional leaderon the Knicks’ two NBA championship teams, with a soft shootingtouch from the outside and a toughness to tussle with the era’ssuperstar big men on the inside.

Hisaccomplishments — seven All-Star selections, two NBA Finals MVPawards among them — would have warranted Hall of Fame induction bythemselves. During the 1969-70 season, he became the first playerto sweep the MVP awards for the regular season, All-Star Game andNBA Finals.

But hisspot in history was secured simply by walking onto the floor on thefinal night of that season.

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

Reed’sstatus was unknown even to his Knicks teammates as he continuedgetting treatment until shortly before Game 7. Both teams werewarming up when Reed came out of the tunnel, fans rising androaring when they saw him emerge from the tunnel leading to thelocker room.

“And herecomes Willis and the crowd is going wild,” radio announcer MarvAlbert said.

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

Frazier’sperformance was one of the finest ever in a deciding game, but itwas forever a footnote to Reed’s return. In 2006, to coincide withthe NBA’s 60th anniversary, it finished third in voting of theleague’s 60 greatest playoff moments, behind Michael Jordan’schampionship-winning jumper for his sixth title in 1998 and MagicJohnson ending his rookie season by filling in for KareemAbdul-Jabbar at center in Game 6 of the 1980 finals to lead theLakers to a championship.

Longafterward, a player’s return from injury has sometimes compared toReed, such as when Boston’s Paul Pierce was carried off the floorwith a knee injury in Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against LosAngeles before quickly returning. But Phil Jackson, a teammate ofReed’s and then Lakers coach, dismissed that because of how seriousReed’s injury was.

“If I’m notmistaken, I think Willis Reed missed a whole half andthree-quarters almost of a game and literally had to have a shot —a horse shot, three or four of them — in his thigh to come back outand play,” Jackson said.

Reedwouldn’t be able to recover so quickly from injuries in the comingyears. He was limited to just 11 games in 1971-72 but came backstrong the next season to spark the Knicks to a second title inwhat was his last full season.

Though hisreturn always made the ’70 title the more celebrated one, it wasthe ’72-73 squad, having been fortified by Hall of Famers EarlMonroe and Jerry Lucas, that stood out to Reed.

“That, tome, in my mind was the best team,” he said during its 40thanniversary celebration.

Reed wouldplay only 19 games in 1973-74 before retiring because of a kneeinjury after just 10 seasons.

That waslong enough to collect more than 12,000 points and 8,400 rebounds,both of which still rank in the top three on the Knicks’ careerlists.

Willis Reedwas born June 25, 1942, in Hico, Louisiana. He stayed in his homestate for his college career, leading Grambling State to the 1961NAIA championship and a third-place finish in 1963. The schoolretired his number and named its court after Reed in 2022.

Asecond-round pick in 1964, he quickly proved that standing only6-foot-9 wouldn’t keep him from becoming one of the league’s topcenters. He was voted Rookie of the Year and earned the first ofhis seven straight All-Star selections.

Reed wasthe anchor as the Knicks became one of the best teams in the NBA,with Hall of Famers such as Frazier, Bill Bradley and DaveDeBusschere.

Reedprovided them with 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds for his career,along with plenty of toughness. An ESPN documentary in 2014 onthose Knicks showed footage of a 1966 fight in a game against theLakers in which Reed appeared to throw punches at multipleopponents, with Jackson noting that it appeared Reed “decimatedthis team.”

His No. 19was the first number retired by the Knicks and he was inducted intothe Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1982.

Reed wenton to coach the Knicks to a playoff berth in 1977-78 but coachedthem only 14 more games the following season. He also was a headcoach at Creighton and the New Jersey Nets, but his greatestsuccess after his playing career came in the front office.

He wastheir senior vice president of basketball operations when theydrafted Derrick Coleman and Kenny Anderson, who became All-Starsand led the Nets to the playoffs.