RIP Willis Reed

[cliftonparksufan]

It sucks getting old and all your childhood heroes die off one by one. Sad day.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[mark79]

Wow, growing up a Knicks fan I idolized Willis, Walt, Dave, Earl the Pearl, Bill and even that weird lanky guy named Phil Jackson. RIP

 

[NorSyr66]

Always a Celtics fan growing up but put the Willis Reed NBA Championship game, on one leg, right up there with the Syracuse/UConn 6 over time game as classics!

 

[GooseMutt]

Always played in pain. Warrior! RIP

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Always a Celtics fan growing up but put the Willis Reed NBA Championship game, on one leg, right up there with the Syracuse/UConn 6 over time game as classics!

Those Knicks/Celtics games were definitely classic and I really hated John Havlicek, but I always thought the Bullets were bigger rivals, playing them five straight years in the playoffs. Unseld, Gus Johnson, Jack Marin, the Pearl until the big trade.

But when I looked it up the Knicks played the Celtics four out of six years in post-season. I just hated everything Boston so beating them was a big deal.

 

[NJCuse97]

I met Willis Reed in the stands when he was GM of the NJ Nets (rookie Derrick Coleman vintage). Incredibly gracious and nice man. You never detected a hint of pompous from someone who had earned it.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[newmexicuse]

Willis's hobbling out in game 7 against the Lakers for the Championship and then hitting two quick buckets was one of the great displays of courage in sports.

Willis may have been the greatest second round pick in NBA history.

As a knick fan, I loved watching him play, though Clyde was my favorite.

Had his career not been cut short by injury the Knicks might have had a true dynasty in the early to mid 70's.

 

[Newhouser]

Willis's hobbling out in game 7 against the Lakers for the Championship and then hitting two quick buckets was one of the great displays of courage in sports.

Willis may have been the greatest second round pick in NBA history.

As a knick fan, I loved watching him play, though Clyde was my favorite.

Had his career not been cut short by injury the Knicks might have had a true dynasty in the early to mid 70's.

Clyde is the most underrated player in league history and that Game 7 is the best clutch performance maybe in sports history. Willis made 2 buckets - Clyde 36 points, 19 assists, 7 boards and 4 steals.

After Willis hit his 2 shots Clyde went for 15-4-4 in the 1st quarter staking the Knicks to a 14 point lead that was 27 at the half. This was the Wilt, West, healthy Elgin Lakers. The performance by Clyde is criminally forgotten, and stacks up against any that have been put up by any other player in NBA history.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Damn, gut punch when I saw this.
Reed was my late older brother's favorite player- Clyde was mine.
That iconic walk out of the tunnel at msg is embedded in the psyche of sports fans for eternity. How many times have we heard during a game, "so-and-so just had a Willis Reed moment"?
What I loved most about him was the amount of respect he got...from EVERYBODY! Opponents, teammates, opposing fans- I mean those Knicks had Senator Bill Bradley, Dave Debusschere, Clyde, Phil Jackson, etc., But they all spoke reverently of Reed- the unquestioned leader. And much like Big Paulie Cicero in "Goodfellas", he never raised his voice...because he didn't need to!
In our household he was never "Willis Reed", it was always "Reed- The Captain". RIP big fella.