The Willis Reed thing

You mean one of the most overrated moments in sports? No, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what it actually was.

 

THIS.

it was not a figment of the 'n.y. hype scene's' imagination. by anyone's measure who was around at the time game 5 and 7 were hollywood material. how the nix won those two games HANDILY with so little boc score contribution from the league's mvp and the team's very heart and soul can NEVER be overhyped, kiddies. it's impossible. can you imagine such a feat EVER being duplicated? the spurs winning ANY of their titles with tim duncan missing virtually 2 games? imagine any similar circumstance. c'mon, n.y. haters, unite! show me something. i'll wait.



and, yes, our late, much missed spnited is indeed spinning in his grave. especially after seeing bubbler's ignorant take.

 

Whatever the "Reed" effect, Rondo's return after THAT was unbelievable. A dislocated elbow? I've dislocated my shoulders over 10 times and the pain is excruciating. Rondo is my favorite player now.

 

Sorry Shockey, I stand by what I said.

And the crowd aspect? That's very overrated.

I covered the Pacers in the 90s. To this day, the loudest arena I've ever heard is Market Square Arena in 1996 when an injured Reggie Miller pulled a Willis Reed, as he came out of the locker room at the last minute to play Game 5 of a five-game first-round series against Atlanta.

The arena never really lost intensity, but it didn't do the Pacers any good. The Hawks won the game and the series.

 

'twas tremendous. now, if rondo is indeed now rendered to being little more than an inspirational figure who contributes NOTHING to the naked boxscore eye of historians and yet the celts win this series it will then be on reed's 'overrated' level. in some ways, this heat team is similar to those lakers of jerry west, and over-the-hill (granted) elgin baylor and wilt. there's enough pressure on miami already; should they lose this series now to a boston team getting almost nothing from rondo, well, that's a shame lebron will be hard-pressed to ever get past.

sure has done the impossible -- i'll be a boston celtics fan for the rest of this series.

 

Honestly don't fault anyone who has only been able to view Reed significance through the replays.

Lost in whole hoopla was Jerry West 60 ft shot with 3 seconds left in game 3 to tie game.

If 3 point shot was around game 7 might have never happened.

 

Anybody wanna be D-Wade driving the lane tonight?

 

Nothing will happen, it should, but nothing will.

 

hey, an arena going wild isn't in and of itself gonna be a miraacle worker. you still need great players responding to the moment. the rest of the knicks responded INCREDIBLgames 5 and 7 -- playing out of position, playing outta their minds, etc. heck, legendary moments don't become legendary moments without some of those... heck, the annals of time are chock-filled with examples of teams finding it impossible to overcome losing their best player at a critical time.

those knicks responded. that's why it's become the 'clinche'd, lazy standard' that's dusted off at times like these. not because willis had a great game 7; but if anyone thinks for a second that if reed had never left the locker room the result would've been the same you're nuts. N-U-T-S.

see game 6 of that series. listen to how everyone will tell you how you could hear a pin drop at msg until reed finally came out. and then hit the first two baskets of the game, his only points. and then how clyde and the rest took it from there, as they had in game 5.

then tell me how overhyped, overblown, overrated it is. gimme a freakin' break....

 

Yeah, Bubbler is stubbornly not getting it, but it was before his time. Great moment, great series. SI had a super photo of the West shot Boom mentioned.

 

most amazing thing was that the knicks somehow regrouped and won in OT. it's what i thought of recently when a team in these playoffs was forced into OT on a 3-pointer at the buzzer (forgive me, i forget the teams involved) and never recovered, getting blown out in the OT as their coach lamented how they just couldn't get up off the canvas.

and that game was tied on just a typical 3-pointer, not a desperation heave from 3/4 court. and the knicks had to regroup ON THE ROAD in l.a. can you imagine? what a series....

 

maybe he's been too distracted by the short-shorts!