Broadcaster Hearn recalls the confidence the team developed. “It was incredible,” he said. “I mean, 33 in a row. It can’t happen. In my opinion, of all the records in sports, that one won’t be equaled. Can you imagine anything like that today? With all the good teams and all the travel. I can’t.”
Tag Archives: Pat Riley
Rex Chapman: Hired Gun, 1996
Whatever it takes is just what Chapman plans to provide.
Maurice Lucas: Always in a State of War, 1986
Lucas, obviously, has a reputation. Bad dude. Tough guy. Enforcer. Hitman. He is Sonny Liston with a hangnail.
Sleepy Floyd: A Fourth Quarter for the Ages, 1987
During one of the Lakers’ three increasingly desperate timeouts in the fourth quarter, Karl simply told his players, “Get the ball to Sleepy.”
James Worthy: Steady Star in a Glitzy Town, 1991
Over the past five seasons, Worthy has firmly—if unspectacularly—established himself as one of the NBA’s top forwards.
Ralph Sampson: Why He Can’t Be a Winner in Houston, 1986
The fact is that while Sampson may stand 7-4, his game has never been that of a traditional low-post center.
The Laker Roadshow . . . Starring Wilt Chamberlain, 1972
They affectionately call him “Big Fella.” Wilt Chamberlain is a proud man in the twilight of his career at 36, going on 40. But sometimes his moods are almost childlike.
The Unarrested Development of Gheorghe Muresan, 1997
“If I wasn’t playing basketball,” he says, “I am not sure what I would be doing. When I stop playing, I am not sure. It doesn’t matter. For now, I am basketball player.”
Pat Riley: Taking the Man Inside, 1994
Riley believes that the only way to make a team out of isolated players is “to get them to do what they don’t want to do.” Yet he knows, too, that there are things certain players can never do.
Abdul-Jabbar Remains Kareem of the Crop, 1983
“His skyhook is still the cruise missile of the NBA. But we need to shore up in the areas where we’re weakest, and they happen to be in areas where he can also dominate.”
