Lamar Green remembered: “In came this little kid, and he had his fingers all taped up and his wrist taped. I wasn’t going to say anything, but the other kids started laughing at him, saying who did he think he was, the Hawk or somebody?”
Tag Archives: Willis Reed
Red Holzman: A Humpty-Dumpty Situation, 1968
Holzman knows the game of basketball. And he probably knows it better now than back in 1957, when St. Louis fired him after a losing record.
Luther Rackley: Reserve Power for the Knicks, 1972
Now even the cynics know Luther Rackley can play.
Big Lew—Already Great, 1971
Fast or slow, the game is usually Alcindor’s. He leads the NBA in scoring with 31-plus points a game, he ranks one-two in shooting accuracy, and he is among the leaders in rebounding. There really isn’t anything he can’t do.
In NBA Rookie Race, It’s Lew 145 Votes to One, 1970
Opposing centers who tried vainly to stop Alcindor find it hard to believe how he could improve any further on his hook shots.
‘Earl, Earl, Earl The Pearl,’ 1975
It’s difficult to describe the bedlam he generates in the arena. Little kids scream. Mothers and fathers forget their dignity and roar their delight over a sweating individual in short pants. The Pearl becomes their bauble.
Three Days in the Life of Walt Frazier, 1971
Dribbling and driving, dancing and defending, passing and penetrating, Frazier is the equal of any guard in the NBA. Stealing the ball, he has no equal. He has the fastest hands in the East . . . or in the West.
What Jerry Lucas Will Do for the Knicks, 1972
An All-NBA forward five times, he can also do a more-than-adequate job at center. And at either position, he can shoot from the outside about as well as any man his size ever has, and he can rebound with the best.
The Walt Frazier Style, 1971
Madison Square Garden is probably the only basketball arena in the country where, when the home team falls behind in the fourth quarter, a chant begins in the lower tiers and swells until it sweeps the arena: “Dee-fense! (clap, clap), Dee-fense! (clap, clap) Dee-fense! (clap, clap).”
Willis Reed and the Icing on the Cake, 1970
So through it all, one shining fact evolves. Basketball and Willis Reed are so entwined, the two are one.
