Fittingly, the Los Angeles Lakers will unveil Pat Riley’s statue before playing their longtime rival, the Boston Celtics. The Lakers have announced that Riley’s statue will be unveiled on Feb. 22.
Riley, 80, was informed last November that the Lakers were honoring him with a statue. While he will become the ninth member of the franchise to receive a statue, Riley will be the first Lakers coach to receive the honor.
Prior to coaching the Lakers, Riley played for Los Angeles and was a member of the 1972 championship team that won a then-NBA record 69 games during the regular season. That was the first title the Lakers won upon moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.
After his playing career ended, Riley served as a Lakers commentator (alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster Chick Hern, who also has a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena) and an assistant coach. Riley was an assistant coach when the Lakers defeated the 76ers in the 1980 NBA Finals, Los Angeles’ first title during its “Showtime” era.
Riley was promoted to head coach after the Lakers dismissed Paul Westhead just 11 games into the 1981-82 season. Under Riley, Los Angeles went 50-21 for the remainder of the regular season. The Lakers ultimately won the title that year, defeating the 76ers again in the Finals. A key to the Lakers’ victory over Philadelphia was Riley’s 1-3-1 half-court trap defense that caught Philadelphia’s backcourt by surprise.
Riley’s next two championships came against the rival of the Celtics, who ran their Finals record against the Lakers to 8-0 after Larry Bird led Boston to a thrilling seven-game series victory in 1984. But after losing big in Game 1 of the 1985 Finals, Los Angeles rallied to defeat Boston in six games while becoming the first Lakers team to win a title at the Celtics’ expense.
Two years later, the Lakers again got the better of the Celtics in another hard-fought, six-game series. Shortly after that championship, Riley famously guaranteed that the Lakers would become the first team in 19 years to repeat as champions. Riley’s guarantee came to fruition when Los Angeles outlasted the Detroit Pistons in an NBA Finals that went the full seven games.
Riley, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, won 73.3% of his regular season games and 68.5% of his postseason games as the Lakers’ coach. In February, he will join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson as members of the Lakers’ “Showtime” era that have been honored by the franchise with a statue.
