Angel City honors Pat Riley

Zurab Talakvadze

Pat Riley was standing tall during his tenure with Los Angeles Lakers. He spent there some unforgettable years (1970-1975) as a player and returned a Paul Westhead’s assistant in 1979. A brief stint as a team’s broadcaster changed into a Head Coach job keeper in 1981.

And, the Showtime started.

Lakers will honor Pat with a statue outside the arena. The team commissioned a statue to stand in Star Plaza. The head coach, who won 4 championships with the Showtime team in the 80s, will once again stand tall. Something just never change. Plain and simple.

Pat (79) created some magic with Lakers as Magic Johnson was running the floor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was patrolling the paint. A pure art, groundbreaking pace was tough to ignore. Lakers finished Riley’s tenure with a team 533:194. Pat won 102 playoff games as well.

Nine seasons of Magic. Nine seasons of pure passion and will. Nine seasons with magic running the show. Nine seasons of immortality.

Pat Riley will become the eighth member of Lakers family to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza. The others are Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and a legendary broadcaster Chick Hearn.

Pat Riley started the Showtime.

Bow your head to the greatness.