The Willis-Reed Game: One Name, One Game, One Championship, One Story

The retro horniness that arms my pen before some NBA games isn’t well taken care of, but if there’s a reason I’ll throw my hat away…

It happened the other day with the match between the Celtics and the Suns, it also happens tonight that the Lakers welcome the Knicks…

It happens tonight like at Madison Square Garden on May 8, 1970 in the match that was coded and mentioned in NBA history with a name…

The Willis Reed game!

So I succumb to the temptation to go back 52 years and download from the shelf (not of my own memories but) of collective memory a game that will truly remain indelibly engraved on basketball’s hard drive…

It is without a doubt one of those games that Noah would definitely take and keep in his ark!

“Seven Heavens”

So tonight, the Knicks welcomed the Lakers to the seventh and final playoff final, including “Seven Heaven.”

That streak, considered one of the most shocking of all time, had a background when the Californians and New Yorkers faced each other for the third time in a row of NBA Finals, with the Lakers winning 4-3 in both 1952 and 1953 with 4-1 while they would meet again in 1972 and 1973…

This season they were tired of seeing their faces!

The reason; Before meeting in the finals, they met six times in the regular season with the Knicks leading 4-2, it goes without saying their carousel was pulled to the end…

The Carousel of the Finale

Thirteen games in seven months, not to mention a few, you know!

The curtain opened on April 24, 1970, when the Knicks won Game 1 124-112, with Willis Reed on 37 points and 16 rebounds and David Debusser 19-16, while the Lakers defeated Wilt Chamberlain at 17-24 and Elgin Baylor at 21 -20 defeated.

Three nights later, the Lakers defeated Madison 105-103, led by West (34 p) and Chamberlain (19-24), while Reed (29-15), Debussy (18-14) and Nikos Galis’ child idol, Walt Fraser with Triple-double figure (11-12-11).

The series traveled to Los Angeles, where on April 29 the

The Knicks prevailed in overtime with 111:108 (102:102) and regained the lead (Reed 38:17, Debussy 21:15 / West 34, Chamberlain 21:26, Baylor 13:12:11).

On May 1, in the Quarterfinals, the Lakers got their blood back with a 121-115 in overtime (99-99) and tied at 2-2 9West 37-18 Baylor 30-13 Chamberlain 18-25/Reed 23 – 12, beret 29).

The Black Knuckles and Chamberlain orgies

After 72 hours, again in New York, the Knicks prevailed 107-100 and led 3-2 (Fraser 21-12, Russell 20, Bradley 16-7 / Chamberlain 22-19, Baylor 21-11, West 20 ). Victory was achieved in Pyrrhia and the hosts donned black hats!

The reason: the torn muscle in the right thigh of table leader and MVP of the season, Willis Reed, who did not play in the sixth final, in the wake of which Chamberlain raged with 45 points and 27 rebounds.

On May 6, the Lakers defeated the Knicks at the Forum by a score of 135-113, breaking the series straight for the third time. Behind “Wilt The Stelze” were West (33-6-13) and Garrett 18, while on the opposite bank Debusser (25-9) and Russell (23) starred.

And it was 3-3, with the seventh game being in New York and the Knicks praying Reed would play.

The odds weren’t in their side and the doctors, while not ruling it out, at least thought it was going to be very difficult for Reed, who had been limping and not training for five days…

Reed’s Erinyes

With the whole NBA world sitting on burning coals, the Louisiana-born on January 25, 1942 center was busy preparing for his future Erinyes!

“After twenty years, I didn’t want to go back in time, regret that I didn’t play and argue with myself because at least I didn’t try,” explained Reed, who gave painkiller shots after painkiller shots…

When the Knicks took the field to warm up, the whole of New York stood up: Reed showed up first, causing a pandemonium in which the Lakers stopped warming up and looked like losers!

As they say in such cases: “From the moment you think about what you’re going to do to not lose, you’ve already lost“!

Reed wasn’t ready, he wasn’t predicted and he shouldn’t have played, but he appeared like the great Warlord El Sid and that was enough to cheer on his teammates, lift fans’ spirits and… bully the Lakers!

“When I saw him coming with us I thought there was no way we could lose and not win the championship,” Fraser later said (assists) and the night’s progress was ceremoniously confirmed…

From the moment Reed was there, Red Holtzman put him in the top 5 and that was enough: Reed stayed on the floor for 27 minutes, scored the first two baskets of the seventh final, scored four points (2/5 shots), scored three rebounds, shared an assist, suffered four fouls and put great pressure on Chamberlain, who “scored” 21 points (10/16 shots, 1/11 shots), 24 rebounds and four assists.

Let me be clear: this is not a typo, in fact “Big Dipper” had one shot out of eleven!

When the final horn sounded, the scoreboard read 113-99, proclaiming the Knicks champions their MVP for the first time in their history.

“You are the example of the human spirit”

Reed’s self-sacrifice became a banner for New Yorkers and a point of reference for world basketball, and in the locker room reporter Howard Kozel raised his microphone and told him, “With what you have done today, you will be the finest example of what the human spirit has to offer“.

Ironically, this series of finals was the first to be fully televised, however due to a technical issue the seventh race was filmed in New York and New Yorkers were furious!

Two years later (1972), the Lakers won the rematch in the Finals 4-1, but “Megalo Milos”‘ team came back stronger in the ’73 Finals, knocking the Californians back to the canvas 4-1 again with MVP Reed.

Since then, the Lakers have ascended the throne eleven more times, while the Knicks roam Broadway like the (theater) opera specter!