Who is Willis Reed and what is his story from Game 7 of the 1970 finals all about?
Willis Reed is a bona fide yesteryear NBA legend who is best known for the part that he played in the New York Knicks winning two NBA Championships in the 70s. While Reed commands incredible respect amongst the basketball community, many newer fans only learned about him when the news of his death surfaced on social media on 21st March.
His death was confirmed by his former teammate Bill Bradley, the former United States senator. He said Reed had congestive heart issues. It was not clear where Reed died, but he had been under treatment at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Bradley said. Despite winning two Championships for the Knicks, Reed is best known for his contribution to an incredible performance defying pain in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals.
It was Reed’s willingness to play through pain that brought him his flowers, and his grittiness was never more exemplified than in the decisive game of the 1970 NBA finals.
Days earlier, he had torn a right tensor muscle while driving to the basket on Chamberlain during the first quarter of Game 5 at Madison Square Garden — a game the Knicks rallied to win without him. Saving whatever he had left for a possible Game 7, he sat out Game 6 in Los Angeles, in which Chamberlain scored 45 points.
When the Knicks went out to warm up before the start of Game 7, Reed stayed behind in the trainer’s room for treatment. As everyone in the packed Garden anxiously awaited word on whether he would play, he made his way stiff-legged through the players’ tunnel and emerged to a crescendo of cheers to join his teammates, who were already warming up.
Limping noticeably, he hit his first two southpaw jump shots for his only points of the game. Frazier carried the Knicks from there, with 36 points and 19 assists, and the Knicks, with a 113-99 victory, clinched the franchise’s first title and inducted Reed into franchise folklore.
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