Most athletes who become all-time greats acquire their immortality through many years of consistent top-level performance. But there are others who become immortal in a single moment. Such was the case with Willis Reed
, the center — and centerpiece — of the great New York Knicks teams of the 1970s. Reed died this week at the age of 80.
Reed’s immortality-achieving moment occurred six years later, in the winner-take-all Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. The Knicks were playing a juggernaut Los Angeles Lakers team that boasted eventual Hall of Famers Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and — most significantly — Wilt Chamberlain, basketball’s Goliath and the then-leading scorer in NBA history. West, Baylor, and Chamberlain were each regarded three of the greatest players in the history of basketball.
Just before tipoff, however, the capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden roared — Willis Reed could be seen making his way out of the locker room and out onto the court. “Here comes Willis!” a young Marv Albert exclaimed on the telecast, the first of Albert’s many celebrated calls. Shortly after tipoff, the left-handed Reed hit his first shot; the New York crowd roared as if they had all been promised rent-controlled apartments.
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