How much Brylcreem do you need to tamp down concrete?
The Dapper Dan, Pat Riley may have rocked a mustache and floppy hair as a player for the seventies Lakers, but when he coached the purple and gold in the 80s, with his slicked back hair, he became a GQ worthy sideline star in Hollywood.
So much so, said magazine still features his fits…even if it feels strange using that phrase at 40-years-old.
Before becoming a hard-nosed, 1990s New York Knick coach, and then President of rival Miami Heat in the new millennium, Riles ushered in Showtime in LA. All led by the Magic of Earvin Johnson, who got all his former teammates to stand up in ovation of Riley. Standing Pat, indeed.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, A.C. Green, Byron Scott, Norm Nixon. The super talent that Pat Riley let run in the city of stars now gives him bronze on the purple and gold’s Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena in DTLA. Becoming the eighth Laker joining Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant (who has two, with a third on the way), Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, Magic and Kareem, and the icon he used to call game with alongside, before becoming a coach, Chick Hearn.
Whilst we’re here, how about a tribute for late, great Los Angeles Times Lakers beat-writer Jim Murray engraved in stone?
The life of Riley made the former Forum home of the Lakers his own, and now he has a fabulous statue outside the Lakers’ latest arena. Just look at that iconic pose. Hand on hip, fist in the air in sure thing celebration. Ran to perfection, like a play from Earv to Cap. Nothing like the statue of another one of his great guards, the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, in South Beach.
Eight-feet, taller than Kareem, and weighing 510-pounds (that’s retirement to the front office for you), bigger than Shaq, the immortal Patrick is decked out in bronze and a Giorgio Armani suit and tie, and a crocodile leather belt to match.
“I wish it went back to coat and ties,” Riley told press during his unveiling ceremony. “I think an audience wants to see somebody on the side-lines who looks like a leader, dresses like a leader, acts like a leader.” Don’t take it as a swipe to the cool, relaxed, shooting shirt look of current Laker coach, JJ Redick, but no one can match Riles look.
“I love JJ, I really do,” The former Lakers coach with four championships said of a coach that resembles his style, at least when it comes to the X’s and O’s, anyway.
As iconic in pop culture as the raised fist that told Magic to pass to Kareem for a signature sky-hook, Riley was most recently played on the HBO show ‘Winning Time’ (based on the Jeff Pearlman book ‘Showtime’) by ‘The Brutalist’ Oscar winner Adrien Brody. But joined by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dwyane Wade and Lakers acting owner Jeanie Buss at this celebration, legendary actor Michael Douglas revealed that his iconic ‘Wall Street’ character Gordon Gekko’s hair was inspired by none other than Pat.
“I was with Pat, we went to Miami, we were driving in his red Mercury, a convertible with the top down,” Douglas said. “I was sitting in the backseat, I was looking at Pat driving and I said, ‘His hair’s not moving! This is a convertible!’ and so I said that’s the way I wanted to go,” the ‘Falling Down’, ‘Black Rain’ and ‘Ant-Man’ actor said in his speech.
Inscribed at the base of the statue are the inspiring lines, “There will come a time when you are challenged, and when that time comes, you must plant your feet. You must stand firm. You must make a point. About who you are, what you do, and where you come from. When that time comes, you do it.”
What more can you say?
Well, how about this from the legendary Pat Riley to close the ceremony, “The time has come to kick some a–,” he told the crowd. “To kick some Boston a–.”
Yet, the King that Riley recruited to Miami, LeBron James and his Lakers couldn’t get it done against their bitter, storied rival Celtics, losing 111-89. Even without Jayson Tatum, Boston have all the beans behind MVP candidate Jaylen Brown and his 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Not to mention a heater in Payton Pritchard’s 30 in downtown Los Angeles. Purifying the perimeter.
This year, the Lakers play the iconic Godzilla theme before games for that high Hollywood drama. But they had no match for the green goliath breathing downtown fire like a kaiju.
Luka Dončić’s 25 and James’ 20 just weren’t enough. Even if the King did crown his 43,000th career point. What night does this man not make history?
Alas, the real victory of the night was giving Pat Riley his long overdue and richly deserved statue. Becoming the first Lakers coach to get one.
And he’s going to get another one next year, too.
Just kidding. No need to put a towel in my mouth, Kareem.
