When I was a youngster, Mom and Dad took us to Willis Reed's restaurant, "Beef and Buns," for a simple dinner before the game. Willis was known to stop in on his way to the Garden, and sure enough, he came in, standing close to 7' tall with his heels, and wearing a black mink coat. What a sight!! I sheepishly walked up to the counter, where he was checking in on the staff. He looked down at this little 3-foot tall blond kid, signed a glossy black and white photo of himself that I had brought with me, and gave me a pat on the head. I was in awe. The family was all smiles. Willis gave us a wonderful memory for life. Thank you Willis. R.I.P.
As a kid growing up, he was my hero. Great player, no self-congratulatory chest pounding, classy, respectful of his opponents and the game. HOF all the way.
The Captain, that's how I remembered Willis Reed. The most exciting moment for me in all my sporting life was to see Willis walk out for game 7. It was iconic and the best YES.
Patrick ewing had lots of advantages over willis reed about learning to shoot a jump shot videos, teaching like coach John Thompson,,, bob mcadoo had a great jump shot ,Patrick ewing had a low post game
@@lloydkline6946 bob mcAdoo by far was the best jump shooting center, heck Ewing was a defensive center in college more then he was an offensive center, thing is the Knicks stunk so bad they let Ewing shoot all the time until he became okay at it.
Best move knicks ever made, sending Bellamy and Kovimes to the Pistons, to acquire Dave Debusschere. Allowed Reed to play center, and gave them a great power forward, who had very good range.
Ewing couldn't carry his jockstrap. Ewing would be abused and intimidated by an old bald Jabbar and Reed before his knee injury played a young dominate Alcindor mano to mano and the Knicks won 14 of 16 against the Bucks from 69-71.
@Gary Thompson The Alcindor that Reed played against was a 35 point 17 rebound machine. The bald Kareem that Ewing was playing against grabbed around 5 rebounds a game and scored around 20 points and yet dominated Ewing.
@@paulsilas9070 He shot 41% against an old Jabbar and 34% in the finals in 1994 against Akeem and constantly choked at the foul line in the playoffs or settled for fadeaway shots. He couldn't carry Willis Reed's jock!
@@lloydkline1518 and Willis and the Knicks beat the Celtics game 7 in at the Boston garden in the conference championship, never before did that happen, and the Knicks beat Wes and the Bullets in 69-70 conference finals...what's your point?
@@carlitosortiz2870 ❤️ willis reed/ ny knick never beat bill russell 1960s / boston celtic ;;; (1968/ 1969 playoff series ) ;; wes unsel & washington bullet beat a prime willis reed / ny knick 1970/ 1971 playoff series ;;
@AnAverage2KMobilePlayer Willis played center when the center was the center of the team. Never had a day off in his career...played against the best and put up HOF numbers.
