Patrick James Riley (photo ©Keith Allison) was born on March 20, 1945 in Rome, New York, USA. He attended the University of Kentucky, where he played both basketball and football. In 1966, with the basketball team he participated in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament losing a final reenacted in the 2006 movie “Glory Road”.
Pat Riley was selected to both the NBA draft, as the first pick of the San Diego Rockets, and the NFL draft, as eleventh choice of the Dallas Cowboys. He decided to play in the NBA. In 1970 he was picked by the Portland Trail Blazers in the expansion draft but was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. There, he won the NBA title in 1972. In 1975 he was traded to the Phoenix Suns and after a season he decided to retire after a career as a bench player.
In 1977, Pat Riley returned to the Los Angeles Lakers as a broadcaster. During the 1979-1980 season, he joined the staff as an assistant coach after head coach Jack McKinney was nearly killed in an accident and his assistant Paul Westhead replaced him as head coach.
The Lakers won the title in 1980 but the following season they went out of the playoffs in the first round. Magic Johnson complained about Westhead’s style and the owner of the franchise Jerry Buss decided to fire the coach. Buss wanted to appoint general manager Jerry West as the new head coach but he declined the offer and asked Pat Riley if he wanted the job. Riley agreed asking West to handle the bench for a few games to help him.
Pat Riley led the Los Angeles Lakers to four consecutive finals, winning the 1982 one and the 1985 one, even more important because the title came defeating the hated Boston Celtics. The team’s quick play style very fast break oriented was called “Showtime”. However, those Lakers were very strong in defense as well.
In 1986, the Los Angeles Lakers were unable to return to the NBA Finals but in the 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 seasons Pat Riley was able to win back to back titles, against the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons. This was a feat that nobody in the NBA had achieved for nearly two decades.
Those Lakers were one of the best teams of all time as besides Magic Johnson they had other stars such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Byron Scott and other very strong players such as A.C. Green, Mychal Thompson, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis.
In 1989, the Los Angeles Lakers reached their third consecutive final but this time they lost it. In 1990, with a team that was aging, the Lakers didn’t reach the final and Pat Riley left his job as head coach even if he was elected NBA coach of the year.
For about a year, Pat Riley worked as a television commentator for NBC but in 1991 he became a coach again with the New York Knicks. Unlike the Lakers, this team became famous especially for the very hard defense. The Knicks reached the final in 1994 but lost to the Houston Rockets.
In 1995, Pat Riley left the Knicks for the Miami Heat and this move caused several controversies also creating a strong rivalry between the two teams. Riley became both head coach and president of the Heat. The team’s results were mixed, also because of Alonzo Mourning’s serious health problems .
In 2003, Pat Riley decided to focus his energies on the job as a manager and chose Stan Van Gundy as his replacement as the Miami Heat’s head coach. Riley rebuilt the team in the next couple of seasons drafting Dwyane Wade and setting a trade to get Shaquille O’Neal.
On December 12, 2005, Pat Riley announced his return as the Miami Heat head coach. Officially, Stan Van Gundy resigned to spend more time with his family but the news caused some controversy because many people felt that Riley wanted to win another NBA title as a coach. In 2006 he succeeded, beating the Dallas Mavericks after losing the first two games of the NBA Finals.
At the end of the 2007-2008 season, Pat Riley left the Miami Heat’s bench again, announcing that Erik Spoelstra would become the new head coach. In 2010, LeBron James and Chris Bosh arrived to form the “Big 3″ along with Dwyane Wade. The Heat reached four consecutive NBA finals, winning the 2012 one against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the 2013 one against the San Antonio Spurs.
Pat Riley has become over the years a popular character even if his reputation isn’t necessarily positive. He’s controversial because he always wants to look like a tough guy. He published two books that mix basketball and life lessons and also for this reason he has built a reputation as a motivator. Beyond the controversy over him, he proved he’s a winner.
[ad name=”AmazonSports468”]
