Lakers to honor the temple of fame Pat Riley with the statue on February 22

LOS Angeles-The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Pat Riley on February 22, while the renowned temple joined the former greats of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar team, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant in bronze outside their city center.

The Lakers will rightly honor Riley against the Boston Celtics, their longtime rival.

Riley led the Lakers from 1981 to 1990 during the team’s “showtime” era and won four NBA championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988).

With Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar leading an exciting list with a rapid revolutionary offense, the Lakers won 533-194 (0.733) during Riley’s mandate and added 102 victories in the playoffs during nine seasons.

The Lakers won at least 50 games in each of his nine seasons as a coach and have won at least 60 games in five consecutive seasons. He was appointed coach of the NBA year with Lakers in 1989-1990.

He played for Los Angeles from 1970 to 1975, and was a team broadcaster before becoming the assistant of Paul Westhead in 1979. Riley was part of the 1971-1972 team which won a 33 consecutive game record and won the NBA championship.

Riley, 80, has also trained the New York Knicks and Miami Heat. He won another championship as a coach with The Heat in 2006 and is now the president of their team.

Last season, the heat appointed the court in their downtown arena after Riley during a ceremony attended by several of his former players.

Riley will become the eighth luminous of the Lakers to be honored with a Star Plaza statue, which has become a popular tourist attraction for fans of the popular world franchise. The others are Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Bryant, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and the diffuser Chick Hearn.