Walt Frazier devastated by lack of Willis Reed: ‘Don’t make them like that anymore’
MIAMI — Walt “Clyde” Frazier mentioned he’d been “meandering” all day on Wednesday, in the future after the loss of his longtime friend, captain and championship teammate, Willis Reed.
“It took me so lengthy to dress right now,” the famously trendy Frazier mentioned softly earlier than working Wednesday’s sport between the Knicks and the Warmth because the longtime analyst for MSG Networks. “It’s been devastating. After seeing him on the video for the fiftieth anniversary, I didn’t know he was that far gone. Everyone was actually shocked.”
Regardless of the heavy feelings, Frazier advised story after story about Reed, together with yet one more time concerning the Corridor of Fame heart suiting up to play with a leg injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals towards the Lakers through the Knicks’ first championship season in 1970.
The franchise legends gained one other title collectively in 1973, the fiftieth anniversary of which was celebrated final month on the Backyard with out Reed, who as a substitute despatched a video message.
“I turned the TV off right now as a result of each time I regarded up there was Willis. I needed to flip the cellphone off. Everyone’s calling,” the 77-year-old Frazier mentioned. “I’m glad to be on the sport. Perhaps that’ll give me three hours the place I can simply react and probably not [think about it].”
Clyde advised terrific tales of what Reed really was like on and off the court docket, starting with the veteran exhibiting up an hour late choosing Frazier up on the airport when the latter was drafted in 1967 however then taking his new teammate to Wilt Chamberlain’s nightclub in New York.
“Received me a date. It was an evening I’ll always remember,” Frazier mentioned. “He was that kind of particular person. I copied his handwriting, the way in which he writes his identify. His tenacity on the court docket, at all times giving 110 p.c, how he handled you guys [in the media] and the followers. He was an amazing function mannequin for me in that respect.
“They don’t make them like that anymore. Type man, he’d mortgage you his automobile, mortgage you his cash. I keep in mind when he picked me up, we glided by his home. He lived in Queens. I didn’t know his children from the neighborhood children. His home was like Grand Central Station. Folks have been simply out and in. That’s how the person is. He shares all the pieces. He was at all times loaning guys his automobile. [Dick] Barnett in all probability owes him hundreds of {dollars} proper now. He was at all times borrowing cash from Willis. He was fairly a person.
“However greater than something it was the non-public issues,” Frazier continued. “We learn about his exploits as a participant, however as an individual he was even higher. You at all times had the rookie room with him, taking him underneath his wing. Even with me, he’d take me out. He was a giant man on going out, wining and eating, taking me out, telling me concerning the nuances of the sport early on — and the way he was going to kick my butt if I didn’t guard Oscar [Robertson].”
Frazier additionally identified that he had “the sport of my profession and my life” in Sport 7 towards the Lakers in 1970. Reed stunningly hobbled onto the court docket and scored the Knicks’ first 4 factors, his solely scoring within the sport. Frazier completed with 36 factors, 19 assists and 7 rebounds.
“I used to be simply considering that Sport 7 epitomizes a number of issues about Willis and New York, particularly the followers,” Frazier mentioned. “I used to be considering simply, the followers helped a man run who might barely stroll. Willis Reed, when he got here out of the locker room, he might barely stroll, and their cheers and stuff acquired him working.
“He was the catalyst for us, as a result of we have been a staff that have been uncertain we might win with out him. So, once we noticed him, we perked up like, ‘We will do it.’ And I’ll always remember, I noticed Wilt; I noticed [Elgin] Baylor and [Jerry] West. When Willis got here on the court docket, they stopped doing what they have been doing. They have been so involved. And I mentioned to myself, ‘Man, we acquired these guys.’ After which he would come out and make his first two pictures. The remainder was historical past from there on, and that was Willis Reed, man.”