Pat Riley - Mr Gomina - Mr Threepeat

He coached the Lakers to back-to-back titles in 87 and 88. In the 88 celebrations he promised the fans a second straight title, that only a very disputable foul call on Rodman, in the last minute, made the Lakers win game 7 again the Pistons. Riley as about to promise the "threepeat" but Kareem made him shut up, wisely since the Pistons won the next 2 championships. The "Threepeat" is btw, registered by him and he never got the feel of it. The Bulls would get it two times, mostly at his expense.

Coming from the Lakers and Showtime Mr Riley came to a mediocre NYK.

He made the Knicks something to be proud while he as there. They took the 92 Bulls to 7 games and in 93 were two up against the same Bulls in the conference Finals. Incredibly, the best of 7 series did not need a game 7 and the Bulls completed the 1st threepeat the very same year. MJ was spotted in Atalantic City before a game and the press put up a show on that, as the bulls were down two-nothing and MJ had been a non-factor. 55 points from MJ in game 4 and the Bulls never looked back. Charles Smith was blocked 3 times in the last seconds of game 5, just under the basket when trying to tie the game for the Knicks, and that killed them.

In 1994, a John Starks three in game 6 could've made him champion. Did not. One year later MJ came back and the Pacers avenged the eleminations in the previous 2 years.

The Heat were ZERO before he came along the year after. Mourning, Marjerle and Hardaway came in and were a competitive squad for a few years. Until age took a toll on the startinf 5, and Alan houston beat them on a very lucky leaning jumper in a disputed first round playoff matchup.

After some lackluster seasons he became team manager and let the coaching to Stan Van gundy , brother of Jeff who was his assistant and became his sucessor in the Knicks. Stan Left halfways through this season and Pat came down to coaching again.

He is old now, but was figure in this game.

What I never liked from him is that he never played rookies, so his teams always died of age. Monty Williams, Charlie Ward, doug Christie had problems finding any playing time overthere.

And he always trusted the starters even if they played like shit (see Starks in 84 finals game 7 ).

A very focused and short-term coach. Team hustle,D and professionalism were always demanded by Riley.

He is also called Mr Gomina due to his hair.

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