Basketball

‘The Godfather’: Pat Riley’s back in the Finals, at 75, with the unexpected Heat


I’m a cold-assed, cold-hearted Irishman.— Patrick James Riley, 2016

Here’s Pat Riley, at 75, still the Coolest White Man in the NBA this side of Jerry West — like him, another lifer, equally obsessed with winning — with another team in the Finals.

The Godfather, as Riley has been known in Miami since well before his hair went white, quickly retooled the Heat into another hungry and hard and tenacious contender, after LeBron James’ departure in 2014, which had left Riley flummoxed and angry. The deliciousness of Riley and James going at it in the bubble for ultimate stakes — with James looking to become the first player in NBA history to win championships with three different teams; Riley, who has nine rings overall, looking for a title in a fifth decade, something no one else in league history has accomplished — will be the undertow of these Finals.

And, 53 years since his NBA debut as a defensive-oriented wing…





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