- Seven-time All-Star inspired Knicks to their first NBA title
- Return in 1970 finals became one of league’s famed images
Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of the league’s most enduring examples of playing through pain, died on Tuesday. He was 80.
Reed’s death was announced by the National Basketball Retired Players Association, which had confirmed the news with his family. The cause of death was not released, but Reed had been in poor health recently and was unable to travel to New York in February when the Knicks honored the 50th anniversary of their 1973 championship team.