Pat Riley & Ricky Davis
© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports/© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Every Miami Heat faithful knows the story about Pat Riley and his ice bucket. To give you its gist, Riley used to go out of his way just to emphasize something he wanted his players to learn. According to former Heat guard Ricky Davis, it was 100% true and it didn’t only happen once.
“I was there when he dunked his head in the ice and almost passed out. Alonzo Mourning went in there and pulled him out. He’s done that a couple times,” Davis told Sports Illustrated in 2017.
A great motivator
Undoubtedly, Riley will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches of all time. But for “Ricky Buckets,” Pat Riley wasn’t only a great coach. More importantly, Davis said that Riley was an exceptional motivator, a storyteller who knew exactly how to bring the zealousness out of his players just when the team needed it the most.
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“He’s not only a coach, he’s a great leader,” Davis added of Riley. “I appreciated his pep stories, he made me ready to run through a wall for him. Every day, every practice he had something. He has a motivational speech or story. Before these games he has pep talks or stories and you’re just waiting for something.”
Riley’s stories were effective
Now, you’re mistaken if you think Riley’s moving speech in front of his players was like one of those dramatic and sensationalized scenes we see in the movies. As it turned out, Riley’s pep talk sessions weren’t all that cinematic. In fact, former Heat forward Walt Williams even described the Hall of Fame coach as “very chill” and “low key.”
However, Riley’s words were on point, so fitting that it got the team going.
“He wasn’t a screamer, or anything like that. He’s very chill, low-key. Pat was a great storyteller man. He could tell a story before a game, you would be so wired and so ready to go… We were the 12th or 13th seed. Then we had the best record in the second half of the season and ended up in the 8th seed,” Williams revealed.
Indeed, every NBA coach has his own way of working his magic, but at the end of the day, they all want one thing: to help the team win. And while some coaches are identical in style, Davis and Williams could tell there’s only one Pat Riley.
