Back when the Lakers were putting on shows as good as anything coming out of Hollywood, the coolest guy in the building might have been the one at courtside.
Even across the country, everyone noticed Jack Nicholson.
“Growing up, the guy I looked at was Jack Nicholson,” Spike Lee said.
“When I was sitting in the blue seats at the Garden, I said, ‘Hopefully one day I can sit courtside like my guy Jack Nicholson.'”
Lee eventually made it to the front row to watch his beloved Knicks. And this weekend, he and Nicholson will together make it to basketball’s Hall of Fame.
Along with fellow actor and entertainer Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz, they will be added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s SuperFan Gallery on Sunday, a few hours before this year’s class is enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The gallery recognises fans for their knowledge and passion of basketball, along with their reputation within the basketball community and their appreciation for the history of the sport.
Of course, the celebrities are just fans with better seats
Nicholson became an LA Lakers ticket holder in the 1970s. The three-time Academy Award-winning actor would adjust his shooting schedules and personal meetings so he could be seated in his sunglasses next to the visiting bench at big Lakers games.
It was from that spot he watched the Lakers blow a 24-point lead against Boston in Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals — a defeat Nicholson saw coming as the Celtics were rallying.
“It was late in the game and I just kept hearing, ‘Hey Doc, we’re dead men walking,'” said Doc Rivers, then the Celtics coach.
“And he just kept saying it. I didn’t quite know what he was talking about and then I figured it out late when we came back and won the game.”
The two would become friends when Rivers later coached the Clippers, and the Lakers’ most famous fan even went to check out the other side when they were facing the Houston Rockets in the 2015 playoffs.
“Jack came to that game,” Rivers said. “Showed up at a Clipper game and then we blew a huge lead and he left and I don’t think he’ll ever go back to another Clipper game again.”
Now 87, Nicholson no longer goes to see the Lakers and is the only one of the four new superfans not expected to attend Sunday’s ceremony.
Spike Lee said of his Hall of Fame honour, ‘Who would have thunk it?’
The film director is still a regular at Madison Square Garden,and is close to a lot of the players he watches.
“I know these guys and especially the visiting teams, a lot of these guys, they come on the court and they come and say hello to me,” Lee said, chuckling at how many times Michael Jordan would profanely tell him to sit down.
“They give me five, give me a hug — and these are the opposing teams.”
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