One of the pillars of the ’80s Lakers, he had the task of stopping the Celtics star: “I knew that victory came from there. The spectacle was born from our basketball, from which players like Curry and Durant come. Living a year in Rome was a dream, it’s just a shame that…”
Five NBA titles in the 80s, those of the Lakers-Celtics dyarchy. The most legendary of basketball’s most famous league. Michael Cooper won them in Los Angeles, as Magic and Jabbar’s praetorian, but with a role of his own that history and all NBA fans recognize in him. In Pat Riley’s formidable team he was a wingman so to speak: he was the sixth man who came in and could win you a title. Because, in those days, few defended like him. The legend appears on the stage of the Teatro Sociale welcomed by the ecstasy of a people, that of basketball, who never want to break away from those myths.
bird, the biggest rival
—
“Playing with the Lakers was like playing with brothers – he explains -, we loved each other so much that our growth was collective. We grew together until we were able to play for the title and win it several times. We have always had a way of playing and we carried it forward over time. We were consistent and created a style”. Coop, as the fans called him, was part of that unrepeatable suggestion. As an unparalleled defender: “I started focusing on defense in college when I had to face tough people, so I tried to figure out what I could do to stand out.” The impact with the NBA was not easy: “It was very, very physical before Magic and Larry Bird arrived in the League and changed the game forever. But from there a great story began.” Five titles and that rivalry with Boston that made the NBA a global phenomenon: “I think that people like Durant and Curry, in some way, derive from our basketball, which cleared the concept of entertainment.” Cooper was special for the Lakers because, at that time, he was one of the few players in the world capable of containing Larry Bird: “My biggest rival. I studied him even at night, his every move, I knew that to win the title I had to go through there.” Having finished his career in Los Angeles, Cooper also played a year in Rome, the 1990-1991 season: “It was a dream to live a year in Rome with my family. On the bench there was Valerio Bianchini, a slightly shorter Pat Riley. The other foreigner was Dino Radja. I only have one worry, not having learned Italian.” A myth. Of the two worlds.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED