In an Armani suit and fist in the air, signaling his Showtime Lakers to pass the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley now stands as the first head coach to be honored among the eight bronze statues outside the Crypto.com Arena. With countless LA greats tipping their hats to him, Shaquille O’Neal joined the bandwagon, recalling a wild story from his Miami Heat days, a moment that showcased Riley’s mantra to coaching.

“I didn’t get to play for him here in LA, but I got to experience him up close,” O’Neal said in his tribute video. “One day in practice, I’m upset, and I’m chasing him across the gym. I’m trying to kill him. Most coaches would have stepped aside, not Pat. He stopped, he turned around, he stood his ground, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this man is different.’ You don’t build dynasties if you’re afraid of personalities. And Pat was never afraid.”

Riley was a fearless leader. He was never afraid to call out Abdul-Jabbar. So when O’Neal tried to intimidate Riley, the legendary coach stood his ground. On the day when legends like Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Abdul-Jabbar peeled their eyes for the statue’s unveiling, Big Diesel took fans down memory lane back two decades.

“When our Miami team went to the Finals in 2006, we were up 3-2 and going to Dallas for the last two games, or so I thought, so Pat told the team, do not bring two suits to Dallas, we are winning in six games,” O’Neal narrated. “That’s confidence. But when we got to the airport, oh yeah, he checked the bags, he actually checked them. That’s not just belief, that’s conviction.”

Riley led the Heat to the NBA Finals in his second coaching stint with the team, after a controversial coaching takeover from Stan Van Gundy just after 21 games in the 2005-06 season. Even though they went 0-2 down in the Finals, Riley by then had made winning in big moments a habit. The Heat, spearheaded by O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, won three consecutive games and turned the series on its head. They were headed to Dallas for Game 6. The rest is history.

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“They say he once dunked his head in a bucket of water and held his breath for more than four minutes,” O’Neal revealed. “Finally, he came up gasping for air and said, we cannot win unless we treat it like this is our last breath. I was there, I seen it, up and personal. That’s how we coached: everything urgent, everything intense, everything championship level. And that mentality, that’s why this statue belongs here.”

Many credit Alonzo Mourning’s arrival in Miami alongside Riley in ’95 as a significant turning point in franchise history. However, Riley thinks otherwise. About a decade ago, he once claimed that “Shaquille changed everything for our franchise,” and bear in mind he said this after LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Wade made four straight NBA Finals. That certainly indicates that respect is a sure two-way street between the two of them.

Pat Riley Reveals What He Wants Modern Coaches to Emulate

It wasn’t the fashion that Riley represented with his tailored Armani suit and sharp look. It was all about intangibles. He represented power, authority, and professionalism in the golden Showtime era. On Sunday, when the NBA legend was being honored with his bronze statue, he had a similar wish.

“What a coach should wear, I wish it went back to coat and ties,” Riley said. “I think an audience wants to see somebody on the sidelines who looks like a leader, dresses like a leader, acts like a leader.”

In nine years with the Lakers, Riley won four championships. This is where his true NBA legacy was built. As a Lakers coach, Riley won 533 games with the highest winning percentage at 73.3. And yet, he remains humble in the face of the applause he deservedly received today.

“I jumped up on their shoulders, and they carried me,” Riley said, deflecting the honor to his Showtime Lakers team.