It has been 20 years since the untimely death of basketball prodigy Reggie Lewis. If you ever saw him play, it is impossible to not wonder what could have been. He is the only player in recorded history to block the great Michael Jordan four times in a single game. Comcast SportsNet will debut a documentary chronicling his life and death on Sunday at 8 p.m. eastern. According to an explanation given by the network about the documentary, the film will take a deeper look into Lewis’s remarkable life beginning as a kid in Baltimore, MD, to his formidable college career, which resulted in major and unprecedented recognition of Northwestern University, to his drafting to the Boston Celtics and being named captain of the team. At 27, Lewis had already lived an amazing life. He also had a great deal to look forward to. “He was on his way to being one of the best 2-guards in the league,” said Brian Shaw, his friend and former teammate. To know what could have been, we might be able to get an idea from a game in March of 1991 where Lewis did the nearly impossible – he stopped Michael Jordan. Lewis blocked Jordan a total of four times in that game and reduced the Hall-of-Famer’s normally “out-of-this-world” display of a man amongst boys into a 12-for-36 shooting performance. When Jordan was asked if he remembered the game, he responded with a chuckle, “Oh, I remember it well. He had my number that particular night.” Lewis’s teammates also recognized that they were playing alongside a fierce competitor of magnificent skill and admirable ability. “Reggie was hard to stop,” former teammate, and All-Star Larry Bird said of his game. “He kept you off balance all the time. There were a few guys in the league I hated to guard because you didn’t know what they were thinking…I’m glad Reggie was my teammate, because he was one of them.” In July of 1993, following a dizzy spell he experienced in what would be his final game against the then Charlotte Hornets, Lewis collapsed shortly after shooting shots for an hour with a friend. Ironically, Lewis was not sweating or even working that hard when he suddenly fell to the floor, gasping for breath, and then lay still. For Boston fans, Lewis was a bigger-than-life figure; however, the details of his life and shocking death have never been told. Hopefully that will change on Sunday. At the time of Lewis’ death, he was already a husband, father, community leader, NBA All-Star and a Celtics captain.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:47:22 +0000