Paul Westphal, a Hall of Fame member who was an All-Star and three-time roster for the first team five times NBA, died at the age of 70, announced this Saturday the Sun tanning from Phoenix. The renowned base was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2020.
The former player grew up in Southern California and played college basketball at USC before being named 10th by the Boston Celtics in the 1972 draft. He won an NBA title with the Celtics in 1974 in his second season, but his career took off. a flight when he was traded to Phoenix.
His scoring average doubled to 20.5 points per game, and he helped the Suns to their first appearance in the NBA Finals. NBA in 1976. In match 5 of the 1976 final, Westphal made several key plays to triple the overtime. Although the Celtics prevailed in the game and the series.
After five consecutive seasons in the All-Star Game, Westphal suffered injuries that limited his playing time to 1982-83, when he won the Returning Player of the Year title with the New York Knicks. He returned the following season to end his playing career with the Suns before turning to coaching.
As a coach, he was 318-279 years old, including a trip to the 1993 final and two conference semifinals. Westphal also joined Seattle, Sacramento and Pepperdine University from 2001 to 2006. From 2014 to 2016, he last worked in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in September 2019.