Alexander: Pat Riley statue captures his Lakers coaching personality
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LOS ANGELES – Yes, Pat Riley is the current president of the Miami Heat, and he has his fingerprints all over what is advertised – presumably at his urging – as “Heat Culture.” But I suspect anyone who lived through the Showtime era of the ’80s – or, for that matter, watched how the roots of Laker Exceptionalism were formed before that – knows the true roots of that culture. And the statue that was unveiled early Sunday afternoon in the Star Plaza is the perfect characterization of the ethos that propelled that era of championship basketball: Riley, impeccably dressed, hair slicked back, thrusting a fist in the air. The significance of that particular gesture? It might as...