INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle poured out his heart Monday night when he started reflecting on the impact of Bill Walton.
“To me, he was a living, breathing event in history just walking around,” Carlisle said before the Pacers and Celtics met in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. “He played drums for the Grateful Dead at the Pyramids in Egypt. He was a guy who did everything and there’s been a lot of talk today about how he speaks in hyperbole and stuff, but he just defiantly competed for every moment in life to be the greatest it could possibly be.
Perhaps no event showed more about Walton's character than the moment Carlisle asked for tickets to a 1987 Grateful Dead concert in suburban Washington. "She said, ’What, don't you have tickets?' I said, ’Just give me a couple minutes here.’ So I walked down , I knocked on the door, the whole thing ended up working out. I walked back up the loading dock ramp with two all-access laminates, one said Bill Walton, the other said Susie Walton.”13News anchor Anne Marie Tiernon receives coaching advice from basketball legend Bill Walton at the NBA Fitness exhibit, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.