Paul Westphal, A member of the Hall of Fame who was five times All-Star and three times selected for the first team of the NBA, He died at the age of 70, the Alone of Phoenix. The recognized base had been diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2020.
The former player grew up in Southern California and played college basketball at USC before being selected tenth overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1972 draft. He won 1 NBA title with the Celtics in 1974 in his second season. , but his career took off when he was moved to Phoenix.
His scoring average doubled to 20.5 points per game, and helped the Suns make their first appearance in the Finals of the NBA in 1976. In the fifth game of the 1976 Finals, Westphal made several key plays to triple 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 until 1982-83, when he won Player of the Year honors with the New York Knicks. He returned the following season to end his playing career with the Suns before dedicating himself to coaching.
As a coach he had a record of 318-279, including a trip to the 1993 Finals and two conference semifinals. Westphal also entered Seattle, Sacramento and Pepperdine University from 2001 to 2006. He last worked in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets from 2014 to 2016. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in September 2019.