"Just go through the backdoor" - Rick Carlisle reveals Bill Walton's cheeky dating assist on his first outing with wife Donna Nobile

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle talks about how the late Bill Walton helped him with his first date with now-wife Donna Nobile. The NBA community was surprised with the passing of Walton ahead of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. Before the game started, Carlisle remembered what his former teammate did for him.

Walton and Carlisle had a chance to play together for two seasons while they were with the Boston Celtics. The now Pacers head coach played for the Celtics for three seasons and became teammates with the Hall of Famer in his second and third seasons.

Led by the legendary Larry Bird, they won a title together in 1986 against the Houston Rockets. The head coach shared that the team still keeps in touch together. And he recalled the moment when he was assisted by the big man off the court.

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"I have him to thank for me being married to my wife Donna," Carlisle said. "Our first date was to a [Grateful] Dead show in Washington DC and I called Bill, I said, 'Look, I got a date with a girl that I think is pretty cool, I'd love to go to the Dead show at Capital center, I don't have any tickets, can you help?'"

"And he said, 'Just go through the back door, ask for Dennis McNally, tell him your Rick Carlisle from the Boston Celtics and everything will be just fine.' I said. 'Really?' And he said, 'Oh yeah.'"

Carlisle said that they enjoyed the date that Walton helped fix and even had a chance to talk to Jerry Singer, the vocalist of the band. The head coach then expressed how grateful he's been that he got a chance to be a friend to Walton.

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Walton liked the way the Pacers play according to Rick Carlisle

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The high-octane offense of the Pacers is one of the most entertaining systems that fans have watched in the league this season. Their system has transformed them into the best offensive team this campaign. One of the people who was a fan of it was Walton.

Before the start of the game, Rick Carlisle addressed the unfortunate passing of the legend. He talked about how he has been in touch with his former teammate during the postseason. Carlisle also shared how Walton was a fan of how the team played.

"He has stayed in touch with me, he's been texting me a lot throughout our playoffs. I read some of his text messages to our players... Bill really likes our team, liked the way we played."

The Pacers are in a tough situation right now as they are down 0-3 against the Celtics.

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