Reggie Miller and the Three-Point Contest

Back in the day, our boy Reggie’s contributions to All-Star Weekend were, let’s just say, more popular than they are these days. And never was he as beloved as when he was doing what he did best: Shoot treys.

Surprisingly, he never won a three-point contest despite participating five times (’89, ’90, ’93, ’95 and ’98), but he did twice lose in the finals — by one point each time. Here’s a quick breakdown of how he fared in all his appearances (which I’m pretty sure are the only five times any Pacer has participated.  Presumably, Danny will show up at some point. Except for that time Danny did it last year, which I totally didn’t forget about):

1989: Eliminated in second round with a round-low 11.
1990: Lost by one in the finals to Craig Hodges (18-19). Reggie dropped a 16 in the first round and a round-high 18 in the second round. (Fun Fact: This was one contest MJ participated in — and he put up a highly embarassing total of 5, which is tied with Detlef’s 5 in 1988 for the worst score ever.)
1993: Eliminated in the first round with a 14
1995: Lost by one in the finals to Glen Rice, who won 17-16. Reggie dropped a 17 in the first round and a round-high 19 in the second round to make the finals.
1998: Eliminated in the first round with a 12

It’s weird that a guy who loved pressure and the “all eyez on me” factor more than most shooters never won one — particularly since that guy is also arguably the best shooter humankind has ever produced. (Although I’m guessing that both his former coach/GM/guy in front of him in this photo and his sister might disagree.)

Regardless, Reggie — particularly, young Reggie — was a big reason that the contest had a flair and swagger to it back in the day that just did not exist last night. Paul Pierce brought a little flavor by yelling between racks as he knocked down triple after triple on his way to winning the first three-point trophy by any Celtic aside from the aforementioned Larry Legend, but it’s just not like it used to be. Or perhaps I’m just old? I dunno. Feels too formal and corporate rather than just being the “I’m better than you” pissing contest that it once was. Oh well. I’m a big Truth fan so it was nice to see him win anyway.

In other news, Stephen Curry’s shot is gorgeous and if he doesn’t win one of these things some day it will almost be as shocking as Reggie not having a trophy.

Reg was rocking some great shorts during the 1990 contest. Also, I had like 20 of those shirts that the dude with the glasses behind Reggie is wearing. The Bulls ones were great with that highly comical Bill Cartwright carictature. (Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)