An All-Star History of the Indiana Pacers
By Jon Washburn
1991-1996: The Snub Years
Despite a continued run of great play, Miller failed to reach the All-Star Game again until his back-to-back selections in 1994-95 and 1995-96. The reality was that he was more than deserving every single year, but it wasn’t until Michael Jordan retired and he was able to distinguish himself against the Knicks that he firmly planted himself on the national radar.
Reggie actually started the game in 1995 and even connected on three early triples, but otherwise shot poorly as he failed to score 10 points. The next year, MJ was back and Reggie would once again be subjected to a bench role.
Reggie had even less luck in 3-point shootouts during this time, first losing in a tiebreaker (once again, to eventual champion Craig Hodges) that would have advanced him to the semi-finals in 1993 and finally, losing a heart-breaker to Glen Rice in 1995. In typical Pacers’ fashion, Reggie somehow managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory despite connecting on more jumpers in the contest than the champion Rice.
Fortunately, Pacers’ fans were treated with Detlef Schrempf’s 1993 campaign. Schrempf deservedly made the All-Star Game in ’93 after averaging 19, 10, and 6 while shooting 48% from the field. (Randomly, he was an atrocious 3-point shooter that year, hitting a staggeringly awful 15% despite averaging 39% for his career). Unfortunately, his game wasn’t suited for the All-Star atmosphere and he only played for 13 minutes.
To be honest, the only above-average All-Star Weekend performance came when Antonio Davis submitted a yeoman-like 20 minutes in the first ever Rising Stars contest in 1994. Even Kenny Williams couldn’t advance to the semi-finals of a below-average dunk contest field in 1991.
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