Indiana Pacers: 15 best scorers in franchise history
1. Reggie Miller, 1987-2005
Pacers scoring: 18.2 ppg, FG: 47.1%, 3P: 39.55%, FT: 88.8%
In one of my favorite lines from the Ken Burns Baseball documentary, George Will describes Babe Ruth’s presence in baseball as “an Everest in Kansas”. There was nothing remotely like him before and he completely altered the face of baseball forever. Reggie Miller is like that.
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Miller scored 12,408 more points than everyone else on the all-time list. Reggie led Indiana in scoring 10 times, double anyone else.
During the 14 seasons between 1989 to 2002, Miller averaged 20.0 points per game. From 1989-90 (his first All-star season) Indiana missed the playoffs once in 15 years.
There is no other Pacer with the combination of loyalty, longevity and greatness as Reggie Miller, he is in his own category.
What’s interesting with players like Miller, is that the patina of time can render them caricatures of their former selves. Miller has been gone just long enough that literally millions of people only know him through olds clips and passed-down stories. What happens is that everything a player did gets boiled down to a simple narrative that lacks nuance.
In Reggie Miller’s case: all he shot was 3-pointers. There is obviously truth to that, Reggie Miller weaponized and dramatized the 3-pointer unlike anyone before. He’s the figurehead that produced Ray Allen and Stephen Curry and everyone else who incorporates the three as such a weapon.
What this misses though was that Reggie would burn teams at all levels of the court (with the exception of his final years, when spotting up threes was just about all he did).
Prime Reggie was always in attack mode. An endurance marvel, he never stopped running, his quick trigger allowed him to get shots off anywhere on the court (mostly inside the arc). Defenders couldn’t afford the slightest lapse against him, or it’s a basket. Reggie’s movement ensured that there were such lapses.
Before Reggie Miller, the Pacers were the Pacers that you read throughout most of this list. A team with a rich history in the ABA (that was almost entirely ignored) then a series of bright stars who flashed brightly for a season or two before extinguishing.
Next. 15 greatest shooters in Pacers history. dark
For 11 years, the Pacers existed in obscurity, older fans would tell younger ones about what they missed: Mel, the Raja, Big Mac, Freddie Lewis. Younger fans had nothing to counter with. And then there was Reggie, a player who played as if materialized out of a Hoosier’s mind. A player who prepared tirelessly, who left his best on the floor, and who could shoot the lights out while scoring with the best of them.