I want you to look at the top left corner of this site. Do you see it? The ever-constant reminder of Reggie Miller? His individual greatness that gave birth to the most iconic set of words and numbers in Indiana Pacers history?
Miller is still pretty clearly the franchise's greatest player of all time, and likely will be until a Pacer wins an MVP or leads the team to an (NBA) championship. As much as that speaks to his quality as a player, so much of the conversation with Miller is about his cultural standing with Indiana sports fans.
Before Reggie entered the picture, the Pacers' franchise legends were from long-forgotten days of the ABA past. In a vacuum, Mel Daniels and Roger Brown did far more for the team's cache. They won three titles together before being absorbed into the NBA. Funny enough, the Pacers' rivalry started with the New York Knicks in the 70s when Indiana matched their rings in '70 and '73 with two of their own.
No, the attachment to Miller comes because of one simple factor: viewership. Daniels and Brown came during the advent of color television. TV was in the process of becoming a standard part of any home, but wasn't quite there.
By the time the 90s hit, TV was about as widespread as the Bible. Alongside that technology came the first real star the Pacers had had in 20 years.
Miller's best moments in Pacers pinstripes are dotted with clutch performances, baffling shotmaking, and a playstyle truly ahead of its time. It's funny that Miller is the exact type of player the Pacers lack right now, a shooting specialist on the wings who can defend and score in and out of the system.
With his whole career being spent as a Pacer, there's no moment, no highlight that won't bring joy to fans.
Let's take a quick glance at what he managed to pull off.
More than just 8P9S, Miller dominated the fourth
Everyone remembers eight points in nine seconds. It was more than just improbable; it should have been impossible.
In the NBA, if the clock registers less than 0.3 seconds, the game is considered over, as no shot attempt takes less time than that third of a second. There's also the Mike D'Antoni-an idea that it takes seven seconds for a classic offense to set up.
Getting three shots up in nine seconds, making all of them, and preventing the opponent from even handling the ball in that timeframe is insane. It briefly broke basketball for the Pacers to win a game they shouldn't have.
Modern NBA fans also don't understand just how crazy this was. The NBA has undergone a big pace-based revolution. Blown leads happen at a higher rate, with larger leads blown. 20-point leads were once insurmountable; now they are simple impediments to an avalanche of scoring.
That was Reggie, ahead of his time and great beyond what the calculus of his time thought.
His most impressive showing, however, was probably against those aforementioned Knicks. In 1994, Miller scored 25 of his playoff career-high 39 points in the fourth quarter of a must-win Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Don't remember it? Sure you do, it's the choke game.
Three after three dropped in. On or off the ball, Miller was cooking any Knicks defender while barking at Spike Lee. He simply willed Indiana to a win over a team he hated.
That's a hard challenge to outdo. Tyrese Haliburton is currently aiming to be the franchise's new GOAT, but it's a tall task. As good as the vibes are for him, expectations can be heavy weights, weights that Miller never escaped, as he came short of winning a ring for Indiana.
Add us as a preferred source on Google