Reggie Miller

Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965 in Riverside, California) is an American former professional basketball player. Miller spent the entirety of his 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. Miller was known for his precision three-point field goal shooting, especially in clutch situations. It is believed that no one hit more buzzer beaters than him. He holds the NBA record for career three-pointers made (2,560). Currently, he works as a NBA commentator (along with his sister Cheryl Miller) for TNT.

Early life[]

Miller was born with leg deformities which caused an inability to walk correctly; after a few years of continuously wearing braces on both legs, his leg strength grew enough to compensate. One of five siblings, he comes from an athletic family. His brother Darrell is a former major league catcher; his sister Tammy played volleyball at California State University, Fullerton; and his older sister Cheryl is arguably the best women's basketball player of all time. Cheryl was a member of the 1984 U.S. gold-medal winning Olympic basketball team and is currently an analyst for Turner Sports. One of the family anecdotes Reggie liked to recall was when Cheryl used to beat him in games of 1-on-1 prior to his professional career. According to Reggie, they quit playing when Reggie was finally able to block Cheryl's shot.

College[]

Reggie Miller attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he received a degree in history. In in the 1984-1985 season he helped the team to an NIT championship. In his senior season, 1986-1987, he led the Bruins to a Pac-10 regular season championship and the first Pac-10 tournament championship. His final game was a loss in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship to the Wyoming Cowboys led by Fennis Dembo. He finished second in all-time scoring at UCLA behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As of 2006, he still holds the UCLA single-season records for most league points, highest league scoring average, and most free throws. He also holds several individual games records.

NBA career[]

Reggie was selected by the Pacers with the 11th pick in the 1st round of the 1987 NBA Draft. Miller wore jersey number 31 while playing on the Pacers. Originally, Miller was a back-up to shooting guard John Long before he became a starter. Miller gained a respectable following early in his career as he helped turned the Pacers into a perrenial playoff team.

Miller became a household name during the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. This new celebrity resulted from his phenomenal shooting performance in Game 5 of the series on June 1, 1994, in which he scored 39 points, 25 of which came in the fourth quarter of the Pacers' 93-86 victory at Madison Square Garden. Miller made several long three-pointers during the quarter and engaged in an animated discussion of his ongoing performance with noted Knicks fan Spike Lee, who was seated courtside. The win gave the Pacers a 3-2 series lead over the heavily favored Knicks, but the Pacers lost the next two games and thus the series.

On May 7, 1995, Miller scored eight points in the last 16.4 seconds of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks, leading the Pacers to a stunning 107-105 victory. With the Pacers trailing by six points, Miller made a three-point shot, stole the inbounds pass, retreated to the three-point arc and tied the game with a second three-pointer. On the ensuing possession, Knicks guard John Starks was fouled by Pacer Derrick McKey but missed two free throws; Miller rebounded the second miss and was fouled. Miller made both free throws, and the Pacers' defense denied the Knicks' last chance for the win. All of Miller's 8 points came within a span of 8.9 seconds. The Pacers finally dispatched their New York rivals by winning the series four games to three, but the Pacers went on to lose the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic, also four games to three.

The Pacers made their next appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals three years later, and that meant it was time for another "Miller Moment", which took place on May 25, 1998. The Pacers trailed the Chicago Bulls two games to one in the series and were behind 94-93 in Game 4 at Market Square Arena with less than three seconds remaining. Miller fought free of defender Michael Jordan, caught an inbounds pass from McKey, turned and made a game-winning three-point shot. The Pacers eventually pushed the series to a decisive seventh game in Chicago, a game in which the Pacers led early before fading. The Bulls took the series and went on to win their sixth and final championship with Jordan.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers on May 6, 2000, Reggie and teammate Jalen Rose each scored 40 points -- becoming only the fourth pair of teammates in playoff history to accomplish that feat -- in the Pacers' 108-91 victory. The Pacers won that series 4-2 and returned to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth time in seven years. This time they finally crashed through the gates, defeating the rival Knicks four games to two. The deciding Game 6 on June 2, 2000 was sealed by Reggie's 34 points, half of which came in the fourth quarter.

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Reggie Miller making a shot attempt

The Pacers thus advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, facing the Los Angeles Lakers of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers would wind up winning the series and the championship four games to two, but Miller and Rose put on a shooting clinic in the Pacers' resounding Game 5 win that staved off elimination, scoring 25 and 32 points respectively. Miller averaged 24.3 points per game for the series.

In the twilight of his career, Miller worked to pass off the Pacers' primary leadership role to All-Star teammate Jermaine O'Neal. Miller was an important locker-room leader for his team and served as an inspiration to his teammates who wanted to "win one [a championship] for 'Uncle Reggie'". While Miller was no longer the team's leading scorer, he remained a go-to player in clutch time to the very end of his career.

In 2005, following the lengthy suspensions of star teammates O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, and Ron Artest for a brawl with fans in Detroit, Miller showed he could still score points in bunches, averaging nearly 20 points per game for stretches of the season. He even scored 39 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 18 at the age of 39. In January, Miller angrily shot down rumors that he would retire at the end of the season, saying that if he did decide to retire, he would announce it through his sister Cheryl Miller. On February 10, Cheryl, now a sideline reporter for TNT, reported that her brother had told her the previous day that he would indeed retire. On April 11, in a game against the Toronto Raptors, Miller passed Jerry West to move into 12th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

Miller's last game was on May 19, 2005, at Conseco Fieldhouse, when the Pacers lost 88-79 to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, ending the series four games to two. In the game, Miller led the Pacers with 27 points, making 11 out of 16 field goals including four of eight 3-pointers. When he was taken out with 15.7 seconds to play, the Indianapolis crowd gave him a last standing ovation. Pistons coach (and former Pacers coach) Larry Brown then called an additional timeout during which the Pistons players joined in the ovation, providing closure not only to Miller's career but also to a season that had been largely overshadowed by the early-season brawl between the two teams.

International career[]

Miller was a member of the gold medal-winning Olympic men's basketball team in 1996 and of the Team USA for the 1994 and 2002 World Championship. The 2002 team did not win the championship that year, which was the first time that NBA players competed against international competition and lost.

Achievements[]

Miller played more games with the same team than all but two players in NBA history, John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz. Over the course of his career, Miller scored 25,279 points, with an average of 18.2 points per game. He shot .471 from the field, .395 from 3-point range and .888 from the free throw line.

Miller was the first Indiana Pacer to start in an NBA All-Star game, first doing so in 1995. He was also selected to the team in 1990, 1996, 1998 and 2000.

The book Who's Better, Who's Best by Elliott Kalb (also known as "Mr. Stats") lists Miller among the top 50 NBA players of all time.

Miller is the all-time NBA leader in total 3-pt field goal made (2,560) and ranks at 12th place in Total Points (25,279), 7th in Free Throw Percentage (0.888), 6th in Minutes Played (47,619) and 6th in Games Played (1,389). He is also all-time NBA leader in total 3-pt field goal made in the playoffs (320).

Miller led the league twice in Three-Point Field Goals (1992-93, 1996-97). He also led five times in Free throw percentage including his last season.

Miller is the NBA's career leader in four-point plays with 24.

The Pacers are 37-18 (.673) all-time when Miller misses a game.

Retirement[]

Miller served as the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade Grand Marshal. Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis opened the day with the prayer "Keep these drivers safe and God bless Reggie!" before Miller waved the green flag to start the race.

In August 2005, Miller announced his plans to join TNT as an NBA analyst; his sister, Cheryl is a NBA sideline reporter for the network. Recently Miller served as guest host of the network television talk show "Regis and Kelly", filling in for host Regis Philbin.

Miller's number 31 was retired at halftime in a ceremony on March 30, 2006 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

In June 2005, Miller also became a weekly contributor to The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, providing the show with insightful (and humorous) commentary.

Miller splits his time between homes in the Indianapolis area and Malibu, California.

External links[]

Quotes[]

"They (the Knicks) won't do it, but there should be something here (at Madison Square Garden) with Reggie's name or number on it," - Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. November 15, 2003 after Miller scored 31 points (10/12 field goals, 6/7 threes) in the Pacers' win over the Knicks.
“When he’s old and in a wheelchair, they’re going to roll him out onto the (Madison Square) Garden court and he’s still going to hit threes" - Film director Spike Lee. November 15, 2003.
"When you can score your age in this league, it's not time to quit. If I were Reggie's agent, I'd try to sign him to a multiyear contract" - Lakers coach Frank Hamblen. March 18, 2005 after Miller scored 39 points in the Pacers' win over the Lakers.