That's how Indianapolis was greeted after one of the greatest moments in the Pacers' NBA history. Maybe the greatest. I could make the case. In any case, if you are very unaware of your Pacer history, the Pacers suddenly found some NBA success with the arrival of one Reginald Wayne Miller, the Knick Killer. This game is where he really cemented that reputation. Pacers-Knicks, one of the fiercest rivalries in the NBA at the time. It looks like the Pacers are going to come up just short again. And then, Miller Time happens. Read the story above for a more complete explanation. Here's the continuation. And that was just in the News section. The Sports section was, as you can imagine, Pacer heavy. And you'll also notice a much more liberal use of pictures and graphics. I'm sure some of that was technology, but I think there was something about moving to the NBA and being in the "real" major league now. This was the front Sports page. I don't know if it's true or not, but I would like to imagine that was Reggie getting right into Spike Lee's face. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to imagine that. Another point to address before I get into the game. That's the jerseys. As you might have noticed, the Pacers broke out their jerseys from the ABA Championship era both at home against the Nets (who did not break out an ABA jersey) and last night in Minnesota (who did pull out a Muskies look). And I (obviously) appreciate the history of those jerseys. And to my dad and that generation of Pacer fans, those would be the throwbacks. To my generation who experienced Miller Time as a wide-eyed youth, though, the FloJo jerseys are the definitive Pacer throwbacks. I hope we don't have to wait until 2015 to see these on the court again. I don't know if the NBA has restrictions on wearing throwbacks in the playoffs, but if those jerseys made an appearance in the playoffs, preferably against the Knicks or Bulls, the arena would go nuts. Anyway, Reggie was definitely the story. Here's the Star's breakdown of how the ending unfolded.
If anybody is curious, there is the box score. As we just mentioned, Smits' line is pretty darned good. And Reggie's ended up looking pretty good, though we saw in the earlier stories, had his early struggles. One thing that sticks out to me is how Patrick Ewing was kept pretty well in check. 11 points, 4-15 shooting, just one blocked shot. There's probably a reason Bill Simmons calls it the Ewing Theory.* One guy the Pacers did not keep in check was Anthony Mason. I'm going off memory here, but it always seemed like Mason tore the Pacers up, which was really frustrating because I never really thought he was very good. Maybe it's because he wasn't really built like your typical NBA player and he was, shall we say, rough. But he had his way with the Pacers. And, of course, Starks had a big game, which probably helped get Reggie into his assassin state of mind. *In short, the Ewing Theory is a player who puts up really great numbers and on paper should be the reason the team is winning. But, somehow, the team plays better without him. According to Simmons and his buddies, this was true for Ewing both with the Knicks and even back at Georgetown. I wasn't really old enough to look for that sort of thing, but that article's charge of the Ewing Theory against Peyton Manning proved extremely false this year. Another thing that sticks out is how many fouls were called. 59 fouls called in that game. Nine of those technicals. I told you this was a heated rivalry. And it wasn't lost on the paper. This would be the series where the Pacers finally broke through against the Knicks, where they faced a Shaq-led Magic team. The Pacers gave the Magic all they could handle. I do remember the entire family gathering to watch those games. It might have happened for those Knicks games, too, I don't remember. But I definitely remember going to extended family's to watch Pacers-Magic. The Pacers finally went down in seven games, but it was a great series. We'll look at when the Pacers finally broke that ceiling tomorrow. For now, let's end with a little video of what we've just talked about, thanks to the wonders of YouTube. And, as a bonus, here's 30 for 30's take on a game that I very well could have put into Pacers week, but not this time. Comments are closed.
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