Reggie Miller
| Reggie Miller | |
|---|---|
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| Position(s): Shooting guard |
Jersey #(s): 31 |
| Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
Weight: 195 lb (88 kg) |
| Born: August 24, 1965 Riverside, California |
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| Career information | |
| Year(s): 1987–2005 | |
| NBA Draft: 1987 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11 | |
| College: UCLA | |
| Professional team(s) | |
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| Career stats | |
| Points | 25,279 |
| 3-Pointers | 2,560 |
| Assists | 4,141 |
| Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Basketball | |||
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Competitor for  United States |
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| Gold | 1996 Atlanta | National team | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 1994 Canada | National team | |
Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player and one of the greatest NBA players of the 90s. 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. He holds the NBA record for career three-pointers made (2,560).[1] Currently, he works as an NBA commentator for TNT. He is the younger brother of fellow TNT commentator Cheryl Miller and former Major League Baseball player Darrell Miller.
Miller is one of five Pacer greats (the others are Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Bobby "Slick" Leonard and George McGinnis) to have his jersey (#31) retired by the Pacers. Reggie Miller was recently selected for the Pacers' 40th anniversary team.
Miller's role in the bitter Knicks-Pacers rivalry in the 1990s Eastern Conference playoffs, characterized by remarkable and timely three-point shooting by Miller and his confrontations with Knicks fan Spike Lee, earned Miller the sobriquet "Knick Killer".[2][3]
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Early life
Miller was born in Riverside, California. He was born with hip 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 Baseball catcher; his sister Tammy played volleyball at California State University, Fullerton; and his older sister Cheryl is possibly 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 he was finally able to block Cheryl's shot.
College
Reggie Miller attended Riverside Polytechnic High School,California. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he received a degree in history.[4] In the 1984-1985 NCAA season he helped the Bruins to an NIT championship. In his senior season, 1986-1987, he led the Bruins to a Pac-10 regular season championship and the first Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship. The Three-point field goal was instituted for the 1986-1987 season; 69 of his 247 field goals were from three point range that year. One of his most memorable performances was in the January 24, 1987 game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he hit a clutch 24-foot (7.3 m) shot to put the Bruins ahead 61-59 with 10 seconds left to play.[5] Another notable game was a win against the defending national champions Louisville Cardinals and "Never nervous" Pervis Ellison on February 28, 1987. Miller scored 33 points in the second half, which is still a school record.[6]
His final game was a loss in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament to the Wyoming Cowboys. He finished second in all-time scoring at UCLA behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As of 2008, 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 game records.[6]
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, backing up shooting guard John Long before he became a starter. Also, fans were initially upset that the Pacers chose Miller over Indiana University product Steve Alford; fans watching the 1987 NBA Draft booed Pacers President Donnie Walsh for the selection. Miller gained a respectable following early in his career as he helped turn the Pacers into a perennial playoff team.
Miller became a household name during the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks, due to his phenomenal shooting performance in Game 5 of the series on June 1, 1994, in which he scored 39 points total and 25 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 8.9 seconds in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks, leading the Pacers to a stunning 107-105 victory. With 16.4 seconds remaining and the Pacers trailing by six points, Miller made a three-point shot, stole the inbounds pass, dribbled back to the three-point arc and tied the game with a second three-pointer, stunning the Knick bench and their fans. On the ensuing possession, Knicks guard John Starks was fouled by Pacer Sam Mitchell 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. The Pacers outlasted the Knicks in a seven-game series before losing to the Orlando Magic in the conference finals, also four games to three. Near the end of the 1996 season, Miller fell to the floor and suffered an eye injury, leaving him unable to play in the playoffs until before Game 5 of the first round against the Atlanta Hawks by wearing goggles. The Pacers lost to the Hawks and were eliminated.[7]
The Pacers made their next appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals three years later. 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 shoved defender Michael Jordan out of the way, 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 in the fourth quarter before fading in the final minutes. 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 the highest-scoring pair of teammates in playoff history; 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.
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 Pacers lost 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 2002, Miller almost single-handedly eliminated the top seed and eventual Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Nets in the fifth and final game of the first round of the playoffs. First, following two missed free throws from New Jersey's Richard Jefferson, Miller sent the game into overtime by banking in a 39-foot (12 m) three-point shot at the buzzer. Next, with the Pacers down by 2 points in the final seconds of the first overtime, Miller drove into the lane and dunked over three Nets defenders to send the game into a second overtime period. While the Pacers would eventually fall to the Nets 120-109, that game had added another chapter to Miller's legacy as a clutch performer.
In the twilight of his career, Miller deferred his 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 Reg'". 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 US national team for the 1994 FIBA World Championship and 2002 FIBA 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. Miller was injured during the 2002 World Championships and played limited minutes.
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 made the All-NBA Third Team three times throughout his career and received his only MVP votes in 1998 and 2000.
- 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. During the 98 player introductions, the PA announcer mistakes Miller as a two-time Olympic gold-medalist.
- The book Who's Better, Who's Best by Elliott Kalb lists Miller among the top 50 NBA players of all time.
- Miller is the all-time NBA leader in total 3-point field goal made (2,560) and ranks at 12th place in total points (25,279),[1] 7th in free throw percentage (88.8%), 6th in minutes played (47,619) and 7th in games played (1,323).[1] He is also all-time NBA leader in total three-point field goals made in the playoffs (320).
- Miller led the league twice in three-point field goals made (1992-93, 1996-97). He also led the league in free throw percentage five times, including his last season.
- Miller is the NBA's career leader in four-point plays with 24.
- Miller made a three-pointer in 68 consecutive games from November 15, 1996 to April 6, 1997.
- In 2003, Reggie Miller was ranked 52nd on SLAM magazine's Top 75 NBA players of all time.
- Reggie Miller is one of only six members of the 50-40-90 club along with Larry Bird, Mark Price, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and José Calderón. This club is for players who during the course of a season shot 50% or better from the field, 40% or better from three-point range, and 90% or better from the free throw line.
- Named to the 1987-88 NBA All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 10.0 ppg and 2.3 rpg [8]
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. [9]
- In August 2005, Miller announced his plans to join TNT as an NBA analyst; his sister, Cheryl is an NBA sideline reporter for the network. Recently Miller served as guest host of the network television talk show Live with 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. [10]
- In June 2005, Miller also became a weekly contributor to The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, providing the show with commentary.[11]
- Miller splits his time between his home on Geist Reservoir in Fishers, Indiana and Malibu, California.
- Miller recently put his sprawling Geist mansion up for sale for $7.5 million. The 6-acre (24,000 m2) spread includes over 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of living space, 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a dock, pool & poolhouse, tennis court, a private security gate and is situated directly on Geist reservoir in the affluent Fishers area of Hamilton County.
Possible return
On August 8, 2007 it was reported by ESPN that Miller was contemplating a return to the NBA to play for the Boston Celtics after Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and head coach Doc Rivers discussed with him about joining their revamped roster including Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and longtime Celtic Paul Pierce in a reserve role.[1] On August 12, his former coach Rick Carlisle was quoted in The Boston Globe as saying "we (me and Miller) talked about it and agreed that it was something that deserved careful consideration."[12]
On August 24, 2007 his 42nd birthday, Miller decided against a comeback with the Boston Celtics or anyone else, stating: "Physically, I know I could have done it. But mentally, when you do something like this, you've either got to be all in or all out. And I've decided I'm all out."[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 ESPN - Miller says he's wondering comeback with the Celtics, Updated August 9, 2007
- ↑ Rhoden, William C. "Sports of The Times; Miller Leaves Calling Card For Knicks", The New York Times, June 3, 2000. Accessed January 28, 2008. "His three fourth-quarter 3-pointers accomplished something that no other team -- no other player -- had accomplished during this year's playoffs. Those shots took the Knicks' will. Miller revived his imprimatur as the Knick-killer. He ended a season and may well have ended a Knicks era."
- ↑ Brown, Clifton. "1995 N.B.A. PLAYOFFS; Knicks Sweat It Out Until End but Force Game 6", The New York Times, May 18, 1995. Accessed January 28, 2008. "And Reggie Miller, the Knick-killer, still had one more scare for New York, even after what turned out to be Ewing's game-winning shot."
- ↑ "NBA.com: Reggie Miller Bio". Retrieved on 2006-07-22.
- ↑ Thomas Bonk - UCLA Beats the Irish, Reheats the Rivalry on Late Surge, 63-59. Los Angeles Times. January 25, 1987
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 UCLA Bruins Basketball media guide (PDF copy available from www.uclabruins.com)
- ↑ Weinberg, Rick. "90: Reggie Miller scores 8 points in 11 seconds". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures.. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
- ↑ Career Highlights of Reggie Miller Miller's Rookie Year
- ↑ Reggie's Wave at the Indi500 Reggie Miller Waves Flag at Indianapolis 500
- ↑ Reggie Miller's Retirement
- ↑ Reggie Miller on The Dan Patrick Show
- ↑ Shira Springer, They Back His Comeback, The Boston Globe
- ↑ Miller Won't Return to the NBA
External links
- NBA history: Miller Bio
- Indy Star Reggie Miller Special Report
- Pacers.com Reggie Miller tribute
- NBA.com Reggie Miller page
- Miller's possible return to the NBA
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