Reggie Miller had a reputation as a 'Knicks Killer' and one of the best clutch players in league history. Was that reputation deserved?
Let's acknowledge this right off the bat: Miller is one of the best shooters that has ever lived. With 2,560 made 3-pointers, he ended his career as the NBA's greatest long-range shooter. He currently sits second behind only Ray Allen on the all-time list.
Reggie also led the NBA in free-throw percentage multiple times, finishing with a stellar 88.8% mark for his career. He was named to the All-Star team five times and made the All-NBA Third-team three times as well. :"The name Reggie Miller is synonymous with clutch… Reggie thrives in crunch time, and he knows that it's different from the rest of the game. As he put it: 'You might make your first ten shots, and everything is going great, but when the game is on the line, those other ten don't mean anything.'", right behind Jerry West , and ahead of such all-time greats as Isiah Thomas and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the incredibly clutch Robert Horry. The accompanying B/R write-up on Reggie begins:"No other player decimated a team's spirit as Reggie Miller did the Knicks. Spike Lee's wellbeing aside, it seemed as if every playoffs produced a 'Miller Time' moment to remember. Dubbed the 'Knick Killer,' Miller once scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds at MSG during Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals." And ends with this:"Aside from his many fourth-quarter explosions at the Garden... Reggie Miller is, without a doubt, one of the most clutch players in NBA history."With Michael Jordan's abrupt retirement prior to the start of the 1993-94 season, the Eastern Conference was up for grabs. The Pacers and the Knicks were two teams that felt they could claim the East's crown with MJ out of the picture. 1994 was the first season in his career that Miller's Pacers advanced past the first round of the playoffs. They'd eventually meet up with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miller, at age 28, was in the heart of his prime. Miller was on fire in Game 5 of that series, torching the Knicks for 39 points to carry the Pacers to the victory. Late in the fourth quarter of that contest, Reggie was yapping at Spike Lee, and Miller infamously wrapped his hands around his neck to indicate the Knicks were choking. That win gave Indiana a commanding 3-2 lead and sent the series back to Indiana. Game 6 in 1994 was undoubtedly the most important game of Miller's career up to that point. At home, with a reeling Knicks teams on the ropes, the Pacers were 48 minutes from advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.... [+] victory over the Arizona Wildcats Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. ///ADDITIONAL INFO: uclabk.0108.kjs --- Photo by KEVIN SULLIVAN / Orange County Register -- 1/7/16 The UCLA Bruins take on the Arizona Wildcats at Paulley Pauley Pavilion Thursday. 1/7/16 Almost all basketball fans remember the"choke" sign in Game 5, but do they remember that John Starks badly outplayed Miller two nights later in Game 6? Miller shot just 8-for-21 from the floor in that bitter defeat and had nearly as many turnovers as assists . On the other hand, Starks was 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3-point territory en route to 26 points. He also dished out six assists to spark New York to a crucial victory. Miller and the Pacers still had a chance to redeem themselves in a winner-take-all Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Yet, the Knicks once again came out victorious thanks to one of the best Game 7 performances in league history courtesy of Patrick Ewing. The Big Fella finished with a whopping 24 points, 22 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks. . Meanwhile, Miller was 7-of-17 from the floor in the loss, to go along with two rebounds, zero assists and two turnovers. And Reggie missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer from the right elbow in the final seconds. The following postseason featured the legendary"8 points in 8.9 seconds" game; however, the Pacers once again lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, this time to the Magic. In that final deciding contest in Orlando, Miller shot just 5-of-13 from the floor for 12 points and zero assists in his 38 minutes. Miller only appeared in one playoff game over the following two seasons. However, the Pacers returned to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1998. In Game 4, Reggie drilled a game-winner over Jordan. Yet, the Pacers couldn't seal the deal. They would lose to MJ's Bulls in seven games. In the series, Miller averaged 17.4 points , 1.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Jordan, after capturing his sixth championship, retired for the second time that summer. Once again, the East was ripe for the picking. And once again, the Pacers would have to get through the Knicks in the ECF to reach the mountaintop. This time, they had the advantage of taking on a Knicks squad that was forced to play without their captain, as Patrick Ewing tore his left Achilles in Game 2. With Ewing unavailable for Game 3, and the series tied at one game apiece, the Pacers had a prime opportunity to dispatch the wounded Knicks and finally punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. However, Miller disappeared in the second half of that pivotal Game 3 at the Garden. He was held scoreless over the final 19 minutes, attempting only three shots, and missing them all. The Knicks would squeak out a much-needed victory courtesy of Larry Johnson's infamous 4-point play. New York would end up closing out Indiana in six games. In the series finale, Miller was atrocious, converting just three of his 18 FG attempts, finishing with a mere eight points. Over the final five games of that 1999 ECF matchup, Reggie averaged 15.6 points and 2.0 assists while shooting below 33% from the field. Miller's Pacers ran into the Knicks five times in the playoffs in the 1990s and lost three of those five series. Yet Reggie Miller was a"Knick Killer." We sure about that? To his credit, Reggie remained durable and effective late into his career. He turned 34 years old in 2000 and was still the Pacers' second-leading scorer. It was that season that Indy was finally able to outlast New York in the ECF and advance to the NBA Finals, where they took on the Lakers. Reggie played well, for the most part, averaging 24.3 points and 3.7 assists, but Indiana had no answer for Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq would average a mind-boggling 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. A 21-year-old Kobe Bryant chipped in 15/4/4.... [+] Spike Lee look on during the NBA game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers Staples Center on November 24, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. In 2001, Miller hit a game-winner with three seconds left in Game 1 of the Pacers best-of-five first-round series vs. Philadelphia, but Indiana lost each of the next three contests to Allen Iverson and the Sixers. The following year, in a first-round matchup against the Nets, Reggie banked in a 39-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime in Game 5. Still, the Nets outscored the Pacers 13-2 in the subsequent overtime period to eliminate Indiana. Miller eventually began to wear down in 2002-03, his age-37 season. He averaged 9.2 points on 28.3% shooting in the Pacers first-round loss to the Celtics that season. NBA.com tracks data on"clutch time" performance dating back to the 1996-97 campaign. They define clutch as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or less. Over the nine postseasons in which Miller was active during that timeframe, he attempted 102 shots in clutch situations and made 39 of them . For his career, he was less efficient in the playoffs than during the regular season Again, no one denies Reggie Miller is an all-time great, and worthy of his spot in the Hall of Fame. He has undeniably made a handful of iconic buzzer-beaters. However, that's partly a byproduct of the fact that he's taken a large number of such shots. While Miller deserves plenty of respect and recognition, it should also be noted that he failed to live up expectations quite frequently in the postseason.
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