Miller Time: Reggie Miller's 8 Points in 8.9 Seconds

On May seventh, nineteen ninety five, Indiana Pacer legend Reggie Miller does something amazing in eight point nine seconds, all by himself. He makes on eight point comeback to win Game one of the semi finals versus the New York Knicks. Here's the story behind how all this happened today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day now. Reggie is the brother of Cheryl Miller, who's arguably the greatest female basketball player of all time, and she helped him hone his basketball skills. He went to UCLA and then was drafted in nineteen eighty seven with the eleventh pick by the Indiana Pacers, who were a great ABA team but had not had success in the NBA just yet. But Reggie would lead the way to change that, and by the nineties they were a perennial playoff team, competing to get to the Eastern Conference Finals multiple years, but in doing so they met with the New York Knicks multiple times. Knicks were also a great team, being led by Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing as well, and in the nineteen ninety four season, the two had met in the Eastern Conference Finals in a close series that could have gone either way, but the New York Knicks ended up prevailing, making it all the way to the finals, where they would eventually lose to the future champions, the Houston Rockets. Now this was a pivotal time in the nineteen nineties, as previously the Bulls had won three straight championships with Michael Jordan, he had abruptly retired to focus on baseball and allowed opening in the Eastern Conference for teams. Now, both teams had a very successful season. The Pacers finished second with fifty two wins and winning the Central, where the New York Knicks finished third with fifty five wins, coming in second behind the Orlando Magic that year in the Atlantic Division, and before the season, the Pacers made a huge trade with the Clippers, adding Mark Jackson to their team, giving them the team's future all time assist leader and helping stabilize the point guard position. And that season was one of Reggie Miller's best seasons, averaging nineteen point six a game and was named an All Star and third team All NBA. And the team was also headed by a career year by seven to four centner Rick Smiths, who averaged almost eighteen points of games and seven point even rebounds, and the team also had a great guard and Derreck McKee, who would be named to the All Defensive Team that year, helping ride out equality starting five that the Pacers had never had before. And the Knicks came out slow in the nineteen ninety five season, having a five hundred record after just twenty four games, but would finish the season with a record of forty three and fifteen, but that wasn't enough to catch the Magic at number one that year, who were led by Penny Hardway and Shaquille O'Neill. But Patrick Ewing put a great season together, averaging almost twenty four points, eleven rebounds in two blocks per game and finished fourth in the MVP voting that year, which was it won by David Robinson and his running mate John Starks was also having a career year averaging fifteen point three points and then the league with two hundred and seventeen three pointers that year and was the first player to ever hit more than two hundred in a single season. And now the teams would not face each other until the semi finals, so they had to win their first playoff series. The Knicks faced off against the Cleveland Cavaliers, beating them in beating them three to one, as the Pacers would face off against the Atlanta Hawks, sweeping the series, which led to the Knicks facing off against the Indiana Pacers again in the playoffs. Now, the first game was held at Madison Square Garden and the Pacers were being focused as they did not want to get eliminated by New York again in the playoffs and one of the chances to make the NBA Finals for the first chance to possibly win their first NBA title, and they wanted to set the tone in Game one, and Reggie Miller's running mate Rick Smithtz had one of his greatest games ever, scoring thirty four points on Patrick Ewing. The Pacers won the very first quarter twenty nine to twenty seven, but the Knicks would come back in that second quarter to finish the half sixty one to fifty four. Now, the Pacers came out swinging that next quarter and holding New York to only eighteen points, but that didn't matter as New York had the crowd on their side and took the lead in the fourth quarter, and with just twenty seconds remaining in the game, they had the lead one hundred and five to ninety nine, but it was still close enough that the Pacers were not going to give up, and with eighteen point seven seconds remaining, Reggie Miller wiggled free onto the left wing behind the three point line, caught a pass, turned and immediately launched a three, giving them a score of one hundred and two, closing the gap to only a three point game with sixteen point four seconds left. Now, the Knicks needed to inbound the ball to try to run out some clock, and Miller was playing tight defense against Greg Anthony and bumped him, which caused Anthony to fall down. At the same time, Anthony Mason was throwing the ball in and couldn't help but throw the ball right to Reggie Miller, who caught the ball, stepped behind the three point line and hit another three, tying the game with just thirteen point two seconds left, giving Reggie six points in three sets seconds. Now, this time the Knicks were able to get the ball into John Starks, who was immediately fouled by the Indian Pacers. Now Starks was a seventy three percent free throw shooter but missed both freethrow The rebound ended up in the hands of Patrick Ewing, who took a decent shot but missed, and it was rebounded by Miller, who was fouled by Anthony Mason with seven point five seconds left, and Reggie Miller was one of the greatest free throw shooters of all time and this season was averaging ninety percent, and he hit both, giving them the lead of one hundred and seven to one hundred and five. So in the course of eight point nine seconds, Reggie Miller had scored eight points and given his team the lead in the closing seconds of the game. Now the Knicks still had some time and they gave the ball to Greg Anthony. As he drove to the basket, he slipped and fell to the ground as time ran out and they never got another shot, giving the Pacers all the momentum they needed to win the series in seven games and head off to the Eastern Conference Finals once again, where unfortunately they were met by the Orlando Magic, who were on a terror and defeated the Pacers, making their way to their first NBA Finals, losing to the Houston Rockets. Now, the rivalry between the new York Knicks and Indian Pacers continued all the way up through the two thousand season, when the Pacers defeated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals to make their very first NBA Finals to face off against the Lakers, to face off against the eventual champ, the Los Angeles Lakers, and neither the Pacers or Knicks have won an NBA title since, still looking for that right combination, but this moment stands out as it showed to never give up on a game. Reggie Miller never at saw the time as impossible, and what he did changed the momentum in this series and gave the Pacers a chance. All we need is that small chance to do something. So never give up, even when the odds are stacked against you, because you don't know what will happen in the end. And if you have other great moments in the history, please message us at Daily Sportshistory at gmail dot com. 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