It is spring right now. As I write this, it feels chilly, with gray skies and rain that has been falling since last night, making this day feel a bit like a washout. However, spring is a wonderful time of the year, probably my favorite time of the year. Also, this is playoff time in the NBA, which is always exciting.
When I think of the NBA playoffs, it is hard not to think about the era that I think of as the golden age of the NBA: the nineties. There were some great teams and great players gracing the basketball courts at the time. MJ and Scottie Pippen, on the Bulls. Magic Johnson was on again, off again with the Lakers. Clyde Drexler was on the Trailblazers and, later, would join Hakeem Olajuwon on the championship Rockets team. Gary Payton and Sean Kemp were in Seattle, Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson were on the Suns, and Karl Malone and John Stockton were on the Jazz. There were the Bad Boys in Detroit, and Patrick Ewing and the Knicks seemed to replace them as the most physically imposing, punishing team for much of the rest of the decade. If the Knicks were not the most physically brutal team at that time, then it surely would be the Indiana Pacers.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that the Knicks and Pacers would wind up meeting in the playoffs quite often throughout the decade, possibly more than any other two teams met in the playoffs that decade. They met each other in the playoffs in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and then one last time in 2000. That makes it six times that they met in a span of just eight seasons. The two teams split those series, with three apiece. They almost sported identical records in those playoff meetings, with the Pacers winning 18 of those playoff meetings, and the Knicks won 17. You cannot get much more even than that. In many respects, the two teams were eerily similar, and perhaps it is no surprise that these were the only two teams that managed to push the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan at full strength to a seven game series.
There were also differences, however. The Knicks were probably the more impressive of the two franchises in the decade overall, qualifying for the postseason literally every year throughout the decade, while Indiana missed qualifying for the 1996-97 postseason. Both teams reached the Eastern Conference Finals four times that decade (including the 1999-2000 season), and met each other in two of those, in 1994 and 1999 again in 2000, with the Knicks winning two of those series, and the Pacers winning one. So the Knicks reached the NBA Finals twice, while the Pacers got there only once.
However, the most memorable meetings between the two teams went decisively in favor of Indiana, and most of them were decided in key moments by Reggie Miller. Each of them happened at Madison Square Garden, in the fourth quarter of regulation. When the Knicks were dominating the Pacers in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Miller suddenly caught fire, hitting 5 three-pointers and 25 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Pacers to an incredible, come-from-behind win. There was also the Game 4 win, when again it seemed like the Knicks were bound for victory, only to see Miller get hot at the right (or for the Knicks, the wrong) time. With the Pacers down by three, Indiana used some beautiful passing on a broken play to get it to an inexplicably wide open Reggie Miller, who sank a three-pointer with just 5.9 seconds remaining. It took the air of the Knicks, who did not recover in overtime, as the Pacers dominated there to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. They would close out the series in Game 5 in Indiana.
Probably the single most memorable moment, however, came in Game 1 of the 1995 divisional round meeting between the two teams. Once again, the Knicks were seemingly on the verge of a huge win, up by six with 18.7 seconds left. It would take nothing short of a miracle for the Pacers to win. And a miracle is exactly what happened. Reggie Miller first sank a quick three pointer to close the margin to just three points. That in itself was impressive. But that was nothing compared to the shocking turn of events that would transpire in the next few seconds of the game.
Here is how Miller himself described it:
"When I made the quick three, it was going to be a scramble situation. I saw Anthony Mason kind of leaning and tipping over the line. And he threw the best chest pass I've ever seen in my life, right to me. I knew immediately I easily could have gone in for the lay-in, but I said let me get back to the three and tie 'er up and that's what happened."
Tie game. Incredible, right?
Wait a minute folks, wait a minute. You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Without realizing that Miller had just tied the game, Sam Mitchell of the Pacers fouled Starks on the ensuing inbound. That gave Starks two free throws, which would put the Knicks back in control, right? But Miller was in the zone, and he was on fire not just with hitting shots, but with playing mind games with the Knicks. Here is how Mitchell described what happened next:
"I reached out and I grabbed John Starks because I thought we were still down by one. Everything happened so fast, I lost track of the score. As soon as I fouled, I looked up and saw that the score was tied and man, I could have just shot myself right there. I felt I had blown the game.
"Reggie Miller said basically, "Mitch, don't worry about it. That you-know-what is gonna choke." He said that loud so that John Starks could hear it. And as soon as he said it, John Starks turned around and started yelling at Reggie."
Well, Starks tried not to let Miller get into his head. But it was too late. Here's how Mitchell described it:
"When John Starks took that first free throw and it was short, Reggie said, "Mitch, I told you that you-know-what was gonna choke. And you know if the first one's short, the second one's gonna be long." And sure enough, John Starks dribbled, got into his rhythm, and when he let that ball go, you could tell it was going to hit the back of the rim. "
Mark Jackson, who himself had been a member of the Knicks just a few years earlier, and also had a heated history with Starks specifically, described it:
"You can look in John's eyes and he just wasn't as comfortable as he normally would be...And Reggie being Reggie, he got under his skin. I don't know if it played a factor, but I know it made for good TV."
It sure seemed to be a factor. Ewing had gotten the rebound after the second Starks miss, and put up a shot that he normally would have made. But he missed, and then Miller got the rebound. Once again, Mitchell describes it:
"Starks was so irate he just grabbed Reggie and fouled him...The thing that's amazing to me is they turned around and did the same thing I did earlier...I remember looking over at the Knicks bench and Pat Riley could have turned every color in the rainbow. He just couldn't believe it."
Miller sank his two free throws. And just like that, in a mere 8.9 seconds of play, the game had completed turned around. Instead of Indiana being down by six and desperate, it was the Knicks who were down by two and feeling tremendous pressure and shock at what had just transpired. All of Madison Square Garden was in shock. And it seemed that Miller had gotten not just in the head of Starks, but in the heads of Greg Anthony and Patrick Ewing, as well. He had the ball as the clock was winding down, but he tripped, and the ball came loose. Patrick Ewing, who had missed a key shot just moments earlier, was able to get the ball and took a shot, but it was a last ditch, desperate effort. He had come close before, but this shot did not come close, and the clock ran out on the Knicks.
Indiana had earned a stunning win, with Miller once again proving to be a Knick killer. That reputation was well earned, but perhaps none of his amazing performances against the Knicks were as memorable as that game. And that game happened on this day back in 1995, 27 years ago.
Unbelievable!
All quotes used above were taken from the source below:
"I Almost Fell Over": An Oral History of Reggie Miller's 8 Points in 9 Seconds Wheat Hotchkiss Wheat Hotchkiss●@Wheat_Hotchkiss Writer/Editor, May 7, 2020:
https://www.nba.com/pacers/news/i-almost-fell-over-oral-history-reggie-miller-8-points-9-seconds?fbclid=IwAR0RhiDjImfNKCGoQpevHeNw7j1Xv0lpyVCOWn4vCONuXGYDc7Y8OzZfTWM
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