How Many Years Did Reggie Miller Play In The Nba

Much of Reggie Miller's fable was made during his playoff matchups with the Knicks in the 1990s.

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A volatile, high-voltage scorer from the off guard position, Reggie Miller was 1 of the supreme shooters of whatever era. With 2,560 fabricated three-pointers, he ended his career as the NBA'southward greatest long-range shooter. He poured in 25,279 points to finish his career in 12th place on the league'south all-time scoring list.

Since his retirement, he's been surpassed by Ray Allen and Stephen Curry every bit the NBA'due south all-time 3-betoken male monarch and has moved down several pegs on the all-time scoring list. Still, his legend looms big.

Miller had a penchant for the spectacular clutch shot in gunslinger fashion that made him a feared and despised opponent. His heroic play down the stretch of games became known every bit "Miller Time."

The slender half dozen-foot-seven, 190-pound former UCLA Bruin was selected with the 11th overall choice at the 1987 Typhoon past the Indiana Pacers. He spent his unabridged 18-year career there, becoming some other legendary figure in Hoosier state lore.

At UCLA, he ranked quaternary in the nation in scoring as a junior with 25.nine ppg and so averaged 22.3 ppg as a senior. At the time he was drafted, he also ranked second on the school's all-fourth dimension scoring list backside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Only the stick-figured shooter was not welcomed as the home state fans desired Indiana University's All-American guard Steve Alford.

Reggie Miller, ane of the almost prolific three-point shooters the game has ever seen, was known for his clutch moments late in games.

However, Miller played more games with the same team than all simply two players in NBA history — John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz. Miller would also lead the Pacers from futility to The Finals and many postseason escapades. Much of his playoff drama would involve his most intense rival, the New York Knicks, and take place on i of the NBA's biggest stages: Madison Square Garden.

He came from a very able-bodied family unit. His older brother, Darrell, played five seasons as a catcher/outfielder with the Los Angeles Angels. His sister, Cheryl, was a basketball star at USC and is considered one of the all-time women players e'er. However, Miller had a portentous outset to a professional athletic career.

Born with a hip deformity that acquired severely splayed feet, he wore leg braces until he was iv to right the nativity defect. Doctors questioned if he would ever walk unassisted. The braces came off when he was v and Miller made up for lost time in trying to keep up with his athletic brothers and sisters.

Once in the NBA, Miller didn't waste material any time logging himself into the record books. He bankrupt an eight-year-old mark set by Larry Bird when he hit 61 3-pointers in 1987-88, more than than any other rookie in NBA history (Dennis Scott would shatter the mark by striking 125 3-pointers in 1990-91).

Reggie Miller talks in this 'Inside Stuff' clip well-nigh being the villain in many an NBA loonshit in his career.

Miller averaged ten.0 ppg his first season, shooting .488 from the field and .355 from 3-indicate range. He just started one game and backed up veteran John Long, but he was the only Pacer to play in all 82 games that flavor.

In his second season, Miller'southward scoring average rose to 16.0 ppg and lead Indiana with 93 steals. Simply it wasn't until 1989-xc when he truly took off.

Miller'southward scoring average soared for the 2d direct season, this fourth dimension to a career-high 24.6 ppg — 8th best in the NBA. Miller'south perpetual motion and ability to weave through and around multiple picks and screens made defending him an obstacle course of activeness.

He became the showtime Pacer to play in the NBA All-Star Game since Don Buse and Billy Knight in 1977. He too was the runner-upwards to the Miami Rut's Rony Seikaly for the NBA Most Improved Actor Award.

Indiana reached the playoffs in 1990 for the first time in Miller'southward career, merely information technology was a brief visit. The defending-champion Detroit Pistons swept the Pacers in a kickoff-round series, despite Miller'southward xx.vii ppg on .571 shooting from the field.

In 1993-94, Larry Dark-brown took over every bit Indiana's passenger vehicle. Miller'south scoring average slipped to 19.9 ppg, but he finished 2d in the league in gratis-throw percentage and 3rd in 3-betoken field-goal percentage. He as well became the squad's best leading scorer and only the 4th player in NBA history to hit 800 3-pointers in his career.

The Pacers won 47 games that twelvemonth and and so went all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. In the playoffs, Miller averaged 23.two ppg, just his performance in Game five of the Due east finals confronting the New York Knicks may well exist remembered as his national coming out political party. In that series, it cemented the belief that with Miller on the floor, the Pacers seemed to ever have a hazard to pull out a victory.

In that game, Miller dropped 25 points in the fourth quarter — going five-for-5 from 3-point range — to lead Indiana to a 93-86 comeback victory at Madison Foursquare Garden. Miller exchanged barbs with filmmaker and renowned Knicks fan Spike Lee at courtside during the avalanche of points. The functioning shocked the abode crowd and consummated the dearest-detest human relationship between the Garden faithful and Miller.

Reggie Miller heats upward in the 4th quarter, scoring 25 points to lead the Pacers to a playoff victory in New York.

The Knicks won the next two games to take the 1994 series. Miller scored 25 points in Game vii, just he missed the potential game-winning 3-arrow from the right elbow in the final seconds in the 94-90 loss.

Miller's exploits in Game 5 would stand equally one of the greatest individual efforts in playoff history, and that entire playoff run propelled him to superstardom. That summer he participated every bit a tri-captain on the U.S. National team. The team captured a gold medal at the 1994 World Championship of Basketball every bit he was the team'southward leading scorer (17.1 ppg).

The 1994-95 flavour was a repeat functioning for Miller and the Pacers in how it ended, merely he accomplished a lot on the way. He was voted past fans to get-go in the 1995 All-Star Game and was named to the All-NBA Third Team. The Pacers set a club tape with 50 wins as they claimed their first division title since joining the NBA from their championship-winning ABA days.

Miller scorched the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs to the melody of 31.7 ppg while draining 7 3-pointers in a 39-bespeak endeavor in Game two.

Reggie Miller scores eight points over the final xvi seconds in a shocking come-from-behind playoff win over the Knicks.

But his defining moment as clutch performer may have come in Game 1 of the conference semifinals in New York. The Pacers were down by six with 16.9 seconds when Miller hit a iii. He stole the inbound pass and dribbled behind the three-point line to sink another one to tie the game. Later the Knicks missed two complimentary throws, Miller sank two for the final margin of victory of 107-105.

In a bridge of 8.9 seconds, Miller scored eight points. The crowd and the basketball globe were stunned.

Longtime rival Ewing would later say, "He's the kind of guy, when you play against him, you want to smack him. But when you play with him, you accept his back. You have the utmost respect for him. He came out, he played hard and he did what he needed to do to help his squad win… Nosotros've had our battles, nosotros've had our wars. I accept utmost respect for him."

The flurry was reminiscent of his 25-point 4th-quarter outburst in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals, but this time the Pacers defeated the Knicks in the serial (albeit after two straight losses). Miller made sure to close out the Knicks this time as he scored 29 points in Game seven at MSG.

In the adjacent round confronting the Shaquille O'Neal-led Orlando Magic, Miller exploded in the first six games. He scored 17 points in the first menstruum of Game ane (and 26 for the contest), and so collected 37 in Game 2. In Game six, he scored 28 points in the commencement half on the mode to a 36-indicate evening. He was held in check in Game 7, even so, every bit the Pacers savage, 101-85. Miller finished the playoffs with an outstanding average of 25.5 ppg.

Post-obit the 1994-95 season, Miller was named to the 1996 U.South. Olympic Squad that would get onto to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

The next two seasons were disappointing for Miller and the Pacers. The team won 52 games for the second sequent season in 1995-96. Withal, the Pacers went only equally far equally Miller could take them. Unfortunately, later an April 13 collision that fractured Miller's eye socket, Miller could not rebound fast enough to help them survive a commencement-round playoff serial with the Atlanta Hawks.

Without Miller in the lineup, the Hawks and Pacers divide the outset four games. He fabricated a dramatic Game 5 render in forepart of the home oversupply at Market Square Arena. Although he scored 29 points, the Hawks scored a two-point victory, putting an end to Indiana's flavour.

The next flavour the Pacers slumped to 39-43 and omnibus Larry Brown's resigned at season'southward stop.

That brought another Indiana fable to the fold as native son Larry Bird became the new Pacers coach before the 1997-98 campaign. Bird inherited a veteran squad that included Miller, Rik Smits, Dale Davis and point guard Mark Jackson, who re-joined the team in mid-season after a trade to Denver the year prior. In addition, Chris Mullin, a veteran sharp-shooter, was added to the mix.

On May 25, 1998, the Pacers got a clutch three-pointer from Reggie Miller with :00.7 left in Game iv to trounce the Bulls and tie the E finals at 2-ii.

Subsequently disposing of the Cavaliers and Knicks in the playoffs, Indiana entered a much-anticipated meeting with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers entered the series with confidence afterward splitting the 4 regular season games confronting the two-time defending champs. After dropping two close games in Chicago, the Pacers made Memorial Day Weekend memorable with two thrilling abode wins.

Miller, whose playoff heroics have defined his fine career, scored 13 of his 28 points in the terminal four and half minutes of the 107-105 Game 3 win, despite a sprained ankle.

Though his reputation as a clutch performer was settled, he was just as infamous for his grabbing and flopping tactics that either earned him the do good of the referee's whistle or freed him up to go his shoot off. His unique use of hands and arms came up big in Game four. He was beingness closely guarded past Hashemite kingdom of jordan, just rocked Jordan off balance with his hands to intermission loose and nailed a miraculous 3-arrow with 2.7 seconds remaining that gave the Pacers a 96-94 victory.

The abode teams held serve in the adjacent two games, setting upwards a Game seven in Chicago. In a tightly competitive game, the Pacers held a 72-69 lead with less than 9 minutes to play. The Bulls, who would go along to win their 3rd straight NBA title, clamped downwardly defensively, dominating the boards. Scottie Pippen hit a couple of big shots down the stretch to end the Pacers' season, 88-83.

The NBA went through a labor lockout and played only a 50-game schedule in 1998-99. The Pacers tied the Miami Rut for the Eastern Conference's all-time record at 33-17. Individually, Miller ended the flavour as the NBA's all-time career leader in 3-pointers made (one,702) and attempted (four,225).

The team reached the Eastern Conference finals for the 4th time in half dozen years, but their path to the NBA Finals was blocked over again in a tough half-dozen game series past the surprising eighth-seed New York Knicks.

Finally, the side by side season, the Pacers reached The Finals.

Relive some of Reggie Miller's top 3-pointers from his career.

Miller and the Pacers ran into a dominating Lakers squad led by O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Pacers dropped the offset two games on the road. They won Game 3, the outset NBA Finals home game in franchise history, and about won Game iv earlier losing 120-118 in overtime.

Though the Pacers drubbed the Lakers 120-87 in Game 5, the series was wrapped upwards by Los Angeles in Game six, a 116-111 win in Fifty.A. Miller averaged 24.3 ppg in the serial.

The Pacers would get through many transitions during Miller'south final five years with the club, but it was clear he was still the team leader.

Bird left the bench subsequently iii highly successful seasons, but another Indiana legend took over — former IU and NBA bang-up Isiah Thomas.

Miller'due south criminal offence dipped as Rose became more than of an offensive pick in 2000-01. And with so many new faces and a less experienced team, the Pacers predictably struggled. They finished 41-41, good enough for the Due east'southward No. 8 seed.

The Pacers' postseason, once once again, belonged to Miller. He hit a vintage three-arrow with two.ix seconds left to deliver a shocking 79-78 victory in Game 1 in Philadelphia. Miller then proceeded to boilerplate 36.0 ppg over the next three games, but it wasn't enough as the Sixers rebounded to win the series in four games.

In 2001-02, Miler led the NBA in gratis throw accuracy (91.1) for the quaternary time in his career, the second straight season and the third time in the last iv seasons. Indiana was only slightly better (42-twoscore) and was a No. 8 seed once once again.

All the same, they forced the peak-seeded New Jersey Nets to the brink. In the decisive Game five of the first-round series, Miller sunk a 40-foot three-pointer as time expired to strength overtime. But the Nets rebounded to win 120-109 in double overtime to take the series.

Ever evolving, the Pacers then rebuilt itself into a contender quickly. Bird returned later on a two-year absence from the franchise, simply every bit squad president. Presently thereafter, Thomas was replaced with Rick Carlisle, Bird'south former assistant autobus who had been fired in Detroit despite two successful seasons.

The 2003-04 Pacers finished an NBA-best 61-21, setting a franchise mark for wins, but were topped by the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals in six games.

Miller's last campaign began on the injured list after he broke a bone in his left hand during the preseason. Additionally, the Pacers' roster was decimated after an ugly brawl with the Pistons that resulted in multiple and lengthy player suspensions. Miller again became a primary option on the now-disjointed team and he returned with a vengeance.

He scored at least 30 points vi times and averaged nearly 20 ppg game in the absence of O'Neal, the squad's leading scorer.

In early on April, Miller played his last game in the Garden — the site where many of his brilliant moments took place. Although it was somewhat anti-climatic, information technology was non unemotional. The Knicks had faded from playoff contention and many of the familiar New York foes had since left town, but the fans remained and remembered the wounds.

Initially, he was booed. Merely near the end of the game — on in which he'd only score 13 points — the oversupply chanted "Reg-gie, Reg-gie" and honored him with a standing ovation. Miller airtight the thing with an encompass of Lee, the embodiment of the Knicks' anti-Miller sentiment.

The Pacers surged late in the regular season and non merely reached the playoffs, but did so as the 6th seed. They and then proceeded to upset the Atlantic Division-champion Boston in seven games in the first circular. Undermanned, the Pacers cruel to the defending champion Pistons four-two in the Eastern Conference semifinals despite a stirring 27-point operation from Miller in his concluding game.

Near the game's conclusion, Miller left the floor for the last time to a hometown ovation that lasted minutes. Brown, the and so-Pistons motorbus, graciously called a timeout, allowing the entire Pistons team to join the crowd as it continued to applaud him and his outstanding career.

Following his stellar career, Miller took on a function as an NBA analyst for TNT before the 2005-06 season, spending his time on the job splitting duty between calling games and making guest analyst appearances on TNT's Emmy award-winning "Inside the NBA."

Despite all his on-courtroom accomplishments, Miller was not a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011, his first year of eligibility. But, it but took another year before Miller joined the all-fourth dimension legends he belonged with in Springfield, Mass.

How Many Years Did Reggie Miller Play In The Nba,

Source: https://www.nba.com/news/history-nba-legend-reggie-miller

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