18 years, one team: Reggie Miller's number retired tonight

TNT at 7 PM Central

an amazing player

http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/reggie_ceremony_060330.html

Reggie To Enter Pacers Pantheon Tonight


By Conrad Brunner | March 30, 2006
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The final chapter of Reggie Miller's epic NBA career comes to a fitting end tonight when his No. 31 will be retired in a halftime ceremony at Conseco Fieldhouse during Indiana's game with the Phoenix Suns.

Miller will be present to address the crowd and hoist his banner into the rafters. Also participating in the ceremony will be Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO and President Donnie Walsh. Miller will be joined by members of his family and other special guests, including former teammates. The game is sold out but portions of the ceremony will be shown by TNT, which is broadcasting the game.

“This is a truly deserving honor for Reggie,” said Walsh. “On and off the court, what he gave to this franchise, this city and this state for 18 years puts him among the elite athletes to have played professional sports. Number 31 in the rafters adds another legacy to the great tradition of Indiana basketball.”

Miller will join Roger Brown (No. 35), Mel Daniels (No. 34), George McGinnis (No. 30) and Bobby “Slick” Leonard (No. 529 representing his career coaching victories) as the fourth player and fifth person in franchise history to be so honored.

“Reggie gave the Indiana Pacers 18 years,” said Larry Bird, President of Basketball Operations. “He was a professional at all times and it was an honor to work with, coach and be around him. He will be missed.”

Miller was a five-time NBA All-Star, an Olympic Gold Medalist, is the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pt FGM and 3-pt FGA and is 12th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Miller led the league in free throw percentage five times and ranks as the franchise leader in 13 statistical categories. Miller has also been recognized as a winner of the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Award and was named USA Weekend magazine’s Most Caring Athlete in 2002.

One portion of the day's festivities was canceled when the Indiana Department of Transportation scrubbed its plan to rename a stretch of U.S. 31 north of Indianapolis in Miller's honor. The IDOT learned that particular stretch of highway was named the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway 12 years ago.

"While I appreciate the State of Indiana in its attempt to re-name a stretch of U.S. 31 in my name, I certainly respect and understand the feelings of the veterans involved," Miller said in a statement released by the Pacers. "Military veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our country carry a status we all should appreciate and honor.”

The highway department said it has no immediate plans to select a replacement road to name in Miller's honor.

Fans attending the game will receive a poster that is a replica of the banner that will hang in the rafters. In addition, a special edition of GameTime, the team's official program will feature photos and highlights of Miller's career as well as a one-of-a-kind pull-out poster.

Beginning today, fans will have the opportunity to purchase special hats, pennants and T-shirts featuring Miller, and a tribute book at Home Court, as well as online at ConsecoFieldhouse.com. Additional items will be available Friday.








also:

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http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060330/SPORTS04/603300476/1004/SPORTS

Pacers retire Miller's number tonight

By Mark Montieth
mark.montieth@indystar.com
Reggie Miller took no championship rings from his 18-season career with the Indiana Pacers, but two special consolation prizes likely await him.


The first arrives during halftime of tonight's game against Phoenix when his jersey number, 31, will be retired and hung in the rafters of Conseco Fieldhouse.

Miller's two brothers and two sisters and several of his former teammates will attend the brief ceremony, which will be hosted by the Pacers' radio voice, Mark Boyle.

Miller will become the fourth Pacer to be immortalized, joining George McGinnis (30), Mel Daniels (34) and Roger Brown (35). Daniels and Brown played on the Pacers' three ABA championship teams and McGinnis was a member of two.

Former coach Bob "Slick" Leonard also has been honored with a banner displaying No. 529, the number of games he won with the franchise.
Miller, who will work tonight's game as a broadcast analyst for TNT, is the NBA's 12th all-time scorer and the career leader in 3-point field goals made and attempted.

He played more games with the same team than all but two players in league history, Utah's John Stockton and Karl Malone.

He gained his greatest fame, however, as a clutch shooter, particularly in the playoffs.

Miller's influence will be recognizable tonight in the form of Suns forward Shawn Marion, who wears No. 31 partially as a tribute to Miller. Marion played two seasons at Vincennes (Ind.) Junior College, completing his career there in 1998.

Miller is regarded as likely to gain admittance into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after he has been retired for five years. If so, he'll become the first person whose professional career is most closely identified with the Pacers to be inducted. That will have to serve as a trade-off for not winning championships.

"He didn't win any championships, but he'll be in the Hall of Fame," Daniels said. "I guess we won championships for him and he'll be in the Hall of Fame for us."



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Possibly the greatest clutch perimeter shooter of all time. Robert Horry is in the mix there, and old-timer Jerry West, but those are probably the top three.




Mark Jackson Speaks On Reggie Miller

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Mark Jackson
Special to ESPN.com

May 7 Editor's note: ESPN's NBA analyst Mark Jackson was a teammate of Reggie Miller for almost six seasons (1994-96, 1997-2000). As Miller approaches retirement, Jackson shared his thoughts about his friend.

Miller's offensive prowess

I don't know where to begin in describing how great Miller is on the court. I had the pleasure and misfortune of being assigned to guard him occasionally and it was extremely tiring. A defender has to fight through every screen that Miller slips through and run all over the court and try to stay as close as possible to him. A defender has to realize that the moment Miller has an open look he's going to find the ball in his hands and will quickly pull the trigger.

Every play he's running and taking contact from opposing players and sometimes even his own teammates. How many guys are willing to work that hard for a shot? It's amazing to me because I'm a passer and I didn't want to work that hard at all.

He's the Barry Sanders of basketball in terms of his elusiveness and ability to slip in and out of a screen and see daylight. It's beautiful to watch how he sets up a play with his movement.

Before I played with him, I didn't understand how just a split second look at the basket could result in so many clean, pretty jumpers. After playing with him I know it's because he is the consummate professional in terms of preparing for every game. He takes hundreds of jumpers to prepare for every game and every situation.

Miller's professionalism

There's no question in my mind that Miller is a Hall of Famer on and off the court in this respect. He's a true class act and professional. It's been an honor to play with him and against him in my career and I'm better as a player for being around him.

He's a coach's dream player. He listens to every word that the coach says and makes sure he's always in the right place at the right time on and off the court. He's a perfect player to have on a veteran team or a young team because he does everything right. He doesn't cut any corners and doesn't get any special superstar rights. If there's a practice I can assure you that he'll be there on time if not early and will do everything at 100-percent to better the guys around him right down to the 12th man on the bench getting minimal playing time.

There's no question he's a class act and a great friend. When I came to the Pacers in the 1994-95 season I looked forward to playing with him and he welcomed me to the team with open arms. He didn't have to respond to my joining the team with such warmth, but he did and I was more than glad to get him looks in good position as his point guard.
Eight points, 8.9 seconds

I had the pleasure of being on the court when Reggie scored his eight points in 8.9 seconds against the New York Knicks in the 1995 playoffs and it was a sight to behold. In the huddle before he proceeded to take over the game and truly cement his legacy, he told us all we needed was a couple of threes and a steal. He told us we were going to win the game even though we were down 105-99 and that we just needed to knock down a shot.

I'm not going to lie. I thought it was nice of him to say those things, but I didn't see there being a shot of it actually happening.

Then he went out and did it.

It was mind blowing and I didn't and I don't think anyone on our team really truly appreciated it immediately after the game because we were all still in shock. Honestly, I'm still in shock that we came out with a win in that game, but he wasn't surprised at all. He knew that he had done the work to put himself in the position to win and that's what he did.

In a way that scene in the huddle was quite indicative of who Reggie Miller is as a player. He had the utmost in confidence in himself. I remember when we would get ready to play the Chicago Bulls and everyone else on the team would be worried about how to stop Michael Jordan, but Reggie would be talking about how Jordan would have to guard him. He told us repeatedly that the matchup between him and MJ would be a wash and that we would have to just go get ours and we'd be in the game. That's the beauty of playing with Reggie. He knew he was great and would imbue the team with that confidence.

Being the villain

I've never met someone who thrived on going on the road and being the villain more than Reggie Miller. Many times he told his teammates that he rather play on the road than at home because he turned the taunts from the crowd into energy. He wanted to hear the crowd boo everytime he touched the ball and yell "Reggie sucks." That's what got him going into the flow of the game because he wanted to prove them wrong and send them home upset that he destroyed their team and night.

As his teammate I used to try to get him riled up by pointing out signs that took shots at him or by relaying some of the better insults that I'd heard from the crowd. When there wasn't anything good from the crowd I'd often just make something up just to get him pumped and ready to go.

It was amazing to watch when he started to feel that energy from the crowd because he'd completely light up. The only thing I can relate it to is this German shepherd guard dog I used to own. My dog would just kind of walk around when nothing was happening, but when he sensed danger or a tense situation he'd wake up and his mood would change as if it was time for him to shine.

That's the way Reggie is — he believes those pressure situations when the crowd is against him is his time to shine. It was attack-mode time.

It's easy to relate to that because there was no better feeling than watching the faces of the opposing fans as we left their arena with a win. But as much as he thrived on those moments he was constantly looking towards the next moment.

He always had something or someone in his mind to motivate him. There was always another mountain to climb and I'm glad that I was lucky enough to be there climbing right next to him.

Mark Jackson, an NBA analyst for ESPN and former NBA All-Star, ranks second all-time in assists.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/ESPNSports/story?id=737734

 

I thought I knew how to post photos but maybe not.

My favorite sports photo of all time if where Reggie beats the Knicks on a wide-open last second 3-pointer.

There must be 10 Knick fans looking anguished, with hands on their heads, one guy to the right sitting down, looks like that painting "the Scream"

He is only shooting it, but they KNOW that it will go in and they KNOW they have lost.

here's the photo: