Springfield Awaits

Much of this material was mined from a February 12 post on Josh Tinley.com by the same name.

Wednesday night, Reggie Miller played his final regular season game. In case Hall of Fame voters have any doubt about whether to check Reggie on their ballots when he becomes eligible and to place him alongside his sister in the Hall, allow me to help you out:

Reggie is currently 12th on the list of the NBA’s all-time leading scorers, having recently passed future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing and NBA legend Jerry West (whose silhouette is featured on the league's logo). Every other player in the top 25, aside from Adrian Dantley (#17) is a current Hall-of-Famer or a lock to join when he is eligible. Critics might argue that, among the top 25, Reggie has the second lowest point-per-game average. On the other hand, Reggie is fourth among that bunch in games played, which is a testament to his longevity and consistency.

Reggie is the game’s all-time leader in three-point shots made, with 2,560. Dale Ellis is second with 1,719, and only three players in history are within 1,000 three pointers of Reggie Miller. (Granted, Reggie also leads in three-point attempts by a rather large margin.) And more than any player in history, Reggie demonstrated how the three-point shot could be used to execute late comebacks and clutch victories.

On the subject of late comebacks and clutch victories, Reggie is best known to casual fans for making big shots in big games. SportsCenter has run many highlight reels made up entirely of Reggie’s clutch performances, all of which include his legendary 8 points in 18.9 seconds to beat the Knicks in a 1994 playoff series.

Reggie is 7th all time in free throw percentage and has hit 2,000 more free-throws than anyone else in the top 30. He is also 11th all time in free throws made, although he has fewer attempts than anyone else in the top 15. This year, at age 39 and in his final season, Reggie once again led the league in free throw percentage.

Reggie is 6th all time in minutes played.

Never a slacker on defense, Reggie finished his career with 1,504 steals, just outside of the top 30 all-time.

Finally, and most importantly, Reggie turned the Pacers into a perennial contender (well, this year aside). Growing up in Indiana during the days of Bird and Magic, I didn’t realize that the Pacers were an NBA team in the same way that the Lakers or Celtics were NBA teams. I assumed they were somehow minor league. Before Reggie, a good season for the Pacers involved getting a seventh or eighth seed (back when the Eastern Conference only had 11 teams) and being blown out in the first round of the playoffs. Now, the Pacers have made the playoffs in 14 of the last 15 seasons. (They have only missed the playoffs three times in Reggie’s 17 seasons leading up to this one.) In 8 of those seasons they had home court advantage for at least one round, in 6 of those seasons they made it to the Eastern Conference finals, and they took the Lakers to game six of the 2000 finals. Though Pacers fans will want to forget this season, we have no doubt they will be competitive in years to come. And we owe this transformation largely to Reggie Miller.