The 1997-98 Indiana Pacers ended up playing a pretty crucial part in ESPN’s The Last Dance Michael Jordan documentary. They played the role of Eastern Conference foil to Jordan’s Bulls in episode 9.
The Pacers played them tough and pushed them to the brink in the conference finals. They played in a close, decisive game 7 to close out the series but the Bulls ultimately prevailed.
The most essential piece of that Pacers team was Reggie Miller and his shooting. Without him, the 1998 Pacers aren’t as good as they were and they don’t push the Bulls like they did. To tell the story of those Pacers and that team, you have to speak to Miller.
But the producers of The Last Dance almost didn’t. Not because they didn’t want him, but because Miller stood them up multiple times before he ultimately caved and participated in the documentary.
In the Jalen & Jacoby Finale recap, Jalen Rose talked about how Miller didn’t want to participate because it brought back too many painful memories.
“I was trying to initially get him to interview for this doc and he ain’t want to do it. It was too much pain.”
You can understand why Miller would want to skip this after watching the documentary. That Pacers team was loaded. Truth be told, they probably should’ve won the series. That was their best chance to go to the Finals and the Bulls snatched it right out of their hands. And now they want him to talk about it? Please.
I’ll tell you what — Miller is a better sport than me. Because, 22 years later, I’d still be too salty to bring it up again.