Tag: Reggie Miller

Reggie Miller shares special bond of Bill Walton

Special tribute from Reggie Miller.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since the sad death of Bill Walton. The former UCLA great though continues to be remembered throughout the National Basketball Association.

Reggie Miller, who is one of the all-time great UCLA Bruins basketball players still holds the UCLA single-season records for most league points, highest scoring average, and most free throws. Miller’s 31 jersey is retired at UCLA.

“To have Bill Walton come back, my first few steps on the UCLA campus, to have him tutor us, talk to us, about life lessons, what those series were all about, is invaluable. To Bruin nation, he meant a lot”.

Miller went on to become a five-time NBA All-Star, and his number is also retired by the Indiana Pacers. He finished with over 25,000 points in his NBA career. He is not on TNT as an NBA commentator and on CBS Sports as a college basketball analyst.

Reggie Miller got the last laugh on the Knicks after Game 7 with ice-cold Instagram taunt

The Reggie Miller/Knicks beef is the absolute best.

It’s safe to say Reggie Miller came away with the win in this beef war with the New York Knicks.

Miller and the Knicks have had a long-standing rivalry dating back to the 1990s NBA playoffs and while New York fans made their presence known with some NSFW chants earlier in the second round, the current TNT announcer has certainly gotten the last laugh now. On Sunday, the Knicks fell to the Indiana Pacers 130-109, missing out on the Conference Finals in a tough Game 7 loss. After the game, Miller took to Instagram to throw one final dig the Knicks way, referencing his moment with Josh Hart earlier in the series.

“When the series changed!!,” Miller said, alongside the famous picture of him and Hart from earlier in the series. “Jalen Brunson you are a true BALLER, been the best player in these playoffs, but you and your boys can all heal up together on some beautiful beaches in Cancun, please enjoy!!”

That’s certainly one way to keep the rivalry going into next season!

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Josh Hart had a hysterically NSFW message for Reggie Miller after taunts from Knicks fans

That was cold, Madison Square Garden.

New York Knicks fans have a deep rivalry with former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller from the 1990s NBA playoffs, and they let the current broadcaster know it on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

As the Knicks and Pacers faced off in the second round of the 2024 Eastern Conference playoffs, the New York crowd noticed that Miller was in attendance and responded accordingly with a very NSFW chant.

Knicks forward Josh Hart actually went over to the broadcast mic and shared in a very funny (also NSFW) exchange with Miller about the New York chants.

We’re sure the television censors really appreciated this, but it was delightful all the same.

Some NSFW language to follow: 

Hey, if you get the entire crowd at MSG to chant at you like that, it’s clear that you found some success there in the past to endear such hating.

We’re sure Miller got a kick out of this, and Hart’s response to it all was just golden. The Knicks getting the win and the 2-0 series lead didn’t hurt for New York fans, either.

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Spike Lee got Reggie Miller to sign some New York newspapers from their infamous Knicks-Pacers feud

Reggie Miller and Spike Lee reuniting during a Knicks-Pacers NBA playoff game is fantastic.

Former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller and Oscar-winning filmmaker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee reunited on Wednesday night during the 2024 NBA playoffs on much more amicable terms than from a few decades ago.

Recall Miller and Lee’s infamous rivalry from the 1994 NBA Eastern Conference finals, where Lee hilariously taunted Miller from courtside at Madison Square Garden and Miller responded on the court.

Well, there was no hard feelings at all for the two during the Knicks and Pacers’ 2024 second-round Eastern Conference playoff game at MSG, where Miller actually signed Lee’s copies of a few New York newspapers recapping their playoff feud from all those years ago.

That’s pretty cool to see that, after all these years, these two guys can reminisce over such a fun NBA playoff memory in this way. They might want different results from the game, but this is still so much fun.

You can relive their 1994 back-and-forth below. How has it been 30 years?

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Reggie Miller couldn’t believe how clueless Kenny Smith was about Tyrese Haliburton’s 3-point shooting

Does Kenny even watch basketball?

Kenny Smith has spent the past 26 years working with Turner Sports and TNT’s NBA coverage in some capacity. And as a co-analyst on TNT’s Inside the NBA, fans expect Smith to have expert familiarity with today’s NBA. After all, that’s what he gets paid to talk about on TV.

Saturday, though, was not Smith’s best effort. He told on himself all night and even had Reggie Miller utterly perplexed with some of the remarks he made.

Smith drew harsh criticism for his comments about Sabrina Ionescu using the NBA three-point line in her showdown with Steph Curry. But during the regular three-point contest, Smith was admittedly surprised that the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton could shoot threes at such a high frequency.

It was such an odd remark for an NBA analyst to make on national TV that Miller responded with, “Do you watch the games?”

Miller had a point. It’s not like Haliburton suddenly started shooting a high percentage this year. He’s a career 40-percent three-point shooter, and he’s been taking six threes per game throughout his entire career (and nearly eight this season). He shoots threes a lot and shoots them well. Smith should have known that one of the game’s best three-point shooters could, well, shoot.

Fans were also not impressed with Smith’s performance on the night, and they were glad that Miller called him out.

Sue Bird said that Sabrina Ionescu and Steph Curry’s 3-point contest should’ve had a woman in the announcing crew

Sue Bird thinks the NBA screwed up with its announcers for Sabrina Ionescu and Steph Curry.

Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu’s iconic three-point contest should’ve been a fantastic celebration of basketball. Two of the best shooters in the world, in two different leagues, meeting up for a fun shootout from deep in Indianapolis? What more could you ask for?

A thoughtful woman’s announcer next to Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan might have been a great start. That’s according to Sue Bird.

Instead of gushing about the contrasting styles and dynamic energy Curry and Ionescu bring to the court, Kenny Smith was rightfully pilloried for suggesting Ionescu should’ve shot behind the women’s standard three-point line even though she only lost by three. Also, her final score of 26 was equal to Damian Lillard’s winning total during the other three-point contest.

Surely not a coincidence, Bird appreciated the final results of Curry and Ionescu’s duel but lamented that there wasn’t a woman’s voice offering a nuanced perspective:

The league should learn a valuable lesson from this moment since this probably won’t be the only time an NBA and WNBA star square off in an All-Star Weekend event. Have an insightful booth featuring both perspectives, and everyone can just zero in on the fun.

Fans roasted Kenny Smith after he said Sabrina Ionescu should have had shorter 3-point line vs. Steph Curry

Kenny Smith embarrassed himself with these comments.

Stephen Curry in a one-on-one 3-point contest against WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu was the highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend.

Curry managed to narrowly defeat Ionescu, who was shooting from NBA range during the competition a Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a competitive battle between two of the greatest shooters in the sport and it was thrilling to watch for the fans.

That is why it was especially disappointing when TNT’s Kenny Smith suggested that Ionescu should have shot the ball from the WNBA 3-point line.

Ionescu performed extraordinarily well, she just had the impossible task of going against Curry. Few people on the planet could have made it even half as competitive as she did.

So naturally, hoops fans roasted Smith for his immediate commentary about the shooting distance in the competition.

Q&A: Tyrese Haliburton on entering All-Star Weekend in an Indy car, the 3-point contest and more

“All of these people are here for All-Star Weekend, and I’m the Hoosier representative,” Tyrese Haliburton told For The Win.

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is one of the busiest individuals at the NBA’s 2024 All-Star Weekend.

Haliburton, who led Eastern Conference guards in All-Star votes from fans as well as media and players, earned an appearance as the starting point guard in the East for the All-Star Game.

The 23-year-old represents the Pacers, the hosts of NBA All-Star Weekend for the first time since 1985. He is just the fourth player in franchise history to ever make an appearance in the starting lineup of the All-Star Game. For the second year in a row, Haliburton will also participate in the Starry 3-point Contest.

Haliburton took some time to catch up with For The Win to discuss showing up to All-Star Weekend in an Indy car, the love he received from Larry Bird and Reggie Miller and more.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller had a ball calling Victor Wembanyama’s breakout game during Bucks-Spurs

Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller brought their A-games to calling Bucks-Spurs.

If you wanted to hear one of the most joyous NBA broadcasts of the year, you have to check out highlights from Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller’s call of the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs game on Thursday night.

The infectious energy in the building for Wembanyama’s breathtaking breakout game got Harlan and Miller positively giddy, as their excitement for this nail-biting game spread throughout the broadcast/

Even when it wasn’t Wemby making the huge plays, Harlan and Miller put on a clinic on how to capture a moment in time with the way they heightened their deliver to match the special game that was unfolding.

Here are a few highlights from their call, surely one of the best in the NBA so far this season. It’ll get you pumped up to hear them get so hyped up.

Reggie Miller disrespects Lakers by putting them in his second Western Conference tier

Did Reggie Miller throw shade at the Lakers by essentially saying they’re pretenders and not championship contenders?

With the start of the regular season just over a week away, the Los Angeles Lakers believe they’re legitimate championship contenders, as do most people around the NBA. However, there are still those who believe they’re merely a good team, or even one that will end up only making the play-in tournament.

Last season, the Lakers were a play-in team, but once the players acquired in the Russell Westbrook trade debuted, they went 18-9 the rest of the regular season. This was despite the fact LeBron James missed a month of action late in the schedule and D’Angelo Russell, one of the men they obtained in return for Westbrook, was out for nine games.

During TNT’s broadcast of a preseason game between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs on Friday, Hall of Famer and commentator Reggie Miller gave his tiers of Western Conference teams. The Purple and Gold fell into his second tier.

A very strong argument could be made the Lakers are better than all of the other teams in Miller’s second tier.

At the same time, one has to wonder why he put the Sacramento Kings, who won 48 games last year but are returning largely the same roster, and especially the Oklahoma City Thunder, a very young squad that lost in the play-in tournament last spring, in his top tier.