Recap of NYC Premiere of ESPN's: Reggie Miller vs The NY Knicks

From Left: Atiba T. Edwards, Donnie Walsh and Maya Pope-Chappell

Before I get into the NY premiere of “ESPN’s 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” held at The Paley Center for Media, which has become one of my favorite places, let me digress.

Let me set the stage for you, 1995 Eastern Conference Finals…NY Knicks vs the Indiana Pacers…18.7 seconds it looks like the Knicks beat Reggie again, even the Pacers’ GM, Donnie Walsh, had left the game floor upset that another one had gotten away but in 8.9 seconds Reggie Miller single handily defeated the Knicks with his tenacity (shout out to Clyde Frazier). The closing moments of that game would go on to foreshadow the torment of the series. For a quick recap- it ended with Patrick Ewing and all of his 7-footness attempting a finger roll that would miss. A miss that would close the book on the Knicks as we knew them. (The irony is that after that shot the following commercial was for Nobody Beats The Wiz and had Ewing talking about how he loved to dunk)

Many Knicks fans remember several key Miller Moments – there was the time Reggie found himself on the receiving end of a headbut from John “Yes I dunked on those 3 Bulls” Starks, the above mentioned moment and the choke gesture made towards Sideline Spike (Lee).

“ESPN’s 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” film features on-camera interviews with Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller, players and coaches from the Pacers and Knicks, Spike Lee, Donnie Walsh and several others. The stage and tone for the documentary is set in the opening moments. You see highlights from both teams then it climaxes with the infamous Starks’ headbutt is followed by Reggie (in his exaggerated Oh.My.Gosh.What Just Happened pose) falling back for what seems like an eternity all while backed by an Opera-esque ballad (posted below for you).

Dan Klores’ documentary is a comedy/documentary as it ties together the story of Reggie from many angles including the growing up in the shadow of his gold medal winning sister, the John Starks-Reggie Miller Rivalry and Spike Lee. All tell humorous and heart felt recants of probably the best and last rivalry of the league. Another rare and overlooked feature of this film is the tale of two cities – New York City and Indiana. The teams were mirror images of each other from the players (ie Oakley and X-Man = the Davis brothers) yet their respective cities were night and day different as if it were crafted by Charles Dickens. The film also did a great job on focusing on the players and the situation (no, not that Situation). You had many unbelievable moments from ice cold Miller who suddenly got NBA Jam hot which led to the famous choke gesture which was accompanied by the lesser known grabbing of his balls. Viewers also learned what was going through Starks’ head as he missed the crucial free-throws and also what led to Ewing opting to finger roll despite having the lane part for the new Moses of the Knicks.

In many ways, you had to hate the fact that you ultimately respected Reggie. As much as he broke the hearts of Knicks, their fans and many other teams with his clutch play, despite the awkward form (and flopping)- he possessed the willingness, ability and desire to win.

We will never see such an deep seeded rivalry between players, their respective teams and the cities that live for them. This is due to many things such as the absence of a great team of role players and a superstar; player rivalries; the lack of physical play and the absence of loyalty. When I asked Donnie Walsh to discuss his view on this absence of loyalty -he was the Pacers’ GM who picked and committed to Rik ‘Dunkin’ Dutchman’ Smits and went with Reggie Miller and against the popular hometown pick of Steve Alford and now he is the GM of the NY Knicks. He replied to me- “You have to believe and stick to players development. NY is a hard place to do that…I ultimately want to rebuild and get the Knicks to a level scene by the 1994 and 1995 Knicks and Pacers.”

Dan Klores gives viewers an intimate and seldom scene deep look at the battle between The Indiana Pacers’ players and coach and their fans and The New York Knicks’ players and coach and their fans – a rivalry best understood in the 1994 and 1995 Eastern Conference finals. Stay tuned for its debut Sunday March 14th on ESPN at 9pm NYC time zone.