re: Game 2 ECF: Pacers 97 , Heat 93. : Game over. Series tied 1-1

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On Reggie

Pacers play-by-play announcer Mark Boyle: “The first time I saw him, I was taken aback. The guy looked like Mr. Potato Head on a stick.”

Cheryl Miller: “He’s maddening. He is a maddening human being.”

Patrick Ewing: “He was a great con man. Ya know, he was always crying to the ref, running off, flopping. Ya know, knock you down, smack you and act like he was the one getting smacked. I … ya know … tell ya … I hated Reggie.”

Reggie Miller: “Seventy percent of me talking on the court is personally for me to get me motivated and going. Thirty percent is to see if I can get into the opponent’s head.”

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On the John Starks Head Butt (Game 3, 1993)

Reggie: “Looking at Oakley, I was like ‘Your boy is really, really dumb. I mean he is really, really dumb. Are you serious?’”

Antonio Davis: “I’m surprised he didn’t have, like, a pack of ketchup and just put it up to his head, and you look and you think he’s bleeding.”

Reggie Miller: “I don’t talk trash. I keep telling you that. I’m a good guy.”

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On the Rivalry’s Physicality

Antonio Davis: “Against the Indiana Pacers, you wasn’t coming down the middle. If you came down once, you definitely knew you couldn’t come down again.”

Greg Anthony: “We would say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna win something tonight. We’re either gonna win the game or the fight.’”

Patrick Ewing: “If we knocked someone down, it was a fine to pick them back up.”

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On the 25-point Fourth Quarter (Game 5, 1994)

Mark Boyle: “The Knicks were a really strong defensive team. And they had a nice lead going into the fourth quarter. And, you thought it was over.”

Reggie (on Spike): “You pay a lot of money for those seats … OK, you’re gonna be part of the game now … He became part of the game.”

Spike Lee: “I had never ever had any interplay with an athlete before like that. Ever.” *cut to footage of Spike and Scottie Pippen getting into it*

Ahmad Rashad (on Spike): “If you go to playgrounds across the country, there’s always one little guy who can’t play very well, but he stands over there and talks all the crap. He’s the instigator.”

Spike Lee: “I didn’t mind the choke sign, but to grab his nuts. My wife’s sitting right there. C’mon.”

Reggie Miller: “I remember going to the Davis boys and Rik and saying ‘You guys just set screens. I’m gonna make everything.’”

Herb Williams: “I think if Spike had of just sat there and not said nothing, Reggie might have missed his next ten shots.”

Marv Albert: “He had two games going. He had one with Spike. And he had one with the Knicks.”

Larry Brown: “I think as soon as he got over half court, he was in range.”

Spike Lee (on the following game, Game 6): “I’m praying to God, because I know, we lose this game, it’s gonna be hard for me to live in New York City.”

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On 8 points in 8.9 Seconds (Game 1, 1995)

Donnie Walsh: “Mel Daniels started banging on the door, and he said ‘Donnie, Reggie just tied the game up.’ And I said ‘Stop screwing with me — I’m not in the mood.’”

Ahmad Rashad: “…presence of mind to not take the two — to step back and take the three. Now that takes … huge … … balls … to do that.”

John Starks: “I’m walking to the free-throw line and I’m thinking, like, ‘Man, did this dude just did this?’”

Greg Anthony: “I had never heard the Garden that quiet. We’ve had shootarounds at the Garden when there was no one there but the janitors, and it wasn’t that quiet.”

Mark Jackson: “We watched John’s eyes. And he wanted no parts of those foul shots.”

Spike Lee (on Anthony Mason fouling Reggie): “Our basketball IQ is not the highest.”

Jeff Van Gundy: “That sequence was the biggest meltdown that I can remember ever seeing in the NBA.”

Reggie Miller: “The joy of them choking, and that satisfaction of doing it in New York? John missing two free-throws at home? That’s the joy of it.

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On Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead (Game 7, 1995)

Antonio Davis: “It’s the Garden. It’s New York. You’re just so fired up. You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. You just wanna play.”

Byron Scott: “Rik Smits hadn’t said anything for six games, and we got in our huddle, and Rik Smits said ‘Let’s go out and kick their arse.’ That was it. We was like, ‘Ahh, it’s on.’”

Cheryl Miller: “Going back to New York, no way they win it. I thought it was done. I thought it was over.”

Peter Vecsey: “It was gonna be done again and it was gonna be done in Madison Square Garden … Manifest Destiny.”

Ahmad Rashad: “The whole city of New York was involved.

Patrick Ewing. Reggie Miller. The Knicks. The Pacers, their arch-rivals. And it was their peak — their chance. And it hinged on one play.”

Rik Smits: “I’m thinking ‘Wow. The same thing is happening over again. We’re gonna lose.’”

Patrick Ewing (on his failed finger roll): “I see the ball hit — Ba-dupe … Ba-dupe.”

Charles Smith: “That shot put the lid on the basket for all of our careers moving forward.”

Mark Boyle: “Ding dong the witch is dead.”

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Best Reggie Quote

“John Starks choked. We came up big,” Miller said in his postgame interview on NBC. “This is for you Indiana, we’re coming back!”

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