On a night when the Naismith Hall of Fame welcomed another 12 members into their illustrious halls in Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 time NBA All Star Reggie Miller once again came up huge on the biggest stage as he gave both a heartfelt and humorous acceptance speech before 1,500 invited guests.
Although the other 11 inductees that included legendary coach Don Nelson, Nike founder Phil Knight, 2 time ABA MVP Mel Daniels, 3 time NCAA MVP Ralph Sampson, and longtime referee Hank Nichols deserve equal recognition, the night undoubtedly belonged to Miller, who became the first player in NBA history to make 2,000 3 point shots, a mark since broken by Ray Allen.
After thanking his family, most noticeably his sister Cheryl by naming her as well as Micheal Jordan and Larry Bird as the greatest 3 basketball players ever, Reggie made mention of arguably some of his greatest moments as a player against both the NY Knicks and Chicago Bulls.
Miller then retold a humorous anecdote when as a Pacers rookie, he decided to try and trash talk Jordan during the 2nd half of a preseason game. MJ rather quickly went into competitive mode, finishing with 40 points to Reggie’s 12, teaching the rookie a lesson in respecting his elders.
But two of the more entertaining moments of his speech came when he decided to “confess some of his sins” on the basketball court, after which the crowd rather excitedly groaned with anticipation.
First, Miller admitted to former Knick and current NBA analyst Greg Anthony that he pushed him amidst making back-to-back 3 pointer during Reggie’s now magical 8 points in 8.9 seconds vs the Knicks in the ’05 Eastern Conference Semi’s. He then turned his attention once again to the G.O.A.T.
In another one of Reggie’s iconic big game moments, he sank a game winning 3 point shot after getting free from MJ, to secure a win for the Pacers over the Bulls in the ’98 Eastern Conference Finals. We all saw and knew the reason that Reggie got so open on that play but Miller finally admitted that he pushed off on Jordan, saying that “Yeah, Michael, I did shove you, too. But I’ve seen you do it so many times to so many players, so I figured it was OK.”
Congratulations are due for Reggie as he was one of those rare athletes in the modern game that played his entire career for one franchise, leading the Pacers to 6 Eastern Conference Finals and their lone NBA Finals appearance in 2000. He was perhaps known for taking and making some of the biggest shots in NBA history, especially in the Playoffs and unfortunately against the New York Knicks, earning the nickname “Knick Killer.” In addition to being one of the best 3 point shooters of all time, he led the NBA in free throw accuracy 5 times, and won 2 Gold Medals representing his country for team USA.
Reggie Miller’s 2012 HOF Speech (mention of MJ @ 16:20)
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, ?in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
