90s Pacers

(video via JA Sherman)

Not to be a jerk, but this is some pretty shoddy reenactment work, fellas. Like, Lifetime movie courtroom dramatization bad. The 8 points in 9 seconds recreation, something I would like to think I, the founder of this blog, know something about, is particularly garbage.

The first three is OK. The inbounds angle is way off here and, in real life, Reggie caught the pass standing on the line and had to step back to make sure it was a trey. That’s nitpicking though. But after the guy imitating Reggie hits the shot, he just hangs for a second before immediately beginning to defend the guy playing Greg Anthony. In reality, Reggie initially sticks Starks way out beyond the arc. But after John cuts towards inbounder Anthony Mason, Reggie leaves the future-2-for-18-in-an-NBA-Finals-Game-7 performer in order to prevent the pass to Greg Anthony. He is able to double Greg (along with Byron Scott) due to the most underrated aspect of this play: Sam Mitchell leaves the inbounder and jumps in front of Starks to prevent Mase from throwing that pass. While Mason is realizing this is going on, Greg Anthony is busy tripping on his own foot. And by the time Mason realizes he should have just passed it to Greg before he fell down, it’s too late because he is already throwing the ball in. To nobody. Or, more accurately, to Reggie.

But, OK. All this is also nitpicking. These elements would be definitely be integral if I were directing this recreation, but it’s an excusable choice to leave out such details. There are a lot of moving parts to coordinate and I’m guessing the producers of this video don’t have a huge budget to spend time choreographing off-the-ball action.

The next part is inexcusable to omit, however.

In this rendition, when Reggie steals the inbounds, he is already behind the arc. He merely needs to stick the shot. But that’s not how it went down. As we all know — and what makes this arguably the most heads-up play in NBA history — Reggie grabs the errant pass, pivots, takes a spin dribble in retreat to the three-point line, squares up and buries his second three in as many seconds. Having the guy playing Reggie just catch and grab the ball behind the line and stick a jumper is just sloppy work, guys.

The Jordan shove play isn’t reenacted much better. MJ didn’t fall down in the real play. He was merely thrown off balance and nearly recovered to challenge the shot even. Instead, these poor-attention-to-detail filmmakers have Mike hitting the deck and Reggie struggling to catch the inbounds pass. The kid playing Miller dribbles twice before popping the jumper. In real life, Reggie just catches, squares up and knocks it down.

And I’m not going to even comment on this impersonator’s horrible attempt to mimic Reggie’s “sprint down the court and twirl around like a ballerina” celebration. Not that such a public display is really something I would want to recreate personally, but if you’re going to do it, at least make an attempt to get it right.

The re-enactment of Miller’s bank heave against the Nets is done well here. I’ll give them that. (Although I can’t actually tell if this banks in, honestly.) But it is the least memorable of these three plays. And they fail to follow it up with the even more improbable drive-the-lane-and-two-hand-dunk-in-traffic play that Reggie did to send that same game into double overtime. (A double OT during which the Pacers were outscored 13-2 … *sigh*).

In conclusion, nice thought, fellas from ChinaPacers.com. I respect the effort.

But I don’t respect the final product.

Let’s try a little harder next time.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Related Topics: 90s Pacers, Reggie Miller

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