But due to league trade rules involving teams over the salary cap (which both New York and Atlanta are), that second option could only happen if the Hawks were willing to take back a player who earns around as much as Crawford signs for.

And they are unwilling to do that.

GM Rick Sund said the Hawks still “have never been a taxpaying team and our goal is not to pay the tax,” an approach that essentially means the team is out of the running to re-sign Jamal Crawford or use the free-agent guard in a sign-and-trade transaction.

“It’s going to be difficult to sign Jamal in a straight signing transaction,” Sund said. “We are looking at other alternatives, of course. You always look at everything but it’s not nearly as easy as if you had four months. Four days instead of four months makes it more it more difficult.”

Cunningham elaborates.

So all those factors mean a sign-and-trade with the Knicks is out. And, obviously, the Hawks also have no chance of re-signing Crawford or any other free agent making more than the minimum as long as they decline to pay the tax.

This certainly increases the chances — at least logistically from a supply-and-demand perspective — that Larry Bird, who has shown interest in Crawford, follows up his David West acquisition by inking a deal for the former Sixth Man of the Year.

Related posts:

1. Pacers Remain Interested in Jamal Crawford, But the Instant Offense Guard May Be Headed to New York
2. Brandon Rush at the Center of Knicks’ “Secret Workout” Controversy
3. Pacers Drop a Winnable Game to the Knicks

Anyone who has watched the Pacers extensively over the past few years should know that the team has one flaw that trumps all else: they can’t score. Last season, their defense vacillated between elite and very good. But they could never consistently put points on the board, something highlighted by their inability to score for minutes at a time during crunch time against the Bulls in the playoffs. Had they just been able to get a couple of points here and there, they likely would have made that series much more than the five-game gentleman’s sweep that it became.

Low and behold, it has been no surprise to hear the Pacers name continually linked to Jamal Crawford, by far the best scoring guard in this year’s free agent market. If he were to join the team, he immediately would become the team’s best player at creating his own shot, something that it is currently devoid of.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the former Sixth Man of the Year wants to play for the Knicks. Playing alongside Carmelo, Amaré and Tyson Chandler — not too mention for Mike D’Antoni — sounds like a whole bunch of fun, so this isn’t particularly shocking. Plus, Jamal used to play in NYC once upon a time. The Hawks, which were reportedly once against helping facilitate another team’s deal for Crawford, are now trying to work something out with the Knicks in which they receive some asset back for the departing guard, according to the New York Post.

Still, like with the David West scenario, the Pacers are in the background should that deal not go down.

Here is a two-part report from Indianapolis Star beat writer Mike Wells on the Pacers attempt to acquire Crawford.

Part one.

Agent Andy Miller on Crawford’s situation: “We’ve had interest in Indiana. We’ve made it clear they’re one of the teams we’re considering.”

Part two.

Miller continued: “But there hasn’t seemed to be much movement so we’ve had to look at other opportunities as well.”

Wells is also saying that Larry Bird’s interest in Memphis guard OJ Mayo persists. As you may remember, the Pacers seemingly had a deal for Mayo cemented at the trade deadline last year. All the major media outlets were reporting that a trade centering around Josh McRoberts for Mayo was a done deal.

Then it all fell apart, with differing parties reporting different reasons. This team pulled out or that team wouldn’t include so and so. It was a bunch of he said/he said.

But now it seems like the two teams may be revisiting a similar deal. Memphis wants Josh, who Indiana seemingly has no interest in retaining. And Larry Bird could help them get him with a sign-and-trade deal that brings back Mayo. OJ isn’t quite as gifted as a scorer as Crawford, but he can get his own shot to some degree. At least more so than Danny Granger or Paul George and probably more so than George Hill.

So he makes a good back-up plan.

Which seems to be the theme of this free agent season for the Pacers: back-up plans for back-up plans of back-up plans for back-up plans.

Related posts:

1. The Pacers Free Agent Point Guard Options
2. It’s Official: Jarrett Jack Is Headed to Toronto
3. Game #8 Preview: Headed to Cleveland

In the next 720 seconds, Indiana would scored 13 total points. And what with New York dropping 23 in the final quarter, those of you following along with this math problem at home should realize that the Knicks won.

In addition to the mind-blowing offensive futility down the stretch — the Pacers didn’t score a single point in the final 3:30 of the game — the most glaring reason for the loss was Carmelo Anthony’s game-winning shot. The Knicks had the ball down one with 13 ticks to play. They isolated Melo on the wing. Despite some good positional defense by Danny Granger, Billups got the ball to Anthony. He wasted little time, took one quick dribble, rose up and stuck a dagger in Danny’s eye.

The Pacers had a chance to win, but Granger couldn’t get off clean look and his eerily-similar-to-his-last-game-winner-vs-New-York try was blocked by the aforementioned Melo. A few Pacers looked like they might be able to get a tip in but it didn’t work.

Ballgame.

All of this was very dramatic, but as mentioned, it was the inability of the Pacers to convert on any of their 9 previous possessions that was the downfall. Worse than not just converting, Indiana turned the ball over on 5 of these chances. Even worse still was the Pacers penultimate possession of the game. Up 1 and coming out of a timeout with 39 seconds left, Darren Collison basically just dribbled around above the three-point line for the entire shotclock. They tried to run a useless pick-and-roll momentarily, but it eventually just turned into a Collison top-of-the-key iso on Billups. Darren herked and jerked a little bit, but Billups stuck right with him and DC put up one of the worst shots anyone attempted all day in the NBA.

Ultimately, this game doesn’t matter in the standings. The Pacers are in the playoffs and will be playing the Bulls. After the game, however, you could see just how disappointed the team was that they left this one slip away. The team had been on a good, confidence-building run prior to this loss. They still have a chance to enter the postseason on a positive note if they can knock off Orlando on Tuesday, but beating the Knicks for a third straight time down the stretch of the schedule likely would have done wonders for their collective mentality heading into the Bulls series.

Just another lost opportunity in a season full of em, I suppose.

Related posts:

1. Game #9 Recap: The One Where The Pacers Forget There Are Two Halves to an NBA Game
2. Game #56 Recap: Hellish Hansbrough Helps Pacers Escape Meltdown
3. Game Recap #37: Pacers Beat the Best National Basketball Association Team in Canada

Related posts:

1. The Pacers Are a Summer League “Winner”
2. Game #67 Recap: Tyler Invites Danny, Darren and Roy to His Party
3. UPDATE: Danny Granger Sprained His Ankle, Will Be Sidelined up to 10 Days

Danny Granger capped a big night for the Pacers with his game winner (Frank McGrath/Pacers).

Just when it was beginning to appear that everyone on the Indiana Pacers except for Tyler Hansbrough had forgotten how to play basketball, the team turned things around and beat the New York Knicks back-to-back. Sunday’s 106-93 win was impressive. Hansbrough continued his recent tear by scoring a career-high 29 points and the Pacers dominated the Knicks throughout the game for a 13-point victory. The problem with the game was that it led to more questions than answers since the team appeared to play much better without Danny Granger, who was out with the flu and strep throat.

Tuesday night’s 119-117 win was more impressive because the Knicks came to play. Granger returned to the lineup and he, Darren Collison and Roy Hibbert all came to play as well. Granger hit a sweet game winner with 0.3 seconds left, while Collison and Hibbert contributed numerous big baskets down the stretch. Granger ended up with 26 points, Collison 24 and Hibbert 15. It was nice to finally see the big three actually play well at the same time.

It was a nice redemption for all three players.

Granger had struggled mightily in recent games and his jump shot seemed to clang off the rim with such regularity, that the team just appeared to be much more settled without him Sunday. He attacked the Knicks by using dribble penetration and was particularly effective compared with his passive jump shooting of recent contests. Could the buzzer-beater be the ticket for a late season flourish?

Collison couldn’t buy an assist or a basket in several recent contests and the Granger and Hibbert struggles only exacerbated the problems. This is a young player that should be viewed along with Hansbrough and Paul George as a key component that will continue to grow for the future. Too often this season, Collison has been looked at as some sort of failed savior, which was too much pressure to put on a guy who had only 37 starts as a rookie last year.

Hibbert had come up so small that one was left wondering if he could ever regain his form. On Tuesday it all came right. When the team needed him most he responded with big buckets late. He had also played well on Sunday, so maybe he’s beginning to get out of his funk. The Pacers need their center to be effective down the stretch.

Surprisingly, in spite of these good performances, none of the big three led the Pacers in scoring against the Knicks.

That honor again went to Hansbrough, who followed up his career-high on Sunday with another on Tuesday, scoring 30 points. In fact, many of the good looks other Pacers were getting late in the game were made possible because the Knicks had decided to overplay and even double-team Hansbrough late. The choice had been made that if the Knicks were going down to the Pacers again it wasn’t going to be because Hansbrough had open shots in the fourth quarter.

Hansbrough has become more and more efficient offensively in recent games. Earlier in the season it was obvious that if he could hit his jump shot consistently he could really help this team. Now he’s hitting his jump shot consistently. Combine that with his ability to draw fouls and make awkward looking shots in the lane and you’ve got one unorthodox, but highly effective, offensive weapon.

The numbers over the past five games tell the story, with a 25.2 points per game average. In short, the qualifiers are over, five games is a trend and Hansbrough’s been terrific throughout this stretch.

In fact, this stretch reminded many of his play at North Carolina, where he was a dominant college player for four years. Most pundits said Hansbrough’s game would never translate to the NBA, which is why someone with his pedigree ended up being only the 13th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. When he sat out most of his rookie season with vertigo, the chorus of critics grew only louder.

The critics were wrong. The guy is a player. His game has translated to the NBA better than the Pacers could have hoped for. He should be a key building block for the future of this franchise.

Now, if the Pacers can get Granger, Collison and Hibbert to play well consistently with Hansbrough, then you’ve got something.

Unfortunately, this is the same team that looked so dreadful in their recent six-game losing streak, capped by lifeless losses at Minnesota and Toronto. They have proven untrustworthy at best.

Three weeks ago, Frank Vogel looked like a genius. Three days ago, Vogel looked like he couldn’t coach his way out of a paper box. Now the pendulum has swung again. It’s the same maddening inconsistency that we saw under Jim O’Brien. It’s hard to believe that coaching is the issue.

Who is this team? How can they look so bad against the dregs of the league, yet beat Miami and L.A.? If I had an easy answer, I’d be the first one to volunteer it.

Maybe the Knicks are just a good matchup for the Pacers. They aren’t interested in playing any defense and that makes it easier on the Pacers. The only real defensive intensity over the past two games from the Knicks came when they decided that Hansbrough wasn’t going to beat them singlehandedly at the end of the game.

You want defense. It’s probably going to be a lot tougher Wednesday night in Boston.

Hansbrough is going to have a target on his back. Granger won’t get many open looks. Hibbert will have to be able to play getting bumped regularly. Collison won’t find a lot of open driving lanes. It will be critical to defend merely to stay in the game.

Last week I called this team soft. Two good wins over the Knicks has done nothing to change my opinion. If the Pacers beat the Celtics, I’ll be impressed.

Related posts:

1. Pacers Pick Up Options on Darren Collison, Tyler Hansbrough. No Word on Brandon Rush’s Option
2. Game #10 Recap: Defense and Danny’s Big Plays Can’t Outweigh a Late Offensive Drought
3. Tyler Hansbrough to Start? Jim O’Brien Insinuates As Much in His Now-Typical, Antagonistic Tone

The front-runners for Melo, the New Jersey Nets, yesterday pulled out of trade talks. Oligarch owner Mikhail Prokhorov has assured everyone that this isn’t some negotiation ploy; the Nets are done dealing with Denver. So the timing does make sense. New York would want to jump into the Melo sweepstakes immediately and thus a Randolph-for-a-pick deal with Indiana is logical.

But it’s all poppycock, says Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, the long-time NBA reporter we should be trusting right now. On Twitter, he has informed me that Knicks GM Donnie Walsh (and former Pacers GM who Wells knows well) is calling BS on the whole deal.

“Donnie Walsh has shot rumor down … He said Pacers have not proposed any offers to him for Randolph.”

More emphatically, he reported this:

Indy has NOT acquired Randolph. Pacers already have 15 players on the roster and they’re over the salary cap.

Well, there ya go.

Here’s another mitigating factor Wells notes.

Bird has always liked Randolph, but Pacers are looking to add veteran rotation players. They’ve already got enough youth on their roster.

Lastly, there is one more logistical hurdle of a Pacers/Knicks deal that makes Randolph-to-Indy unlikely. The Knicks don’t want a player in the deal; they just want a pick. And since both Indy and NYC are over the cap, the salaries would have to match. This means it couldn’t just be a pick for Randolph; the Pacers would have to add roughly $2 million to match what Randolph is making this year.

they would have to add a player. my man @alanhahn at newsday says knicks only want a draft pick. that eliminates indy

UPDATE: The Pacers do have a trade exception of $3.5 million that I forgot about, so may be able to get this done without sending any players to New York.

Probably for the best.

As mentioned, I’m pretty sure Randolph isn’t any good.

UPDATE: Business Insider is now admitting that they got this one wrong, adding this addendum to their original report.

Multiple reports say that Randolph is at practice [with the Knicks]. Appears as though our information is wrong. We sincerely apologize for the error. We’re reaching out to our source to find out what went wrong

So much for that.

Related posts:

1. On Troy Murphy Not Getting Traded
2. Talking About Pacers: July 29, 2009

Simple stuff.

The only thing is that there are particular times, durations and other logistical considerations that the teams must abide by prior if they want to work players out. And according to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Knicks have been running afoul of those restrictions — brazenly so if the facts in this story are accurate.

The reason this is “Pacers news” is because one of the major pieces of the puzzle uncovering the “scandal” is that Brandon Rush tore his ACL during one of these “secret workouts” held by Knick scout Rodney Heard. Rush originally claimed he hurt his knee elsewhere, presumably to do Heard a solid, but now he has admitted that it was during an unofficial Knick workout.

For the past four years, the New York Knicks may have circumvented NBA draft rules by conducting secret workouts of collegiate players throughout gymnasiums in suburban Atlanta, Yahoo! Sports has found.

Knicks director of East Coast scouting Rodney Heard coordinated and conducted the sessions, three players who were involved in some of the workouts told Yahoo! Sports – including one May 2007 session that resulted in a devastating knee injury to Kansas All-American Brandon Rush. A tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in Rush’s right knee forced him to withdraw from the 2007 draft and required surgery plus six months of rehabilitation.

In addition to the Rush session – which was an apparent violation of NBA bylaws forbidding teams from working out players before the annual predraft camp – Heard may have broken more rules by conducting predraft workouts with additional players during restricted time periods in 2007 and for excessive sessions in 2009 and 2010.

Rodney Heard denies that this occurred.

When reached on Monday, Heard denied he was present in suburban Atlanta when Rush suffered the knee injury.

“That’s so far from the truth,” Heard said. “Someone called me and told me he got hurt. I was in Florida at our staff meetings.”

When told that Rush said he was running the workout, Heard responded: “I wasn’t there. That’s a lie.”

Rush’s coach at the time, Bill Self, had the following to say, which Wojnarowski uses as a lead-in to insinuate that Brandon stuck to his initial story due to (likely unfounded) fears that he might lose his eligibility if someone found out where he actually was when he blew out his knee.

When reached on Monday night, Self told Yahoo! Sports: “Brandon initially told us he hurt his knee in Kansas City,” Self said. “And later, he told us that was inaccurate and that it happened the day prior, while he was in North Carolina. We heard about the workouts in Atlanta, and we asked Brandon if he had worked out there and he said, ‘No,’ that he was injured when he got there.”

Rush told Yahoo! Sports that the Knicks never asked him to change his story about the injury happening in Atlanta with Heard, but multiple sources said his family and advisers worried about his college eligibility and believed he needed to keep the story quiet until he left Kansas for the NBA.

The NCAA’s rules extend to a player’s predraft workouts, but sources said any issue with Rush’s eligibility upon his return to Kansas would likely center around whether an agent paid for his travel to Atlanta. The NCAA declined comment on Monday.

Regardless of the he said/she said and whatever punishment may perhaps be handed down against the Knicks and/or Heard, this whole thing honestly isn’t a particularly big deal for the Pacers and Rush.

Sure it involves a guy who has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late, but it was a long time ago and he was just a college student trying to make it into the league. It’s wasn’t his job to care who was conducting the interview or to understand the NBA’s fine-print rules about the whole thing.

The story features Brandon prominently and I’m sure it will continue to be a topic of discussion, but it is more about an NBA team coloring outside the lines and trying to gain an unfair advantage than it is any sort of indictment of any player — and there were many, many others aside from Rush, it sounds like — who received a call to go play hoops somewhere and said “sure” before eagerly lacing up his sneakers and heading off to run some drills with visions of fulfilling his NBA dream.

And for Brandon, while the injury and rehab were undoubtedly horrible experiences and his draft position (read: paycheck) might have suffered since he had to withdraw from that year’s draft, the outcome was him returning to Kansas and winning an NCAA National Championship.

Not the worst thing in the world.

(Pacers fans may also be interested to hear that former Pacers GM Donnie Walsh, who has been manning the ship for New York since April 2008, had denied any knowledge that his scouts were conducted workouts that violate league rules.)

Related posts:

1. O RLY? Brandon Rush
2. Brandon Rush Instigating a Dork Fight
3. John Hollinger Notices Brandon Rush!

For Indiana, every win is bittersweet. Danny Granger is again looking like the unstoppable scorer he was last season, and after posting 33 points Tuesday in a 102-95 win over Sacramento, he has now put up at least 29 points in six of his past seven games. Furthermore, the franchise’s young talent, Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush, are now producing consistently. And the whole team is finally playing the hard-nosed, fun-to-watch brand of basketball that made the state famous.

On the other hand, each win is lowering the Pacers’ hopes to draft the franchise-altering, blue-chip rookie that the team so badly needs to pair with Granger if it wants to return to respectability.

There are a few more paragraphs for you to check out over there on the matter, including a staggering comparison of the Pacers’ record over the past 10 games (7-3) to that of the seven other teams it is fighting with for a good draft pick (a collective 16-54 in their past 70 games). Yikes. One of these things is not like the other. (Only the Knicks and Warriors have even 4 wins in their last 10.)

Maurice Brooks also gave Danny his “Tuesday’s Best” award, which includes another little morsel of Pacers info.

UPDATE: Tim drops some knowledge and lends precise facts about the Pacers change in the standings over the past few weeks.

At the end of play on 3/15 (or morning paper, 3/16), the Pacers stood 5th in the Central (worst), 14th in the East (2nd worst), and 27th in the NBA (4th worst).

They’ve gone 7-2 since then, and, as of this morning, they stand 4th in the Central (2nd worst), 10th in the East (6th worst), and 21st in the NBA (10th worst).

During that stretch, they’ve gained 3 games against Philly, 3 1/2 against NYK & LAC, 5 1/2 against DET & SAC, and 6 1/2 against the Wiz.

Since that date, only PHO (7-0), CLE (6-1), ORL (5-1), and POR (4-1) have better records.

My more nuanced take on the whole matter is here if you missed it.

But my only real reaction to all this is “Yikes.”

UPDATE II: Chad Ford did a chat for ESPN today and had a few comments on the Pacers and tanking:

Tiffany (Indianapolis)
Is Jim O’Brien on the hot seat?

Chad Ford (1:17 PM)
As for O’Brien, he should be after killing the Pacers shot at John Wall. I’m all for playing hard every game. But, clearly he and the rest of the Pacers aren’t on the same page.

Dan (MN)
Based off of your Pacer’s comment, are you a supporter of teams intentionally tanking late in the year?

Chad Ford (1:20 PM)
Yes. The NBA gives them an incentive to do so. If tanking now gives me the chance to win MORE games next year, of course you do it. And I think the fans understand. What do you think Pacers fans want? Another three or four meaningless wins in late March/April or John Wall or Evan Turner?

Related posts:

1. Game #10 Recap: Defense and Danny’s Big Plays Can’t Outweigh a Late Offensive Drought
2. Game #11 Recap: Blown Out by the Bobcats
3. Game #74 Recap: Al Horford REALLY Likes Playing the Pacers

If I had been the director, however, it wouldn’t have even been Winning Time. No, the title definitely would have been “Man, Did This Dude Just Did This?”

This is the exact phrase that John Starks used to describe what was going through his mind after Reggie hit the back-to-back threes that made up 75% of his infamous 8 points in 8.9 seconds outburst in 1995, which, if you’re new around these parts, is the very same sequence for which this blog is named.

Mostly, I would call it “Man, Did Dude Just Did This?” to highlight the true source of greatness for this flick: the interviews. Director Dan Klores spoke with most of the principals from the 1990s Pacers/Knicks rivalry and got some stellar content. But more than just running a camera to record people talking and calling that good, he expertly weaved the comments together to create a fantastic, patch-work, uninterrupted narrative from many different voices that perfectly describes everything the viewer needs to know.

For someone such as myself who knew 90% of the material going in, it is the craftsmanship displayed in this regard that is both the most impressive and the most entertaining part of the documentary.

Insight. Humor. Stage-setting. It’s all there. And there’s so much of it.

Thus, here are my favorite 46 quotes from Winning Time, including the wonderfully grammatically challenged one that could have made this thing a John Starks joint.

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.”

On Cheryl Miller

Reggie Miller: “Cheryl was the king of the block — and that was over the guys and the girls. She jumped the highest. She played the hardest. And she hit the hardest.”

Reggie Miller: “I learned a lot form the beat downs. Cheryl’s tough. Very tough.”

Cheryl Miller: “I would kill him. I loved killing Reggie. And dad would come out ‘Don’t hit your brother’ and all that kind of stuff. But he was … just … that … annoying.”

Cheryl Miller: “I was physically bigger and better than him. So every time that he would come in the middle, I would send it back. And I would laugh about him and give him a hard time and say ‘Alright. Alright, you sissy. This is where the big girls play.’”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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 ass.’ 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.”

On Other Stuff

Peter Vecsey: “We used to call it Nap City — probably still is called Nap City — because most players, when they get there, they do go to sleep and wait for the game.”

Spike Lee: “The first season tickets I had, I got the day after we got Patrick Ewing in the Draft.”

Reggie Miller: “Larry Brown is a perfectionist in an imperfect game. You always hear him say ‘Play the Right Way.’ During it? You couldn’t stand him. We all couldn’t stand him. But, in a sense, he was bringing us closer together as a team, because we were all ‘Hey, we can’t stand the coach, but we got to do the right thing.’”

Cheryl Miller: “I didn’t even know Indiana had an NBA team. I didn’t even know they had a franchise.”

Mark Jackson (on being traded from the Clippers the Pacers): “That’s probably the first time somebody was thrilled to move from LA to Indiana.”

Some young, unidentified Pacers fan: “I shaved my head. And … painted it.”

Related posts:

1. “Winning Time” to Air in T-Minus 3 Hours
2. “Winning Time” Arrives Just in Time
3. All Reggie, All Day on NBATV

Oh well.

But that’s the last I will discuss that game.

Because, as we all know, one more meaningless loss in an almost-entirely meaningless season is not even close to the biggest thing going on in Pacers Universe today. Nope, that would be the broadcast premiere of Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks tonight at 9:00 pm (EST) on ESPN.

By all accounts, this is one of the best films in the 30 For 30 series, and I haven’t heard a bad word about it yet. Tim went to the media premiere six weeks ago and had this to say:

By the time the documentary reaches the moment for which this site is named, even those who dislike the NBA will be pretty engaged in the drama of the rivalry.

And for those of us who feel as though we lived through those battles as soldiers in the fight rather than just passive onlookers, it provides so much more. It is both a reminder of the days when “Pacer Pride” actually meant something and a look behind the curtain.  Even though the Pacers/Knicks battles of the 90s are almost part of my DNA (and I still have the scar from the headbutt Starks gave Reggie to prove it), Klores still was able to provide vignettes that were new to me.

I suggest reading the rest of Tim’s account. And he focuses on what being a Pacer fan means more so than the movie itself, so nothing will really be spoiled.

Dan Devine also has a nice break-down over on Ball Don’t Lie, which while very good to read, is a little more spoiler-y if you care about those sorts of things.

Here’s a (safe) excerpt of that:

There’s a lot of smiling in the early stages of “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks.” A curious amount, given how much vitriol coursed through the rivalry between the Knicks and Miller’s Indiana Pacers back in the mid-1990s. Frankly, it’s a bit off-putting.

See, many intense, angry, tough men played on these two basketball teams, and they did not like each other. (These men were joined by New York Knicks forward Charles Smith, who has been called “The Brick Hithouse” and is also known as “The Southern Dandy.”) They battled. They cursed and fought. They tirelessly traded hard fouls, back when hard fouls were actually hard fouls. They so, so did not like each other.

And yet there’s John Starks, smiling as he talks about his experiences with Miller’s ceaseless trash talk. There’s Patrick Ewing, smirking while recounting Miller’s flair for flopping and complaining to officials.

There’s Antonio Davis, beaming as he tells how he couldn’t wait “to go and ring this guy’s bell, ring that guy’s bell,” provided This Guy or That Guy dared to drive the lane while wearing orange and blue. There’s then-Knicks General Manager Ernie Grunfeld, laughing while recalling Starks’ suspension-inducing headbutt of Miller during Game 3 of the first round of the 1993 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

ESPN itself has added a third good look at the film in the video below.

And they actually added an interesting segment on at the end that reveals a fact I had never known: KG’s ritual of swatting away all after-the-whistle shots to hit the rim started because of Reggie.

Garnett’s whole practice/superstition of Garnett goaltending shots after the whistle is pretty silly. I’m actually surprised I have never seen him mess it up by mishearing a whistle and giving the other team two — or even three — free points. Nonetheless, it’s an odd, trivial signature thing that some fans can enjoy in the same vein as the Dikembe finger wave. Ultimately, yeah, it’s innocuous and pointless. But it’s still sorta neat.

And, more relevant to Pacers nation, it’s just one more example of how Reggie was able to get under someone’s skin. We all know how he got to Spike and Starks and will fortunately get to watch that beautiful history re-told tonight.

But now, we see how he got to Garnett, too.

Video via @Jose3030.

Related posts:

1. “Winning Time” Arrives Just in Time
2. Game #43 Recap: Best Game in Some Time
3. Game Preview #31: Tinsley Returns and Indy Hopes They Can Shoot Well Against a Team Who Usually Lets Other Teams Shoot Well (Although It Didn’t Work Out Last Time, So…)