Knicks fans have had many enemies over the years, but if there’s one who stands out above all others, it has to be Reggie Miller. The Pacers sharpshooter used to torture the Madison Square Garden faithful, and it hurt even worse because he obviously enjoyed it so much.
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Miller was someone who embraced being the villain, which was most evident when he threw up the choke celebration after scoring eight points in 8.9 seconds to stun the Knicks Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semis.
It’s been 30 years since Miller ripped their hearts out, but Knicks fans have a long memory. Just in case they didn’t, they were forced to endure a deja vu moment with current Pacer and heir to Miller’s ‘Knicks archnemesis’ throne, Tyrese Haliburton.
Hali did the same choke celebration after erasing a 17-point deficit and tying last year’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals with a shot buzzer-beater that bounced high off the rim and improbably dropped in.
As the game analyst for NBC, Miller was courtside for Haliburton’s shot, and as he told Jimmy Fallon last night on The Tonight Show, he had nothing to do with it. As Fallon held up a side-by-side photo showing his and Haliburton’s identical celebrations (to his New York audience, no less), Miller exclaimed, “I DIDN’T TELL HIM TO DO THAT!”
Miller described how the scene went down. “I’m calling the game, it’s an unbelievable game, you were watching it, you were there,” he said to Fallon, a noted Knicks fan.
“And then when the shot went up, it went like 30 feet in the air and went in, everyone went … well it wasn’t everyone went crazy, the place went silent, and then he did this [mimes choke celebration], and I’m like, ‘Uh oh, this is gonna open up a can of worms,'” Miller explained.
Naturally, all of the heartbroken and furious Knicks fans directed their ire at Miller, since he’s the one that first did the celebration three decades ago.
That included celebrities like Ben Stiller and Timothee Chalamet, but Miller insisted that he had nothing to do with it. He compared it to The Godfather — “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
Miller told Fallon that during basketball season, and especially when the Knicks and Pacers meet in the playoffs, as they have the last two years, he goes incognito when he’s in the Big Apple, wearing a mask and a Boston hat to conceal his identity.
If there’s one consolation for the Knicks, it’s that they won’t have to worry about Haliburton and the Pacers ruining their dreams this year. Hali will be on the shelf until next season with the Achilles tear he suffered in last year’s Finals, and the Pacers are currently last in the East and hurtling towards a top pick.
Whether it’s AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer or one of the other top prospects, let’s hope for Knicks fans sake that they don’t find a time to remind them of Miller’s celebration again.
