Reggie Miller is done after the Pacers fell 88-79 to the Detroit Pistons tonight. He left the game with 15.9 seconds left, and Pistons coach Larry Brown called a time out in order to give the Fieldhouse enough time to give Miller a standing ovation.
That's how a player and future Hall of Famer should go out. He shouldn't go out through an injury, or after a miserable season. After the infamous Indiana/Detroit brawl, it would have been easy for Indiana to give up on this season. Instead, Indiana toppled Boston in seven games and sent the defending world champions to the limit. Miller closed the night with 27 points in 33 minutes, doing absolutely everything he could to force a Game 7, but he couldn't get it done.
I've always been a fan of Miller. He's always been a competitive, yet humble person. Reggie has always been the prototype for what an NBA player should be, and those are slowly disappearing. As Reggie said in an interview on TNT, during the summers when he first started guys like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and others took him under their wing and showed him how to play "the right way".
I was working at a sports bar the night that Miller made the play of a lifetime; down by two against the then-champion Chicago Bulls, he gave Michael Jordan a shove, jetted to the wing and hit the huge three to force a Game 7 in that series. Many people still think that was one of the best playoff series in NBA history, and I agree. The whole restaurant went nuts when they saw that shot, including me. It was definitely one of the NBA's greatest moments.
Every kid that wanted to shoot out of the gym had Reggie Miller on their short list as one of their NBA heroes. And now that hero will take those shoes off for the last time. I'm sure he'll have a great retirement, as a number of NBA legends have. However, will another player in the league step up and fill Miller's shoes? The answer is the same as when the question is posed to other stars that have hung up the shoes; it's doubtful.
Ed Brayton over at In The Agora writes a good tribute as well.
