How the Malice at the Palace Cost Reggie Miller a Ring

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How the Malice at the Palace Cost Reggie Miller a Ring | Undercover Spill  Reggie Miller was one of the greatest clutch shooters in NBA history — a loyal Pacer who never left the team. But in 2004, just when it looked like Indiana had a real shot at a championship, everything changed.  In this episode, we look at Reggie’s rise from underrated draft pick to Pacers legend, his fierce rivalries, and how the infamous Malice at the Palace brawl derailed what could’ve been his final run to a ring.

Transcript

00:00he was one of the most feared snipers ever in NBA history millions witnessed his iconic

00:13moments and brilliant performances throughout the years he was on the verge of finishing his

00:18illustrious career with the ultimate achievement in basketball unfortunately he wouldn't get the

00:24fairy tale ending he truly deserved let's take a look back at the legendary Reggie Miller and find

00:31out what actually happened for years Reggie Miller lived in his older sister Cheryl's shadow

00:38she was the superstar athlete in the family growing up making big waves in women's basketball

00:45but as the phrase goes steel sharpened steel and Reggie would benefit greatly from the sibling

00:50rivalry his development on the court continued to improve and eventually he finally was able to

00:56surpass his sister's basketball skills while he didn't have the best-looking shooting form

01:03more times than not the ball often found its way through the hoop from anywhere on the floor

01:09the supreme marksman went on to rack up a number of achievements as a collegiate star including a

01:14pack 10 championship not long after his brewing success it was off to the big leagues for him

01:22indiana pacers select reggie miller of ucla uh it's great uh rookie of the year chuck persons uh coach

01:34ramsey and class organization um i would just like to come in and play hard it's like kenny smith and

01:42anyone else said before it's just a pleasure to be picked and and to go so i'm happy right now

01:48he quickly evolved into one of the premier stars in the league thanks to his jaw-dropping game winners

01:53and intense rivalries in the playoffs his clutch performances and showmanship when the lights were

01:59shining bright led to many iconic moments in the history books for both teams in the playoff game

02:06miller for three and he got it reggie miller with a clutch tray and it's 105 102 and a steal miller

02:14retreats to the three-point line and hits again unfortunately for miller and many other star players

02:21in his era they all had to go through the very dominant chicago bulls franchise in order to claim

02:27a championship michael jordan at the time was simply an unstoppable force in the nba for nearly a

02:33decade after jordan retired from the league and his reign of dominance was over many elite players felt

02:41they finally had a legit chance at winning it all including reggie not long after the bulls legend

02:47retired for the first time in franchise history miller and the indiana pacers would advance to the nba

02:53finals unfortunately for reggie he once again had to deal with two hungry generational talents dressed

03:00in purple and gold the pacers would witness firsthand the start of a new dynasty that would

03:07be hard to deal with for the foreseeable future in the league this is it fellas you work all year

03:14long for it man shak the man most dominant player in the world championship stars love it it's beautiful

03:23wow 2g baby you love it we out as miller's career was winding down the window of opportunity was starting

03:31to close the pacers front office would make a number of big moves in order to maximize the time they had

03:38left with reggie the reshaping of the roster consisted of much more younger talent to surround the aging star

03:46they attempted to cover all the bases acquiring proficient defenders shooters and playmakers including

03:53a future superstar in ron artes on paper it looked like the best starting lineup in the league by far

04:00many sports commentators expressed how the pacers were the team to beat going into the 2004-2005 season

04:09it seemed like all the stars had a line for the man that carried the indiana franchise for nearly two

04:15decades it often appeared that everyone in the nba was rooting for miller to leave on a high note

04:21especially his teammates many of which watched him growing up and claimed to idolize the marksman in

04:28their childhood however things would take a turn for the worst shortly after the season began

04:36this is their first of four meetings in the regular season detroit four and three overall indiana six

04:42and two so far on this young season our starting lineups looking at the front court rod artes austin

04:47crozier and jermaine o'neal tayshaun prince rashid wallace and ben wallace for the pistons since rashid

04:54wallace has joined the pistons they have been significantly better than the pacers it's up to

04:58this front court which provides most of the points to get it done for the pacers in the backcourt the

05:04new pacers stephen jackson with jamal tinsley chauncey billups and richard hamlet the very difficult

05:09backcourt for detroit despite it being very early in the season it was a highly anticipated game

05:16the pistons were the reigning champions but they were overlooked by the media and nba fans

05:22the matchup would gauge just how good the pacers really were and settle the discussion of their

05:28true potential like many predicted the pacers would dominate detroit in the game proving the hype was

05:34well deserved during the closing seconds of the pacers blowout victory ron artest would foul detroit

05:42star player ben wallace denying him an easy basket possibly upset about the humiliating defeat ben

05:49proceeded to let his frustrations out referees and players attempted to break the two up but the

05:56situation got even worse once they were separated as our test attempted to calm down by lying on the

06:02broadcasting table a fan in the audience did the unthinkable is ejected i'm not sure

06:09he'd have to walk past the pace of bench to go now our test has jumped over the scores table and is

06:14trying to get down to the bench our test is in the stands oh this is awful fans are getting involved

06:22stephen jackson's in the fans rasheed wallace going into the stands the security trying to somehow restore

06:31other fans and players are going out and the players trying to help each other out

06:39this is a disgrace athletes going into the stands and fighting fans fans going on the court fighting

06:46players it was very much one of the most bizarre events ever to take place in pro sports following

06:53the incident the nba commissioner david stern decided to hand out severe punishments to all the players

06:59involved most notably ron artest was suspended for the remainder of the season stephen jackson was

07:07suspended for 30 games and jermaine anil was suspended for 25. the lengthy suspensions was a huge blow to the

07:15pacers organization but perhaps the biggest blow to reggie championship aspirations were long gone following the brawl

07:23there was no way the pacers could recover with key players missing a substantial amount of the season

07:31the 39 year old miller was able to lead the team to the playoffs but the pacers would fall short once

07:38again after the conclusion of the disappointing season for indiana miller time was finally over

07:45and the 18 year veteran decided it was time to retire despite being ringless reggie is still one of

07:52the most beloved basketball stars of all time he left nba fans with plenty of unforgettable moments on

07:59the court and he had a career that many could only dream of what are your thoughts on this story were you

08:07a reggie miller fan would the pacers have won it all if the brawl didn't happen leave a comment below and let

08:15me know

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