30 for 30 running thread

Looking forward to the Iverson one, if for no other reason than to see his high school football film.

 

A new 30 for 30 is set for Sunday, March 14.
Winning Time with Reggie Miller at 9 p.m. on ESPN

 

I loved Winning Time. It was good entertainment and those playoff series were pretty damn fun.

 

Missed it last night (was watching HBO's "The Pacific"), but it re-airs tonight at midnight Eastern on espn2.

 

I want to hear the Iverson Immaculate conception story.

 

I also thought it was pretty strong. I especially got a chuckle out of how they handled the 1999 series at the very end of the documentary, after the credits.

 

That was the only quibble I had with the program. It focused entirely upon 93, 94 and 95 and (except for the end credit mention of LJ's shot) completely ignored the fact that the Pacers/Knicks playoff rivalry actually went on quite a bit longer than that.

They also met up in three more hotly contested series in 98, 99 and 2000. In 98 Miller owned the Knicks, winning yet another key game with a last second shot in Madison Square Garden. In 99 the Knicks upset the heavily favored Pacers (in one of most suspiciously officated series ever) in the Conference finals with the famous LJ four point play shot. And in 2000 the Pacers got to the Finals by battling through the Knicks again in the conference finals. The rivalry was based upon six hotly contested playoff matchups, you'd think the documentary might've at least mentioned the last three.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy it. It was a lot of fun to watch.

 

I think they focused on 1994 and 1995 so much because Jordan was gone and it was the best time for the Knicks to win a title. Remember this is a Knicks fan shooting this documentary so those two years were thought to be the years for the team to win and Reggie was their living, breathing nemesis. Of course all the playoff series were fun and it's ironic that both teams made the finals in 1999 and 2000 respectively...of course. were thought to have much of a chance.

 

I did my long explanation of why these series meant so much to Indiana, as a state, and Pacers fan, but one thing unmentioned as part of the reason the fans were so jacked up: it was race month, so the city was already in party mode. I remember walking from the 500 parade to MSA for a playoff game. Some of Johnny Rutherford's buddies bought us lunch at the City Market. It was a very loosy-goosy atmosphere for a city that normally walked around with a stick in its butt.

Also, it's funny that a Miller highlight they showed early (and Reggie must have OK'd it, with his Boom Baby Productions involved) was him bowing after hitting a shot to put Indiana up over Chicago with 0.8 second left. Left out was Toni Kukoc coming out of the timeout and hitting a game-winner.

Also also, the eight points in 8.9 seconds wasn't the only can-you-believe-this moment of those playoffs for Indiana. In game four of the conference finals against Orlando, there were four lead changes in the last 13 seconds, three in the last five:

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/30/sports/1995-nba-playoffs-pacers-win-as-time-and-magic-stand-still.html?pagewanted=1

13.3 seconds left -- Brian Shaw hits a three-pointer to put Orlando up 90-89.

5.2 seconds left -- Reggie Miller hits a 3 to put Indiana up 92-90.

1.3 seconds left -- Penny Hardaway hits a 3 to put Orlando up 93-92.

After a timeout, Derrick McKey inbounds from midcourt, hits Rik Smits at the free-throw line. Smits has enough time to head fake Tree Rollins (Shaq had fouled out after going 0-for-8 from the line) and hit the game-winner as the clock expires.

I've never been, as a fan, part of a game like that. I remember absolute bedlam, people hugging each other, running onto the street of excitement. It wasn't that the series was tied at 2. It's just that when you have that big a shot as time expires, there's no opportunity to come down before you leave the arena.

 

Just caught the replay on ESPN2. I've never been a huge NBA fan and thus didn't recall those games vividly, so a lot of the information was new to me.

But still, I enjoyed the look back immensely. Three things stood out to me:

1. The way the filmmakers framed Reggie Miller's personality and how he used his rivalries with his sister Cheryl, John Starks and Spike Lee --- along with the encouragement from Mark Jackson --- to inspire him. Really just a fascinating guy.

2. The match-up of Miller vs. Starks was simply unfair on a psychological level. Starks just doesn't come off as all that bright, either on or off the court. But I give the guy kudos for owning up to his basketball IQ shortcomings during his appearance on the documentary. It would have been very easy for him to deny Miller got in his head, but he didn't do that.

3. It was refreshing to see Patrick Ewing come out of his shell and show a little bit of humanity for once. It was nice that he seemed to take satisfaction out of something other than getting lap dances at the Gold Club.

 

Note: Another 30 for 30 documentary that was yanked from ESPN to air on ABC comes on today at 4 p.m. (EST). It's on Paul Westhead and Loyola Marymount run of 1990. Called Gurus of Go.

 

I've got it recording as we speak. Should be good stuff