Reggie Miller wants New Yorkers to know he didn’t play in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Of course, they know that, but Knicks fans will forever associate Miller with the Indiana Pacers. And while the sharpshooter and TNT Sports analyst is going on two decades being retired from the league, he’s still public enemy No. 1 at Madison Square Garden.
That was only compounded by Tyrese Haliburton’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt showing Miller’s infamous choke sign. Haliburton and the Pacers got the last laugh in a 130-109 Game 7 victory, in which the 24-year-old guard trolled the Knicks with one of the most hated players in the franchise’s history.
Miller got the last laugh, too — though. He did some trolling of his own on social media following what was one of the most incredible shooting performances in NBA postseason history. And he continued to pour it on during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show Wednesday.
“Can I just say something? People, I didn’t play in the series, New Yorkers,” Miller said. “Why are y’all dragging me? I didn’t play in the series; how am I a part of all of this? I came to do Game 2 because that was asked of me. My bosses said, ‘We want you doing this game.’ We all have bosses, right Theodore? I can’t say no. I called the game down the middle. How am I dragged in to like I’m out there playing Game 7?”
Patrick said that he just loved how Josh Hart came over to tell Miller in Game 2 that the MSG crowd and New York faithful were chanting, “F*** you, Reggie.”
“Oh, gee, thank you, Josh,” Miller quipped. “I appreciate that. Oh really, is that what they’re saying?”
“Look, I expected that too,” he continued. “I understand that. Just like in The Godfather, just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. And my boys from Indiana, thank you. My young boys handled their business in Game 7, and we moved on. But I wasn’t playing in the series, guys. I’m 58 years old. I had nothing to do with the series.”
Either way, Knicks fans will find a way to blame Miller.
“The Knicks could’ve used our shooting,” Miller told Patrick. “The Knicks could’ve used us. Oh, man, that’s bad. Seriously, I feel for them.”
That sentiment will almost certainly go over well.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.