Every NBA team’s greatest playoff moment

Indiana Pacers: 8 points, 9 seconds (1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Game 1)

There are plenty of people who argue that Reggie Miller isn’t one of the all-time greats that the league has ever seen. While he may have been an all-time great shooter, a look at his career numbers does show a player that was never an all-around contributor for the Indiana Pacers. But that argument starts to fall apart when you start talking about the intangibles of an all-time great. Miller had the “clutch gene” and guts in abundance, and there’s no better example than the famous “8 points, 9 seconds” game against the New York Knicks.

In Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Knicks fans and Madison Square Garden (and the Knicks themselves for that matter) thought that the win was in the bag. With just over 18 seconds on the clock, the Pacers had the ball, but New York was ahead at home by six points. Nothing bad could possibly happen, right?

Then bad things started coming in droves in the form of Miller. Indiana’s sharpshooter caught the inbounds pass and nailed a 3-pointer. Before the Knicks could even process the lead being cut to just three points, a sloppy inbound pass on their part was nabbed by Miller. He then found the 3-point arc again and drained the game-tying triple. The Pacers then quickly fouled and watched John Starks choke at the line as he missed both freebies. Miller drew a foul off the next possession and sunk both of the free throws to take the two-point lead with 7.5 ticks left on the clock, ultimately leading to a win by the same margin.

Such a feat shouldn’t be possible without the right player catching all of the right breaks. That’s exactly what happened with Miller against the Knicks, though, starting a feud for the ages and giving fans an iconic playoff moment.