Top 100 NBA Players: #49

Reggie Miller

(Kalb: #48, Simmons: #62, BBR: #34)

Reggie Miller was considered a superstar by some, and just a regular star by many others, but there is no doubt that he has an important part in NBA history. He is one of the best shooters in the history of the league, and his playoff heroics are legendary.

Reggie was a scorer and shooter, but not much else. He was the all-time leader in three-point field goals made for over a decade, and he led the league in free throw percentage 5 times, and he currently ranks ninth all-time from the line. He also managed to score at least 18 points per game for 12 straight seasons, another feat that has been accomplished by fewer than 10 players ever.

Reggie never won a championship, but he sure made it close a number of times. He made it to the the NBA Finals once as the Pacers' best player, losing to the Lakers, and made five other trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, 4 times as the star player. Not only did he get his team deep into the playoffs over and over, he had a memorable performance in nearly every one of those postseasons.

In 1994, the first time they made the Conference Finals, Miller scored 25 points in the 4th quarter of game 5, including 5 three-pointers, and almost singlehandedly beat the Knicks. The next season he scored 8 points in under 8 seconds to bring the Pacers back from a 6-point deficit in the final minute. In 1998, he hit the game-winning three-pointer with less than a second left over Michael Jordan to tie the series. In 2002, he hit a 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to send the deciding game 5 to overtime with New Jersey, then drove in for a dunk to send the game to a second overtime, at the age of 36.

Reggie always played his best in the playoffs. During the decade that he was Indiana's best player, he averaged 21 points during the regular season, and 23 points per game in the playoffs. He may be the best playoff performer ever to never win a championship.

Reggie Miller did not reach the peak level that Shawn Marion did, but he was able to maintain his peak for a long time, performing just as well at age 34 as he did at age 24. Miller also saw more playoff success than Marion, since he was the star player on five teams that made deep playoff runs, while Marion could only say that once. Miller's longevity and consistent high level of play are what puts him a step ahead of Marion.