Sports
Reggie Miller isn’t afraid of Knicks fans’ vitriol ahead of Game 2: ‘I’ve owned this city’
Reggie Miller is ready for Game 2 of the Knicks-Pacers series at Madison Square Garden, even if New York fans are still bitter toward him.
Miller, the former Pacers villain who broke the hearts of plenty of Knicks fans during the 1990s, talked with the “Inside the NBA” crew before he was set to take on his analyst duties.
When Miller was pressed about Knicks fans still being angry over his performances — mostly centered on the 1994 and 1995 playoffs — he said he was not worried about any animosity at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m looking forward to the atmosphere,” Miller said before he hearing F–k you, Reggie” chants from the Knicks fans and getting playfully taunted about it by Josh Hart in the closing moments of the Pacers’ 130-121 Game 2 loss. “I know people are like, “Aren’t you worried about going back to New York City and calling a game?’ No, I’ve owned this city, I’ve owned this building. So why would I be worried about walking on out there? No, I’m looking forward to it, these are two very good up-and-coming teams.”
During the postseason in 1994, the Knicks took down the Pacers during the Eastern Conference finals, but not before Miller got into some beef with Spike Lee during Game 5 at the Garden, with the Pacers star at one point making a choking gesture toward the film director as the Knicks blew a fourth-quarter lead.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks in the NBA playoffs
Lee and Miller reunited before Game 2, and they held up a signed copy of The Post from that fateful game 30 years ago.
“When a lot of New Yorkers come up to me, whether it’s in the airport or just walking around the city, the first thing that comes out of their mouth, Shaq [O’Neal], is ‘I hate you, I really do detest you, but I respect your game, I respect your game and how you approached it. So I feel it’s a badge of honor,” Miller said during the TNT sit down.
And fittingly enough, as Miller was going on about fans hating him, actor and Knicks superfan Ben Stiller photobombed the segment and was seen pointing in anger toward Miller, which gave the TNT crew plenty of laughs.
The Knicks grabbed a 2-0 in the second-round series, even with Reggie Miller, the ghost from playoffs’ past, in the building.
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