The Battle (Reggie Miller Vs. The Knicks and Spike Lee)

The documentary "Winning time" stars Reggie Miller in the 90's while he played on the Indiana Pacers. I love this documentary because it shows how hard some teams battle and play to win. When you think of rivalries you think of the Yankees and the Red Sox or the Lakers and the Celtics you dont really think of the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks as rivals. But their rivalry in the 90's was one of the best in the NBA. For 2 straight years they met in the Eastern Division Finals. This rivalry was great because they were always battling back and fourth. What made the rivalry so great was that both teams were so physical. I just loved how raw both teams played. At one point in the documentary Greg Anthony said " we were gonna win something, either the game or the fight. In 94 the Pacers took the Knicks to 7 games and lost. In game 5 Reggie just went off and it was like it was him against the Knicks. What set Reggie off was actually a huge Knick fan director Spike Lee. I thought that this was a great part in the documentary, Spike just completely gives it to Reggie. Reggie himself is a big shit talker but he was playing like shit and Lee was letting him know he even brought his sister Cheryl into it. He would say things like Cheryl could make that shot and Cheryl is a better player than you. The things Spike would say just fueled the fire to Reggie. In one point of the game Reggie turned to his teammates and said you guys just set screens im gonna make everything. Even though Reggie got them to win that game it didnt make a difference, they still lost the series. The following year the Pacers made a move to get Mark Jackson who played for the Knicks the previous season. I think that this move shows that the Pacers would do what they had to do to beat the Knicks. Reggie loved the move because he was his eyes and ears when it came to New York. I think that the part that made this documentary was when one of the people on it said "there is a time to play and a time to win. What you do in that winning time differentiates you from a player and a superstar. I think thats why this documentary is called winning time. It describes Reggie Miller. The next season the Pacers and the Knicks went to another game 7 in the Eastern Division Finals. The first game Reggie showed the Knicks that he wasnt going to get beaten again. When there was less than 20 seconds left and the Pacers were down by 6 Reggie scored 8 points to put them up by 2 and win the game. Then they went to a game 7 again like the previous year but the result was different and the Pacers had finnaly won the series. I think that this documentary was great and it really showed that Reggie Miller had what it took to win and it truely showed how he played. It showed us that he was a bit of a dirty player and that he would push other players to their limits, talk shit, and most of all it showed that he could back up his shit talk and play and win games. This documentary also showed that every single game between the 2 rivals was a battle. There were fights almost every game and it was just truely two good basketball teams with great players going at it. Thats why I loved this documentary.