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ESPN Films 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks Manufacturer: Team Marketing List price: $14.95 15 new, used & collectible available from $7.74. |
| Reggie Miller single-handedly crushed the heart of Knick fans multiple times. But it was the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals which solidified Miller as Public Enemy #1 in New York City. With moments to go in Game 1 and facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit of 105-99, Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to give his Indiana Pacers an astonishing victory. This career-defining performance, combined with his on-court give-and-take with Knicks fan Spike Lee, helped establish Miller's legend as "The Garden's Greatest Villain." Through thrilling highlights and engaging interviews with Miller, his sister Cheryl, Spike Lee, Patrick Ewing and many others, Peabody Award-winning director Dan Klores uses humor and wit to capture the intensity of a rivalry between two cities and create a "terrifically entertaining piece of work*" critics were calling "the hit of Sundance**." (*The New York Post, **The Oregonian, 2010 Sundance Film Festival) Bonus: - 2 Director's Statements - 11 Extended Interviews - 3 Featurettes - 1 Deleted Scene This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. |
ESPN Films 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks
Customer Reviews / ESPN Films 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks
| I enjoyed the video a lot. It brought back many memories of when Reggie Miller use to smash on the Knicks. The seller who gave me a great deal on this video provided tremendous service. Great video! |
| Dan Klores' "Winning Time" ranks as one of the best of ESPN's '30 for 30' series. It's especially relevant given what has transpired in the NBA over the past couple of weeks: erstwhile rivals colluding to join forces. Klores' work depicts a now-bygone NBA era of fierce, cutthroat competitiveness. The thought of, say, Reggie Miller and Patrick Ewing putting friendship before team loyalty was unthinkable in an era in which the shadow of Michael Jordan - a vicious competitive force - set the tone for the league. This was true even in the two-year hiatus in which Jordan was off trying his hand at baseball (or, was suspended from the league for two years for gambling, if you believe certain sources).
Though Reggie Miller was the most unlikely of competitive forces physically ("Mr. Potato Head on a Stick" as one interviewee indelibly describes him), he, too, possessed the Jordan-esque flair of sticking in the dagger when it counted. Klores captures that here - and he gets all the protagonists to recall the most compelling sequences in the Pacers-Knicks showdowns, including Miller's now legendary eight points in 8.9 seconds that ended Game 1 in 1995. As usual, Spike Lee rises to the occasion and gives a great interview. Director Klores is the right man to recount this tale - he's steeped in basketball culture and all things New York - his experiences in creating such works as The Boys of 2nd Street Park, Crazy Love and Black Magic are all relevant here. When reviewing the '30 for 30' series as a whole, there's one standout leader that is simply so far above the rest of the works, it's like it got dropped in from another planet: ESPN Films 30 for 30: The Two Escobars. That's the best single film of any variety that I've seen in years. It's Oscar-winning stuff. And, in terms of the basketball-related shows in the series, my favorite to date is Bill Couturie's outstanding ESPN Films 30 for 30: Guru of Go |
| I'm not a big ESPN fan but their documentaries are pretty good. This is another example. I'm a Knicks fan from that early to mid nineties era and I knew everything that happened. And I see how, basically, the NBA has pretty much become a snooze fest since then. But this production brings you back to when the NBA was the biggest ticket in sports and it brought back memories and excitement all over again. It documents the passion and ferocity of one of the league's best players, Reggie Miller, and the epic battles between his team, the Pacers, and their rivalry the Knicks. This is a must see production, for sports fans and non-sports fans alike. |
| I grew up with this group of New York Knicks, so to watch this DVD was a real pleasure. Of course, you had the centerpieces: Ewing, Starks, and Oakley. But the DVD also provides footage of other notables such as Greg Anthony, Anthony Mason, Charles Smith, Derek Harper, Doc Rivers, Herb Williams, and more. From Indiana, you had Mark Jackson, Rik Smits, Antonio and Dale Davis, and Larry Brown. (The DVD focuses on the Knicks from 1992-95, not the Knicks after 1995 which center around Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, and Larry Johnson.) The mere sight of these guys bring back great memories -- the old uniforms, the pregame introductions, the NBA-on-NBC theme song, Marv Albert, Market Square Arena... everything.
As much as I hated Reggie Miller, his interviews have a sense of humor that bring this DVD to life. The documentary paints a complete picture of the early part of his career -- how he always had a chip on his shoulder, whether it was being drafted instead of Steve Alford, or trying to top his sister's 105-point game. Although the director, Dan Klores, claims to be a New York fan, I think he provides a balanced look from both perspectives: Indiana and New York. He describes how both places claim to be the Mecca of basketball, and what members of both communities think about the other. Altogether, this DVD is a fun piece of nostalgia that makes you yearn for the great rivalries of the 1990s, something that today's NBA sorely lacks. |
| Reggie Miller is so skinny he doesn't have a shadow. Reggie Miller is so thin he could slide thru a door without opening it, except that then his elephant ears would get caught in the crack. But Reggie Miller was a phenomenal basketball player, and whenever he laced 'em up in Madison Square Garden, he elevated his game even more, and it became almost like performance art. ESPN, celebrating its 30 years on air, is doing big things with its 30 for 30 documentaries, and this one may be my favorite so far. "Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks" sounds like a mouthful, which is absolutely appropriate for Reggie Miller. Reggie can talk, brother. Reggie can trash talk. Prolifically.
The film focuses on the Indiana Pacers' very bitter, very heated rivalry with the Knicks back in the mid-'90s, and Reggie, the king of histrionics, was in the thick of things. Everyone respected Reggie's game, but the same can't be said for his constant chatter. Reggie trash talks partly - or maybe mostly - because of his big sister Cheryl, in whose shadow Reggie chafed for a looooong time. There's a funny anecdote in which Reggie, when he was a kid, boasts that he had just scored 40 points only to learn that his sister had just scored 105. Cheryl Miller may just be the best female basketball player ever, and Reggie heard about this all his early life and when he was in UCLA and even during his career as a Pacer. Trash talking can be a self-defense mechanism, and Reggie was a virtuoso of baiting. Even Cheryl describes her little brother as "a bad itch down your spine that you can't get to." Patrick Ewing straight out called him a con man. And from another guy in the film: "The guy looked like Mr. Potatohead on a stick." But Reggie can back up his lip with his exploits on the court. He is one of the most clutch performers in the history of the game. I'm not even a Pacers fan and I love this documentary (but, okay, I am a UCLA fan). Director Dan Klores knows how to tell a compelling story. Reggie Miller wasn't whom the Indiana fans wanted selected in the draft. They were jonesing for favorite son and Indiana Hoosier, Steve Alford. So right away Reggie had something to prove. New York versus Indiana. The cultural gap is explored. We note the dichotomy of the bustling metropolis versus the leisurely tiny town. New York's slick arrogance had the city dubbing itself the Mecca of basketball, which didn't sit too well with Indiana, a place that reveres the sport and regards itself as THE home of basketball. The film is well-rounded enough that focus is also given to the Knicks' side of things. The Knicks were edgy and old-school rough under Pat Riley's tutelage. Fines were doled out to any Knick who helped up an opponent he'd just knocked down. We get reflections from members of that team and archival interviews, most notably from head coach Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, and John Starks. And, oh, poor John Starks. Did Reggie ever have fun playing mind games with the volatile John Starks. And then there was Spike Lee, doubtless Reggie's biggest foil. Klores seamlessly weaves archival footage and humorous interviews and rousing music to not only bring to life one of the most rugged rivalries in basketball but to also delve into the psychology of the game. "Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks" is a platform for gamesmanship and outrageous egos and audacious feats. It's human drama that is passionate and riveting enough that you don't have to be a sports fan to be entertained. We get to relive Reggie's signature moments in Madison Square Garden: Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals in which a heckling Spike Lee inspired Reggie to an amazing come-from-behind victory, with Reggie directing that famous choke gesture and yet another gesture at Spike. Then the even more miraculous comeback win over the Knicks in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals when, with Indiana trailing by six, Reggie scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds in the closing moments. But as much as this is about Reggie, this is also something of a passing indictment on the Knicks' inability to get over that hump with Patrick Ewing as the focal point. He and Reggie are only two of some of the great basketball players to never have won a championship. Still, with two seconds to go, and your team is down and you need three points, would you rather have Michael Jordan... or Reggie Miller? If those were my only two choices, I'd go with old Mr. Potatohead every time. |
ESPN Films 30 for 30: Winning Time: Reggie Miller Vs. The New York Knicks
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