Pacers Legend Reggie Miller Breaks Down Iconic Fight With Kobe Bryant

The Pacers' superstar broke down a fight that fans have remembered for a long time.

Nov 26, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; NBA on TNT television analyst Reggie Miller during the Los Angeles Lakers against the Phoenix Suns during an NBA Cup game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers have a long history of success thanks to Reggie Miller. He is the player who really started the Pacers being a competitive team in the NBA.

Once Miller was drafted to the team, they became competitive almost immediately. He took the team to six Eastern Conference Finals in his career and the only NBA Finals appearance in franchise history.

In that Finals appearance, the Pacers took on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Miller has one of the most iconic fights in the history of the franchise against Bryant.

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On an episode of All the Smoke with Stephen Jackson, Miller talked about that iconic fight and how it went down.

"The season before, they won the championship. It's almost kind of like the Detroit/Indiana thing. So we're in Staples, and they're about to win the game...When he was drafted, he and I had the same agent before he split off to Rob Pelinka...I would call Kobe and talk to Kobe all of the time...so there was a history between Kobe and I...Shaq goes down Game 4. He fouls out. We're thinking 'we're about to tie this thing up'...fast forward to the next year, they're winning...We started having words, and it's on."

Miller was talking trash about Kobe getting stats and that being all that matters, and that's what led to the fight. It was something that had been brewing for a few years.

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The Lakers had just beaten the Pacers in the Finals the year before, so there was animosity between these two teams. Miller knew what he was doing, and both of them decided to go at it. It was something that they both needed to do in order to blow some steam off.

Of course, Miller would never win a championship while Bryant would go on to win five of them. Bryant played with much better players over the course of his career than Miller did, though.

The Pacers are hoping to get their first championship in their NBA history this year, but they have to beat the Bucks in Game 4 first.

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