As Pacers regroup, Reggie Miller reflects on his NBA Finals loss: ‘You don’t get a ribbon for second place’

As he approaches 60 years of age, NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller has had exactly a quarter century to process his one and only appearance in the NBA Finals. While Miller and his Indiana Pacers teammates represented themselves and the Eastern Conference well in the 2000 NBA Finals, they came up short against the Kobe Bryant- and Shaquille O’Neal-led Los Angeles Lakers in six games. 

While the achievement of reaching the Finals isn’t lost on him, Miller, who was 35 and in his 13th season with the Pacers before they finally broke through to the Finals, doesn’t take solace in being close but ultimately coming up short on basketball’s biggest stage. Time hasn’t altered Miller’s perspective in that regard. 

“You don’t get a ribbon for second place,” Miller said in a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports when asked if he looks back on that series with either appreciation or disappointment. “Sure, it’s nice to get there, but at the end of the day, you’re based on championships. That’s how I feel. I can only speak for myself. It was nice to battle head to head with Shaq and Kobe, but at the end of the day, we lost in six, so it’s disappointing. It was great to be in the Finals, but, you know, no one, no one remembers the second place winner.”

Miller can clearly sympathize with what the current Pacers are going through after they came up just short in this year’s Finals. Miller, who had a courtside view for most of Indiana’s playoff run, made it a point to be standing outside the locker room to console the players following their Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Miller gave the current team the ultimate compliment when he was asked about the legacy of his Pacers teams. 

“We had some battles,” Miler said. “We went against giants. We lost to Shaq and Kobe. We lost to Michael and Scottie. You know, lost to Patrick [Ewing], but we also beat the Knicks to move on, too. What I’m proud about with our guys is there was never, ever fear with my Pacers teams. We were ready to go head to head with anyone. And we felt, if a loose ball, rebound a shot here or there could have gone our way, we could have been holding a couple championships. It didn’t happen. But I love the fight from all our guys that I played with there. 

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“There’s no other guys I would have loved to have gone into battle with. … They embodied what being a Hoosier and being a Pacer was all about, and that’s leaving it on the line, and that was the spirit of this year’s team. If you watched how they played, they played for one another, and that’s how we played. You know, you don’t play for yourself, you play for each other, and you play for that fan base that’s rabid, and that was every indication that you saw from [Tyrese] Haliburton and [Pascal] Siakam and Andrew Nembhard and Myles Turner. They played for one another, and it showed.” 

Miller never won an NBA title, but he has accomplished something in retirement that he says has given him equal satisfaction. That accomplishment was completing last year’s Life Time Tahoe Trail mountain bike race. Miller, who took up cycling near the end of his NBA career, completed the grueling 62.1-mile race in 5 hours and 42 minutes, achieving his goal of finishing in under six hours. 

“When I finished, I told people I felt like this was my NBA championship,” he said. “Getting that medal.” 

Cycling has become a passion for Miller, who will be racing in the event again this weekend. He retired from the NBA at the end of the 2004-05 season, and while many former professional athletes settle into a less taxing spot (i.e., golf) after their professional playing days are over, Miller enjoys the physical and mental challenges of cycling. 

“When you’re out there on the bike by yourself, and you’re on these climbs, your mind plays tricks on you,” Miller said. “That is the part of mountain biking that I love, because it makes you question who you are as a human being. … Your mind just travels to so many different places. That’s the beauty of mountain biking.” 

To prepare for this weekend’s race — which he said will be on the “hardest course I will have ever done in my life” — Miller put himself through a rigorous workout regimen. His recovery rides were 25-mile, 90-minute sessions. His big weekly workouts consist of consecutive rides that range from 50 to 70 miles. Miller was able to do this despite his busy in-season travel schedule as an NBA announcer. 

Cycling has been beneficial for Miller in several ways. It has allowed him to remain in pristine shape, as he said he weighs less now than he did during his NBA career. Cycling has also helped Miller scratch his competitive itch. The sport has also given his children — who were born after his NBA career ended — a chance to watch their dad compete in something he loves, while teaching them several life lessons. 

“They’ve been at a lot of my races,” Miller said. “I want to show them that there’s nothing hard that they cannot do, and that life is all about obstacles, because it is, and there’s going to be things that force you to rethink things, and you’ve got to be able to recalibrate. You’ve got to be able to dig deep. And that’s what cycling has taught me and has shown them. No matter how hard the race is, Dad still finished, knock on wood. Hopefully I finish [this weekend], but most races I have and to see their joy and to see them out there, and to have them pass me bottles on laps and things like that when I’m doing my cross country races, it’s just cool.”