RayCarsilloWrites.com

Originally Published: March 5, 2010, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)

When I was growing up and first getting into sports in the early 90’s, I remember clearly how my favorite teams were developing. The Yankees were slowly starting to come out of the funk they were in for the better part of the 80’s and the strike-shortened season was heartbreaking for the biggest Donnie Baseball fan under the age of 10. The Rangers were winning the Stanley Cup and I couldn’t understand just how significant it was at the time. Though, I still jumped up and down though knowing that it was the first championship I would truly remember for the rest of my life and it was exhilarating. The Giants were coming undone as their stars from the 80’s were aged fast, Bill Parcells was on his way out, and Dan Reeves would help usher in three of the worst years I ever had to see as a Giants fan. And finally, the Knicks had gotten what they had always needed with Michael Jordan retiring early and giving the rest of the NBA a chance to win a championship. The Knicks would run all the way to the Finals in 1994 before falling short against the Rockets. Of course, along that run, a young upstart named Reggie Miller would make his presence felt, an omen of things to come in 1995.

That story is what Dan Klores has decided to tell in the upcoming March 14th installment of ESPN’s 30 in 30 series. Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks is the story of how a second rivalry for the Knicks (in addition to the Knicks vs. Bulls rivalry) began to develop in the mid-90s and how one of the most dynamic characters of the NBA would lead the charge in the classic “David” (Miller’s Pacers) vs. “Goliath” (Ewing, Starks, and the rest of the Knicks) storyline that was the 1995 playoff series between New York and Indiana.

Of course, knowing how this story ended was already putting me in a sour mood, but I went in with an open mind and wanted to see Reggie’s viewpoint on the story. I have to admit, I was entertained. The way Klores builds the story up with the interviews of Reggie and his family to put Reggie in a better light while balancing that with the biggest Knicks fan in the world, Spike Lee, and several of the key Knicks who played in that 1995 series was nicely done.

There were several problems I had with the piece beyond the subject matter. The story moved at a frantic pace. Being only 68 minutes long, Klores fits in everything from the 1985 draft of Patrick Ewing, the entire high school, college, and then pro career of Reggie Miller up to that point, and the entire 1994 and 1995 seasons were run down leading up to that playoff series between the Knicks and Pacers. If Klores was going to try to fit so much content into the piece, he should have asked ESPN for more time, or cram in less of Reggie’s personal stories like his rivalry with his sister. Of course, my advanced screening was also without commercial interruption, which may help with the pacing of the story once aired on the network since this was made for TV.

This was a well-done documentary with interesting interviews that gave a completely different perspective on those two Knicks seasons. It could have done with better pacing and less fluff if they were going to try to fit everything they fit into only 68 minutes, but it will make a fine “made for TV” movie and continues the strong trend for ESPN’s 30 in 30 series. Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks airs on Sunday, March 14th at 9 PM on ESPN.

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks gets a 3.5 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo