clarinews@clarinet.com (JIM SLATER, UPI Sports Writer) (01/17/90)
INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) -- Reggie Miller talks tough, shoots long and drives to the basket much better than last year. As a result, the guard is a strong contender to be Indiana's first NBA All-Star Game representative since 1977. The third-year guard averages 23.7 points a game and ranks among the NBA leaders in scoring, 3-point shooting and minutes played. But Miller doubts that will be enough to earn him a place at the all-star game in Miami. ``I know how this league is. It would never pick anybody from Indiana,'' Miller said. ``I don't want to think about that. There are so many good guards in the Eastern Conference, so many guys deserving of a spot. I'm young and I will have more chances.'' Miller also ranks among NBA leaders in talking to opponents during games, using his words as inspiration and aggravations or distractions to opponents. ``He's probably one of the tops in the league in talking trash,'' said teammate LaSalle Thompson. ``He's emotional. He likes to talk. Guys get frustrated when he's talking,'' said Indiana guard Vern Fleming. Miller, 24, of Riverside, Calif., set career highs twice in three days last week, scoring 38 points in a loss at Philadelphia and then ripping Chicago for 44 points in a victory that snapped a five-game losing skid. Four days later, Miller sank a 17-foot floater shot with one second remaining to lift Indiana past Milwaukee. His highest total was an NBA record for Pacer guards and the team's fourth-highest single-game effort in its NBA era. ``He has arrived,'' teammate Chuck Person said of Miller. ``He has turned into such a great scorer, he has the freedom to do what he wants. He will make it (to the all-star game). If he doesn't, it's an injustice to Reggie. They've got to put him on the team.'' Miller averaged 12.8 points through his first two NBA seasons and became known for his deadly 3-point shooting. Miller sank 61 3-pointers in his first season to break Larry Bird's rookie 3-point record, then made 98 last season. But when opponents guarded his long shots, he struggled. ``Defenders had really been coming up on me a lot last year, playing me just for my jump shot, so I knew I had to improve my inside game,'' Miller said. ``I had to come up with that second, third and fourth move. I went home in the summer and really worked on driving to the basket and getting past people.'' Los Angeles provides a summer workout area second to none, so Miller found himself practicing his new moves on the NBA's best. ``L.A. is the best place to be if you want to play basketball in the summer. Everybody is there. Magic (Johnson). (Mark) Aguirre. Everybody,'' Miller said. That work ethic has helped Miller improve his defense as well. He led Indiana last year with 93 steals. ``What people don't realize is how hard Reggie works,'' Indiana general manager Donnie Walsh said. ``He goes home and really works on his game and it shows. Reggie's game is finesse and he has really added to it over the summer by learning how to get himself open on screens. He has improved in a lot of ways and I think he will continue to improve.'' Miller finished second to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in UCLA career scoring. He averaged 22.3 points as a senior and his 25.9 points a game as a junior was fourth-best in the nation that year. He was taken 11th in the 1987 NBA draft and went to work learning about the NBA from veteran guard John Long, then an Indiana teammate. ``They let me play in every game last year, which was good `cause I was better prepared to start,'' Miller said. ``John Long did a good job showing me how to defend players in this league.'' Critics said Miller might not be as good as his older sister Cheryl, a gold medal winner on the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team. ``I think I've proved them wrong,'' Miller said.