Olympic Legends - Reggie Miller

ATLANTA (Olympics) - Reggie Miller never celebrated an NBA title during his long and thrilling NBA career, one that spanned 18 years and saw him wear only an Indiana Pacers uniform.

The gunslinger did, however, claim a couple of gold medals in a three-year span from 1994-96.

The three-point shooting extraordinaire played on the United States team that won the gold medal at the FIBA World Championship in Toronto, and then again two years later in Atlanta at the Olympics.

In each of those two summers, Miller had a crucial role in an American team that was in the early stages of incorporating NBA players.

The Dream Team had taken Barcelona by storm in 1992 and the basketball world expected the American teams that followed to be just as glamorous, just as successful and just as dominant.

After averaging more than 17 points per game for the USA team that reached the top of the podium in Toronto, Miller got his first and only opportunity to play at an Olympics in 1996.

While not as prolific as he had been in Toronto, Miller was still very, very good.

In wins over Lithuania and China, he had 14 and 17 points, respectively.

His finest game came in the gold-medal clash.

An Olympic men's basketball record crowd of 34,600 watched as Miller and the USA beat the former Yugoslavia, a country that would win the next two world championships.

Miller made three of his seven shots from behind the arc against the Yugoslavs and finished with 20 points – second only to David Robinson, who had 28 points, in that contest.

Miller, whose sister Cheryl had led the American women to the gold medal at the 1984 in Los Angeles, played in one more tournament with the United States.

In 2002, the FIBA World Championship was staged in Indianapolis and Miller took part again, only this time as part of the first USA team of NBA players not to win the gold.

Yugoslavia eliminated them from contention in the Quarter-Finals.

Miller, who shot 39.5% (2,560 for 6,486) in his NBA career, discovered this week that he is to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

FIBA