Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks (14 Mar. 2010)

A film that explores the rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and New York as seen through the eyes and actions of Reggie Miller star player of the Indiana Pacers.

Director:

Dan Klores

Stars:

Reggie Miller, Cheryl Miller, Spike Lee

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Reggie Miller	...	Himself
Cheryl Miller	...	Herself
Spike Lee	...	Himself
Patrick Ewing	...	Himself
Donnie Walsh	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marv Albert	...	Himself
Greg Anthony	...	Himself
Bill Benner	...	Himself
Ira Berkow	...	Himself
Mark Boyle	...	Himself
Larry Brown	...	Himself
Mel Daniels	...	Himself
Antonio Davis	...	Himself
Hubert Davis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack Edwards	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

A film that explores the rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and New York as seen through the eyes and actions of Reggie Miller star player of the Indiana Pacers.

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Genres:

Sport

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features SportsCenter (1979)

User Reviews

Affectionate and enjoyable documentary

In the mid-1990's several things happened to me. Firstly I came to the mainland from Northern Ireland, which in turn caused the next two things. The main one was that I started to play basketball, which changed my body shape and introduced me to a sport I continue to love almost two decades later. The second thing was that I went on a plane for the first time and left the UK for the first time when I went to San Antonio with a friend of mine – a trip he wanted and I went on with the proviso that we spend some time in New York on the way. So I already had fallen in love with the city when my "lots of heart" playing style made me fall for the Knicks – an affair that is yet to really pay off it must be said as Ewing's heartbreak became Houston and Sprewell's heartbreak and so on.

Anyway, the point of that preamble is to say that the reason I may have enjoyed this film so much is because it affectionately looks back at a period that I remember fondly. The sport was fresh to me, the NBA was fresh to me and the Knicks and Pacers were full of the passion and heart that I tried to play with. This film captures the moment really really well and it was a welcome relief in the 30 for 30 films given that I had previously watched the heavier Alan Iverson film. Sporting rivalries are always intense but, whether professional or amateur, you always shake hands at the end and this film takes the same approach, being good humoured along with everyone who contributes to it. As a Knick fan the footage still hurts; whether it be Ewing's missed layup or Miller's many near-impossible 3-pointers, it did make me wince to remember, but it was all done in such a way that it gave me "happy" memories – kind of.

The contributors all do really well to get the tone right and bring the passion and the feeling but not have any animosity whatsoever – this is important and it does make the film so enjoyable. The editing is really good as the footage mingles with the contributions while also playing the contributions off one another really well (often to comedic effect). As a fan as well it is good to see these players again, particularly since some of them are in that large group of "great" players from the 90's who never got rings thanks to the dominance of Jordan.

Winning Time is a fun documentary. I'm not sure how it would play to someone with no interest in the sport or no memory of the events though – probably not well for those reasons, but for a fan it really works. It sums up events really well and does so with a passion and yet a certain amount of affection. A really enjoyable documentary that works as sports programming (for the highlights), documentary (for the history), light entertainment (for the comedy) and as a horror (I'm a Knicks fan – 'nuff said).