New York Knicks fans loved to hate Reggie Miller. Now Miller is taking them to task for showing love to Kobe Bryant.
Fans in Madison Square Garden chanted "MVP" as Bryant torched the Knicks for 61 points — the most ever scored in an NBA game at MSG — Monday night. Watching on television, Miller was so appalled that he texted his old nemesis, Spike Lee, throughout the game."I was texting Spike as the game was going on, saying how disappointed I was in the fans chanting "MVP!" for Kobe," Miller said Tuesday, speaking on a TNT pre-All-Star conference call. "I was like, 'How the mighty have fallen.'
"Because I remember in times past, I never got cheered. I'm sure Jordan never got cheered. And now they are chanting "MVP!" for Kobe? And all (Lee) kept doing was texting back and going, 'Look, times have changed. The climate has changed.'"
Miller, of course, is remembered in New York, and not fondly, for his clutch performances at MSG. He scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to beat the Knicks in Game 1 of the 1995 conference semifinals. A year earlier, he had 25 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the conference finals.
He seemed to enjoy the abuse he got from Knicks fans, especially Lee, and he tormented the Knicks right back.
"I wish I would've gotten the red carpet treatment when I went to the Garden," Miller said. "That would've been nice."
