Reggie Miller told Tyrese Haliburton he intentionally planned to run through Michael Jordan on his famous 1998 playoff winner, betting officials would not call it.
Reggie Miller planned to run straight through Michael Jordan on the last inbounds play of Game 4 of the 1998 Eastern Conference finals, betting the officials would not call it.
He laid out the thinking for Tyrese Haliburton in a 30-minute video released Thursday, shot on a court as the two traded questions about their biggest playoff shots. Haliburton raised the play because the defense of the Chicago Bulls on it has never made sense to him.
Haliburton Questions Bulls' Defense on Miller's Game-Winner
Haliburton would have forced Miller the other way.
"My question about the MJ play, I still can't understand what they were doing defensively," Haliburton said. "That's what always bothers me. It's like, were they, at that time, was, like, point switching a big thing? Was it a miscommunication? Why was he on your top side to where you could get him off and get open?"
"Because in my mind, I'm thinking, if I'm guarding you and the ball's being taken out over there, you're going that way," Haliburton continued. "I'm going to do everything I can to push you that way."
Ron Harper had guarded Miller all series, Miller said.
"In the '80s and '90s basketball, early 2000s, you guarded your position. Ones guarded ones. There was no switching across the board," Miller said. "Harper was guarding me down low. And I think he assumed that MJ was going to switch, which, Harper had guarded me all series. Why would he assume?"
Miller Planned to Force Officials Into a Decision
"And truthfully, I was really pissed during that game, because we should have been up and won that game comfortably," Miller added. "MJ was being MJ and dominating us. So it looked like we were going to lose, but we had a [sliver] of a shot. And I was so pissed."
"And I knew that the officials always swallow their whistle at the end of the game. So you could pretty much get away with anything," Miller detailed. "And I knew, I'm going to come up here and I'm going to go, he's going to assume I'm going to switch, that Ron's going to switch with MJ. I'm just going to go right through the chest of MJ and make them call an offensive foul in my building. Which I knew they wouldn't."
The Indiana Pacers trailed 94-93 at Market Square Arena on May 25, 1998. Derrick McKey inbounded, Miller came free, and his 3-pointer fell with 0.7 seconds left. Indiana won 96-94 to tie the series 2-2.
Derrick McKey's Pass Set Up Miller's Shot
McKey's size made the pass possible.
"What people don't give enough credit was Derrick McKey, who was at 6-10, one of the best passers and ball handlers on our team and in the league at the time," Miller explained. "So he had the height to look over. And once I created this space, it was a perfect pass right into my shooting pocket. And I was dealing with a bad ankle during that series, but I knew if I could get the one-two and I had any kind of daylight, boom."
After that game, Miller told reporters he should not have been on the floor because of the ankle. He said he could not plant or push off of it.
Jordan still had one more look.
"The Bulls had one more possession after that. And MJ's shot went in and out," Miller said. "So when that play happened and he caught the ball on this side, Jalen and I just so happened to be underneath when he took that shot, because Derrick was guarding him on our switch. And I see the ball coming, and I'm saying to myself, 'Oh, all that jumping I was doing around like this, it's going to be for naught.' I see the ball coming and it goes out. I'm like, 'Oh God, tied up 2-2.'"
Miller Acknowledges Push-Off on Michael Jordan
The push-off came up again in ESPN's "The Last Dance" in 2020, when Miller more or less acknowledged it. He did the same Thursday.
"It's one of those moments that people always say, 'How did you create so much space on MJ?'" Miller said. "I was like, it was a foul, OK. It may have been a foul, maybe. They call it. But they don't call it at the end of the game. So remember that, because a lot of times they just swallow their whistle, because they don't want to be the person to dictate the outcome of the game."
That was Larry Bird's first season as Pacers coach. Indiana won a then-franchise-record 58 games, and Bird was named Coach of the Year. The roster around Miller included Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, Antonio Davis, Dale Davis, and Jalen Rose, and the Pacers beat Cleveland and New York in the first two rounds.
Chicago came in as the two-time defending champion. It was only the second seven-game series Jordan's Bulls had played since their first championship in 1991. The teams split 10 meetings that season going into Game 7. Jordan said in the 2020 documentary that Indiana gave Chicago its toughest test in the East outside of Detroit.
Pacers Pushed Bulls to Game 7
Game 7 was tied at 79 with about five minutes left. Chicago closed on a 9-4 run and won 88-83 at home on May 31. It was the third time in five seasons Indiana had been eliminated in Game 7 of the conference finals. The Pacers introduced pinstriped uniforms that season, a look they are bringing back as a Statement Edition for 2026-27, when Haliburton returns from the torn Achilles that ended his last season.
The Bulls beat the Utah Jazz in the Finals for their sixth championship of the decade.
