When I reflect on those glory days of the 1990s, when the Pacers first emerged as an NBA power and their epic rivalry with the New York Knicks developed, a variety of emotions are summoned.
Thanks to Dan Klores, I can now add humor to the list.
The award-winning director is the genius behind "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks," a film that recently produced rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival and was screened for members of the central Indiana media Wednesday in Conseco Fieldhouse, where it will premiere to the public on Feb. 26.
Having been courtside for every game depicted in the film – from the 1991 John Starks head-butt to Patrick Ewing's in-and-out finger roll in Game 7 in the Garden in 1995 – I went into the screening curious but typically jaded, doubting I would be shown me anything I hadn't seen, or told anything I didn't know.
I am not ashamed to admit I emerged with a tear in my eye, a smile on my face and an entirely new appreciation for Klores' special combination of vision and talent.
In preparing the film, produced for ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series (it will first air on the cable network on March 14), Klores interviewed 32 people involved from players and coaches on both teams to journalists to broadcasters. Prominently featured, quite naturally, are Miller, Spike Lee and Patrick Ewing.
How a guy can sit down with those three (and John Starks, Anthony Mason, Mark Jackson, Antonio Davis, etc.), talk about the Knicks-Pacers rivalry and come away thinking comedy is beyond the vision of my mind's eye.
But it works in a big way.
"I think I always wanted to do it as dark humor," said Klores, a native New Yorker who met former Pacers president Donnie Walsh when both were at South Carolina in 1967. "I can't take it that seriously. It's a game.
"I was lucky. The right amount had gone by …. 15 years … there was still some lingering resentment but the first thing I said when I walked into the interviews was, 'This is fun.' "
From the opening scene, in which the Starks head-butt scene is fully developed and set to opera, you know this is going to be something special. Granted, there was no shortage of material. Start with Miller, the antagonist as protagonist.
Throw in Hicks vs. Knicks, Pat Riley vs. Larry Brown, Reggie vs. Ewing and Spike vs. Indiana and there is a wealth of subplots artistically woven throughout.
Miller opens up in his interview and reveals more of his personality than most fans likely have seen. But the real surprise of the film is Klores' ability depict Ewing as a sympathetic figure, a tragic hero of the New York stage.
In fact, the same could be said of both teams, the proud warriors of the Pacers and Knicks who expended so much energy, so much emotion, so much of their mortal beings in battling one another, neither had enough left after their conquests to actually win the championship.
If you were witness to that special time, you will want to see this film because of its ability to give those moments new life with refreshing perspective. If you have only heard or read about those games, this is a must so you can see not only what it was like then but what it can be like.
If seen it all before. But I've never seen it like this. And I can't wait to see it again.
