Miller Has a Michael Jordan Quarter as Pacers Go Up, 3-2 : NBA playoffs: He makes five three-pointers while scoring 25 points in final period to overtake Knicks, 93-86.

His most appropriate move was not even his toughest. It came when teammate Haywoode Workman was at the free-throw line and about to tie a game the New York Knicks had led by 16 points in the first quarter and by 14 in the third. Reggie Miller put his hands on his neck.

He was showing choke, and that was only fitting. It was Miller, after all, who suffocated the Knicks Wednesday night and left everyone else gasping for breath to describe his performance, a 39-point showing, with 25 coming in the fourth quarter. It carried the Indiana Pacers to a 93-86 victory and will certainly be remembered for years.

The Knicks are working on days. The loss in Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, before a stunned crowd of 19,763 at Madison Square Garden, has New York down, three games to two, and facing elimination when the series moves back to Indianapolis on Friday night. That would be the same city where the Pacers are 6-0 in these playoffs, where they won two games over the Memorial Day weekend and where Miller broke out of his three-game slump Monday to score 31 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.

That was impressive. This was brilliant.

“I’ve been fortunate,” said Coach Larry Brown, who has the Pacers on the verge of a trip to the NBA finals after they had never been beyond the first round before. “I’ve been with some pretty great players. (Danny Manning’s) performance in the (NCAA) finals when I was at Kansas was pretty special. But I think it’s hard to top this one.”

The motion has been seconded.

“He had a Michael Jordan-type quarter,” Knick Coach Pat Riley said. “He was totally unconscious.”

Miller attacked the record books and the Knicks at the same time. The five three-pointers in the fourth quarter were an NBA record from behind the arc in a period in the playoffs, breaking the mark of four held by several players. The 25 points were four shy of Sleepy Floyd’s postseason record of 29 for a quarter set on May 10, 1987, while playing for the Warriors against the Lakers.

Oh, and Miller puts it among his better games.

“Because of the significance of where it was and the playoffs,” he said. “I’ve probably had better shooting performances, but on the road, in the Garden, Game 5? It ranks right up there.”

He was six of 11 overall on three-pointers, having made only one of six heading into the fourth quarter, but sent a message with his first shot, not just a three-pointer but one from a couple of steps behind the stripe. The next time downcourt, another three-pointer cut the Pacer deficit to 72-64.

Two possessions later, he connected from the right side, then followed with a wide-open baseline jumper from the left side with the shot clock at 2. That was as startling as Miller’s run was overwhelming--the Knicks, who got this far on defense, were letting one of the best shooters in the world get free on a regular basis. They would have been safer walking through Central Park at midnight, asking people to make change for a $1,000 bill. And here’s the key to the Mercedes--can you park that, too?

Riley said he didn’t think any guard had ever gotten that wide open on his team. Miller was running to an area to spot up while New York defenders floated after him in chase.

“Everything feels like slow motion,” is how Miller described the feeling. “You see the plays before they happen.”

The Knicks, previously 8-0 at home in the playoffs, lost the lead when Workman’s two free throws made it 72-72 with 8:10 left. Then they virtually lost any chance when Miller went three-pointer from straightaway, three-pointer from the right side and, following a miss by Kenny Williams, three-pointer from the right side--after Antonio Davis had passed up a three-footer in the lane.

That capped a 23-3 run by the Pacers to open the fourth quarter and put them up, 81-73, with 5:53 remaining. Miller would finish eight of 10, including five of five on three-pointers, in the final period, during which he single-handedly outscored the Knicks, 25-16.