Another View

Reggie Miller appeared before the media Tuesday attired in a Miller Lite T-shirt.

Of course, that cannot be the way he plays in tonight’s Game 4 of the NBA finals at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Reggie must be Miller Heavy. Or Miller, The Heavy. He must load the Indiana Pacers up on his slender shoulders and lead them, by shooting jumpers and, if necessary, by shooting his mouth off, mindful of the fine line between being on edge and tumbling over it.

He must put Kobe Bryant’s gimpy ankle through 40-odd minutes of road test. He must inspire the masses in the seats, and he must set the emotional tone for his teammates. He must be the same Reggie who scored 33 and helped will the Pacers to their Game 3 win over the Lakers, and then he must do it again Friday night in Game 5, for nothing less will win his team the championship.

It’s a lot to demand of anyone, for Miller is not Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan or even Larry Bird, the man who coaches him, sometimes with a wince but always with admiration for his willingness to bear the burden.

There aren’t many who are as wont to set themselves up for their own fall as Miller. There aren’t many who would don a Superman T-shirt, then go out and bag 34 points, as he did against Milwaukee.

There aren’t many who could endure the taunts and jeers that greeted him in Philadelphia after a one-game suspension, then drop 25 points in a clinching Game 6. There aren’t many who would openly declare their hatred for an opponent, then revisit the ghost of his ’99 three-for-18 Game 6 with a 34-point performance in a same-game, same-setting situation against the Knicks.

And there aren’t many who would boast that his underdog team would “shock the world” against the Lakers, and then still come back kicking after woeful one-for-16 shooting in Game 1 of these finals.

A lot of players do that, and you can forget about them and forget about their team. See you next year. For my money, the biggest shot Miller has made in this series was his first shot of Game 2, because it announced to the skeptics and to the Lakers that hey, I’m still here.

Bird wants to keep the onus off Miller.

“To take the whole thing on his shoulders . . . you just can’t do that,” Bird said Tuesday. “We have to have more guys out there than just Reggie playing.”

Indeed, they do. But this playoff run, these last seven years, this entire quest dating back to when he was booed on draft day in 1987, began with Miller and it will end with him, one way or the other. As magnificent and emotional and edgy as Reggie was Sunday, he has to be even more so tonight. This figures to be a final-minutes-of-the-fourth-quarter game and Miller is still looking for his first fourth-quarter field goal. When that time arrives, the ball has to be in his hands.

Memo to his mates: Find him, because he’s the one that brought you here.