Reggie Miller Reveals Pacers’ Fight Rules That Triggered Locker Room Blowout When Broken

Even if it ends up in 16 suspensions, the Indiana Pacers in the 90s were all for it. That made the Pacers’ culture “beautiful,” according to former Indiana superstar Reggie Miller. The Knick Killer shared how the Pacers had ethical rules for fights, and one was to always back their teammates in brawls, no matter what. However, these rules sometimes led to questionable and even hilarious decisions.

During his recent appearance on his former teammate Mark Jackson’s podcast, Miller recalled an old incident from a game against Sacramento. “We had a motto. If you got into a scrap or a fight… You couldn’t fight anyone that was smaller than you. You could only fight someone your same level or up,“ Miller revealed on The Mark Jackson Show.

Talking about the game against the Kings, he shared how both he and Jackson were on the bench while their teammate Dale Davis got caught up in a brawl, which led to benches clearing out. And if they didn’t support their teammates, both had to face another altercation in their locker room. 

“We also had a thing like, you better not be holding one of us back. You got to hold them back. Don’t hold don’t hold your own teammate. You get in there and hold them (opponent team) or take a swing because if you don’t take a swing then we’re going to handle it in our locker room later on too. So it’s a full-on fight and you’ve got to leave the bench and if you left the bench you got fine but team camaraderie,” Miller said, before both him and Jackson burst into laughter recalling the incident.

They didn’t know who to fight against, so they both ended up joining the brawl just for the sake of their teammates. “But that’s what was the beauty of the Indiana Pacers. We had each other’s back through thick and thin, through some of those fights because it was a lot of things.” Jackson backed him up, saying, “We were a tied-together group.“

From Miller’s description, chances are he is talking about the infamous brawl between the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers in 1995.

Which brawl is Reggie Miller talking about?

During the third quarter of this particular game, Davis fouled Bobby Hurley hard, and that is when Michael Smith intervened. Soon, a physical altercation followed. According to Miller, Mitch Richmond was also in the game.

As mentioned above, this fight reportedly resulted in the highest number of suspensions. Sarunas Marciulionis, who scored 13 points, helped the Kings secure a 119-95 win over the Pacers, marking their fifth straight victory of the season. On the other hand, the Pacers faced their second consecutive loss at the hands of the Kings.

Smith and David had to face two-game suspensions with $20,000 fines. Both Jackson and Miller had to face penalties too. We now know why Jackson and Miller jumped into the fight. The Pacers have always been loyal to these rules. Well, who doesn’t remember the Malice at the Palace that involved both players and fans? So, now that you know the rules, it’s better not to mess with the Pacers pack!

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.