01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 26, 2005

BOSTON -- The chants started shortly before the end of the first half.

Reg-gie, Reg-gie

, Reg-gie . . .

Part derision, for sure. But part respect, too. A grudging respect, for sure. But respect, certainly.

He already had 16 of his 28 points by then, already was the reason the Pacers were leading, rebounding from Saturday night's massacre. He already was the reason the Pacers were not going to quietly in this first-round playoff series.

Reg-gie, Reg-gie, Reg-gie . . .

No last name needed.

For he is 39 now, has been in the league for 19 years now, and it's mostly all about memories. Yes, the Pacers are in the playoffs, but for Reggie Miller this is all overtime, now just three losses away from the end of his career.

It's easy to forget that. To see him as the Reggie Miller of old, back when he was all attitude and indifference, one of the best ever at running off screens and hitting jumpers like he was in some personal H-O-R-S-E game, just him and the basket. That's what made him a superstar. Not his ability to break people down off the dribble. Not any wondrous athleticism. But the fact his game was as old school as short pants and double screens.

Forget his highly publicized verbal parries with Spike Lee. Forget that he's always been the public face of the Pacers. Forget that he's always been the guy you love to hate, with his flops, his constant whining to referees, that sense that he's always been a basketball pretty boy, overshadowed in the beginning by his sister Cheryl, and forever burdened by the sense that he would be more comfortable playing in a tuxedo, no down and dirty for Reggie.

He's always been a basketball traditionalist, old school before anyone ever used the term.

That, and someone who always could make big shots.

Even in his prime, though, Miller never was someone who could carry a team all by himself. He lacked both the athleticism and the one-on-one skills to do that. He always needed his teammates where most other great players do not, needed endless screens to run off, a point guard to give him the ball at the right time, the needed room to get off his jumper. Old school.

But the idea of Reggie as superstar seems as gone as disco.

Actually, the Pacers haven't been Reggie Miller's team in a long time now. They are Jermaine O'Neal's team. They are Ron Artest's team. They are Larry Bird's team. They are Rick Carlisle's team. Miller is supposed to be all about the past, already having said that this is his last season, his farewell tour.

To his credit, Miller has had a great couple of months, and to a Pacers team dealing with the loss of Artest and the aftermath of the brawl in Detroit, his performance pumped up their season, one of the reasons they're in the playoffs and not back home in Indianapolis, the basketballs put away for the winter.

For this is not the Pacers team of a year ago, the one that dispatched the Celtics in four games. No Al Harrington and Jonathon Bender off the bench. No Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. A team whose bench usually betrays it. A team that's fortunate to be in the playoffs. A team that now relies on 39-year-old Reggie Miller to carry it.

Saturday night he had been awful, looking every month of his 39 years. He had been awful, the Pacers had been awful, and it looked as if the sun was going to set on Miller's career rather quickly, the age and rust all over his game.

Last night?

Last night he gave us a memory tune, a time capsule trip back to when he was one of the best clutch players in the game, the Reggie of old.

He hit his first shot, a three in transition from the left side. He hit his second shot. And his third. His quick start jump-started the Pacers, gave them an early lead, set the tone.

And with it came all the old tricks. The flopping on the floor. The drawing of fouls. All the gamesmanship he's always had.

And with six and a half minutes to play, when it appeared the Celtics had finally taken control and were going to go up 2-0, the chant started again.

Reg-gie, Reg-gie, Reg-gie . . .

But with the Pacers clinging to a one-point lead with just 28 seconds to play, Miller made the game-winner, a leaning mid-range jumper from the left side, one that now ties this series.

Once again, he had made a big shot.

Once again, he had been the Reggie Miller of legend.

Put his basketball obit on hold.