Miller Is Simply Super as Pacers Take 2-1 Lead

MILWAUKEE — Humility has never been Reggie Miller’s strong suit. After his latest playoff performance, it’s easy to see why.

Miller scored 34 points with a vintage barrage of outside shots as the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-96, Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round, best-of-five series.

“It was going to take a Superman-type effort for us to get a victory,” Miller said. “I was feeling Supermannish.”

With a sellout Bradley Center crowd booing his every move, Miller turned in yet another amazing postseason effort. Almost single-handedly, he staved off a fired-up Milwaukee team looking for its first home playoff win in a decade.

Miller, who was largely shut down by Ray Allen in the series’ first two games in Indianapolis, scored 16 points in the third quarter as the Pacers turned a 12-point deficit into a three-point lead in less than six minutes.

“That’s Reggie just saying, ‘We’re going to win,’ ” said the Pacers’ Jalen Rose, who had 27 points. “That’s him telling us to get our act together and start acting like the best team in the East.”

Indiana, the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team, can clinch the series with another road victory in Game 4 Monday night.

The game was marred by the ejections of Milwaukee’s Sam Cassell and Indiana’s Dale Davis with six minutes to play. The players confronted each other and received double technical fouls for the second time in another intensely physical game between bitter rivals.

The Pacers played without center Rik Smits, suspended for the game after throwing an elbow in Game 2.

As impressive as Miller’s game was, it could have been even better.

“I’m still upset with myself because I had so many open threes tonight,” said Miller, who missed 10 of 14 three-point shots. “I should have finished with 50 points.”