The hit Netflix collection “Stranger Issues” is understood for together with cultural references to the present’s Nineteen Eighties setting within the fictional city of Hawkins, Ind. Season 5, which debuted on the streaming app in November, takes place in 1987 and comprises a number of nods to topics that residents of the Hoosier State would have been more likely to focus on that yr.
A kind of topics was the NBA debut of the Indiana Pacers’ first-round decide within the 1987 draft: Reggie Miller. The Pacers chosen Miller out of UCLA with the eleventh total decide that yr, passing on Indiana hoops icon Steve Alford, who went to the Dallas Mavericks within the second spherical.
Alford, who grew up in New Fort, Ind., and gained the state’s Mr. Basketball award as a highschool senior, went on to play 4 years underneath Bob Knight at Indiana College. The purpose guard made first-team All-America in his junior and senior seasons in Bloomington, gained a gold medal with the Knight-coached U.S. Olympic group in 1984, and led the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA championship.
And within the Stranger Issues universe, some residents of Hawkins couldn’t consider the Pacers would go up an opportunity to draft the home-state hero.
Within the seventh episode of Season 5, a pair of troopers are proven debating the decide after Miller’s first sport with the Pacers. “You’re telling me Alford wouldn’t have doubled that rating?” one soldier says.
“4-of-6 from the sector!” the opposite replies, apparently impressed with Miller’s effectivity. “Reggie’s gonna be one thing particular. You mark my phrases.”
That episode takes place on Nov. 6, 1987, the precise date of Miller’s NBA debut. The capturing numbers are additionally right — Miller scored 10 factors on 4-of-6 capturing, with one rebound, two assists and three steals in 26 minutes off the bench within the Pacers’ 108-95 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Alford additionally performed his first professional sport on that evening, though his six-point, five-assist effort for the Mavs just isn’t referenced within the episode.
As NBA followers know nicely, the character who believed in Miller turned out to be proper. The Pacers capturing guard would spend 18 years with the franchise earlier than retiring because the NBA’s all-time chief in three-pointers made. Miller scored 25,279 factors and made 5 All-Star groups and three All-NBA alternatives in his Corridor of Fame profession. In 2021, Miller was named to the NBA’s seventy fifth Anniversary Workforce.
Miller, who led the Pacers to 6 Jap Convention Finals appearances and one finals look in 2000, is named one of many best clutch performers in NBA historical past.
In the meantime, Alford performed 4 years within the league with the Mavericks and Golden State Warriors, averaging 4.4 factors per sport for his profession. After retiring as a participant, he returned to the school sport as a coach, with notable stints at Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico and Miller’s alma mater, UCLA. He has been head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack since 2019.
