RIP Oliver Miller

[Roy H.]

Oliver Miller, known as "Big O" during his playing days, has died at the age of 54.
Miller was a beefy center who helped Arkansas advance to the Final Four before playing nine seasons in the NBA.
Miller had been battling brain cancer.

I loved that 1993 Suns team.  RIP to the big fella.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Oliver Miller, known as "Big O" during his playing days, has died at the age of 54.
Miller was a beefy center who helped Arkansas advance to the Final Four before playing nine seasons in the NBA.
Miller had been battling brain cancer.

I loved that 1993 Suns team.  RIP to the big fella.

That's sad. I loved those Razorback teams. RIP.

[aefgogreen]

Oliver Miller, known as "Big O" during his playing days, has died at the age of 54.
Miller was a beefy center who helped Arkansas advance to the Final Four before playing nine seasons in the NBA.
Miller had been battling brain cancer.

I loved that 1993 Suns team.  RIP to the big fella.

That Suns team was a lot of fun. Barkley, KJ, Thunder Dan, Richard Dumas - one of my favorite non-championship teams.  RIP.

[Who]

Fun player. I remember being amazed by him both offensively and defensively. I was always shocked at how many shots he could block given he was only 6-9 and not a big leaper. Amazing length, timing and anticipation. And then offensively his beautiful passing. He had post skills. Jump hook.

Shame he couldn't stay in better shape. He was a really good player. He should have been a starting center in the league for a decade. So smart and well rounded skill wise.

[Roy H.]

Oliver Miller, known as "Big O" during his playing days, has died at the age of 54.
Miller was a beefy center who helped Arkansas advance to the Final Four before playing nine seasons in the NBA.
Miller had been battling brain cancer.

I loved that 1993 Suns team.  RIP to the big fella.

That Suns team was a lot of fun. Barkley, KJ, Thunder Dan, Richard Dumas - one of my favorite non-championship teams.  RIP.

Danny Ainge's, Tom Chambers and Cedric Ceballos, too.

[Donoghus]

90s Suns, Magic, & Sonics were the "cool teams" growing up.

[dang] shame that '93 Suns team ran up against the dynasty Bulls although they did put up a good fight in the Finals.

[bdm860]

Hit the first 25 point shot in Rock n' Jock history!

I remember him most from being a big personality in that Rock n' Jock game, like with a little more skill/discipline he would have been a media darling in the NBA (similar to Jayson Williams in his prime). But just pulled up his highlights from that Rock n' Jock game, man he was terrible, funny title to the video though: Oliver Miller Drops a Harden at 1993 MTV Rock N' Jock (28 Points, 2-17 shooting). Ha.

Gotta admit wasn't expecting brain cancer, figured it would have been something weight related. The later life pics I see of him though he looks pretty slim, relatively speaking, good for him.



That '93 Suns team was super interesting. #1 seed in the league at 62 wins, but went down 0-2 in the first round (best of 5) to the 39 win Lakers (led by Lakers legend Sedale Threatt!). Then Suns were down 4 in the final minute of Game 5, Lakers then went scoreless in the final minute and even had a clean look on the final possession of regulation and came up empty (that last possession is comically bad, as Threatt spends half the possession waiving off a Divac post up, this is the play and execution to try to win a deciding playoff game? About 1:41:37 if the time stamp doesn't load). The Suns came really close to being that first #1 team to be upset in the first round. To be fair Kevin Johnson (accused child molester) missed game 1 and was supposed to miss game 2 but came back early from a severely sprained knee.

No cake walks in a 6-game series vs the Spurs or 7-game series vs the Sonics either. But Cedric Ceballos was lost to a knee injury in Game 6 vs the Sonics. 7th man in the regular season, 9th in playoffs, but he did have a couple of big games for the Suns in wins vs the Sonics to help them reach the Finals.

Edit - Drazen Petrovic died before the start of the Finals, and earlier in the playoffs Reggie Lewis had collapsed during a game. This could have thrown players off going into the Finals (Ainge was briefly a teammate of Petrovic).

Then the Suns became the first team to lose the first 2 games of the Finals at home. Already missing Ceballos, in Game 2 Barkley injured his elbow (but still scored 42), KJ (accused child molester) fouled out for the only time all season in a 3 point loss. Game 3 triple overtime Suns win. Game 4 MJ revenge scores 55 while Barkley has a triple double.

Famous Game 6. Bulls go scoreless for the first 6 minutes of 4Q allowing the Suns to come back. Suns go scoreless for the final 2:20 of the game. Still up 4 going into the final minute. Majerle airballs a wide open 15 footer with 15 seconds left giving the Bulls the ball. Now supposedly Westphal told his players not to double anybody on that final possession, but Ainge goes to double/help, leaving Paxson open to win the game with the only non-Jordan Bulls points of the fourth. If Ainge doesn't double maybe Pippen or Grant hit a layup, tying the game instead of giving the Bulls the lead. Suns lose all 3 games on their home court. A lot of small what ifs there that could have changed things up. I don't think the Jordan legend is the same without that first 3-peat, and does he retire if the Bulls lose? That then could change up a lot of history too.

[SHAQATTACK]

Poor fellow that?ssom pitiful

RIP Oliver

[aefgogreen]

Oliver Miller, known as "Big O" during his playing days, has died at the age of 54.
Miller was a beefy center who helped Arkansas advance to the Final Four before playing nine seasons in the NBA.
Miller had been battling brain cancer.

I loved that 1993 Suns team.  RIP to the big fella.

That Suns team was a lot of fun. Barkley, KJ, Thunder Dan, Richard Dumas - one of my favorite non-championship teams.  RIP.

Danny Ainge's, Tom Chambers and Cedric Ceballos, too.

man, they were deep