The Pacers' Reggie Miller will be remembered as one of the greatest sharp-shooters in NBA history. (AP FILE PHOTO)

Eighteen years, more than 25,000 points and 2,500 three-pointers later, Miller left the court at Indiana's Conseco Fieldhouse for the final time to a standing ovation, the most popular player in team history.

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On Thursday night, the Pacers lost to the Detroit Pistons 88-79 in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The loss ended both Indiana's season and the illustrious career of Miller, who announced in February that he would retire at season's end.

The rail-thin shooting guard, who played only for the Pacers, finished his career with a franchise-record 25,279 points, 12th-best in NBA history.

Miller will go down as one of the most renowned long-range shooters ever. His 2,650 three-pointers made and 6,486 three-pointers attempted are league records. In both categories, he is miles ahead of the player in second place.

By way of his marksmanship, Miller is likely headed to the Hall of Fame.

Hard to believe, then, that a player who enjoyed such remarkable individual success and led Indiana to playoff appearances in 12 of his 13 seasons as a starter was slow to capture the hearts of Pacers fans.

Miller starred in college at UCLA. When he left the school, his 2,095 career points were second only to Lew Alcindor's 2,325. However, Pacers fans were not pleased when the team selected Miller in the first round of the '87 draft. Many hoped the Pacers would select Indiana University guard Steve Alford, a Hoosier State native who had just led IU to an NCAA championship.

Miller, however, soon made a name for himself in Indiana. In his third season, he averaged a career-high 24.6 points a game despite coming off the bench in each of his 82 games.

Miller finally became a starter in his fifth season, and in the playoffs that year he cemented his status as a clutch playoff performer.

After leading the Pacers past the first round for the first time since they joined the NBA in 1977, Miller delivered one of the most memorable performances in playoff history during the Eastern Conference finals against New York.

In Game 5 at New York's Madison Square Garden, Miller carried Indiana to victory by scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter, all while jawing with filmmaker and Knicks super fan Spike Lee.

The Pacers went on to lose the series in seven games, but the fourth-quarter scoring binge at the Garden, possibly basketball's biggest stage, was Miller's breakthrough moment.

The following year, Miller produced another virtuoso performance in New York. In Game 1 of a 1995 Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks, Miller poured in eight points in the game's final nine seconds to give the Pacers the win.

Yet despite his playoff heroics, some do not consider Miller a true superstar. With him, the Pacers never won a championship and appeared in only one NBA final, in 2000. Also, Miller does not have a scoring title or other major individual honour to his name. He made five All-Star appearances, but was never named to the All-NBA first or second team.

Still, Miller is widely praised for his contributions to the Pacers franchise. Only two players in NBA history, John Stockton and Karl Malone, played more games with one team.

In his final season, Miller helped keep the Pacers in playoff contention after the team's potentially disastrous early-season brawl in Detroit. With Ron Artest barred for the season and Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson serving lengthy suspension, Miller re-emerged as a reliable scorer.

After averaging only 10.0 points a game in 2003-04, which tied a career-low from his rookie season, Miller put up 14.8 points in 2004-05. The Pacers finished sixth in the Eastern Conference.

In the playoffs, Miller duplicated his scoring average from the regular season and helped the Pacers to a first-round upset of the Boston Celtics.

In his final game, Miller led Indiana with 27 points on 11 of 16 shooting. Fittingly, his final basket, which came with under two minutes to play, was a three-pointer.