'What Aaron Nesmith did today can't be talked about enough.' His 3s fueled Pacers belief in Game 1 comeback win

NEW YORK – Aaron Nesmith was so locked in Wednesday's final minutes he didn't really know how locked in he was.

The 25-year-old swingman — in his third year with the Pacers after two seasons stuck on the bench in Boston — was just trying to do anything he could to keep his team in striking distance after they fell behind by 17 points in the fourth quarter, and he knew what could get them back in the game quickest was 3-pointers. He didn't know he had six of them in five minutes or that he had a career-high eight of them in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks until someone — or more accurately a whole lot of someones—- informed him of that when he reached the locker room.

"I was just doing what the team needed of me, you know?" Nesmith said. "I was just letting them fly. I was in a good rhythm. Didn't really realize what I was doing in the moment. Just trying to win a basketball game."

But what he did know was the shots he needed to make were going in and every one he took felt progressively easier. So as much as the Pacers were in a white-knuckle battle in the last five minutes of regulation of what turned out to be a 138-135 overtime win, Nesmith was also enjoying the process of willing his team back in a game that had at one point seemed lost.

He finished Wednesday's game with an incredibly efficient career-high 30 points on just 13 shots, making nine of his 13 field goals and a career-high 8-of-9 3-point attempts. He made six straight 3-pointers in the final 4:55 of regulation and scored 20 of his 30 points in that period, tacking on two critical free throws that helped the Pacers erase that double-figure deficit and force overtime.

"It's unreal," Nesmith said. "It's probably the best feeling in the world for me, personally. I love it when that basket feels like an ocean and anything you toss up, you feel like it's going to go in. Ahh, it's just, so much fun."

It can be easy to forget about Nesmith the shooter because his primary functions on the Pacers' roster are dirty-work jobs. He's the Pacers' most versatile defender and though guard Andrew Nembhard's rise this season has led to him more frequently getting the opponent's No. 1 scoring option, Nesmith frequently gets the second-best perimeter player, and while Nembhard usually takes on guards, Nesmith can be asked to take on any position 1-4. The Pacers ask him to take charges from bigger players and to at least try to rebound above his station as a 6-5, 215-pound wing. They want him fighting through screens and picking up full-court when it's warranted and they want him bringing as much or more energy than anyone else on the floor.

That being said, a big reason the Celtics took him with a lottery pick in 2020 was because Nesmith had proven since his days at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, S.C., he could be a knock-down shooter, especially in catch-and-shoot situations. He actually shot 52.2% from 3-point range in his second year at Vanderbilt in 14 games before a stress fracture in his right foot effectively ended his college career. For as much as the Pacers like what Nesmith gives them on defense, they need him to be a threat to score as well and his best offensive attribute is his willingness to run the floor and spread it by spotting up for 3-pointers.

Even heading into Wednesday's Game 1, Nesmith had been shooting the ball sensationally well in the postseason, averaging 14.6 points per game while hitting 48.2% of his 3-pointers (27-of-56) and 52% of his total field goals (53-of-102.) After missing 35 games in the regular season with a severely sprained ankle, he found a rhythm after the All-Star break, averaging 15.0 points per game on 52.2% shooting including 45.3% from 3-point range, and he's maintained that rhythm in April and May.

And of course in Wednesday's fourth quarter he hit an entirely different level.

"He went unconscious," Nembhard said. "It was obviously very much so needed. He makes big defensive plays. He's a big-time hooper."

Said center Myles Turner: "In this stage, this moment, he stepped up, you know what I mean? It's that time of the year when either you fold or you step up. He did an amazing job. Double-A works a lot on his craft and on his game and he put that on display tonight."

And while the work on his shooting craft paid off, he also used his other crafts. He took on Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson to start the game and generally whenever he was on the floor. He didn't win the battle on every possession as Brunson scored 43 points, but it took 25 shots for him to get there. Nesmith was +10 when he was on the floor while Brunson was -8.

The Pacers ultimately tied the score in the fourth quarter on the buzzer-beating jumper by Tyrese Haliburton which bounced high above the rim before falling in, so that will be the signature moment of Game 1. However, Haliburton's heroics wouldn't have been relevant if not for lights-out shooting from Nesmith the rest of the period.

"It's special," Haliburton said. "Double-A works his tail off. I think each shot that me made kept giving us confidence that we could really win this game. He was really big for us. And I think to do what he did while also having to guard Jalen Brunson for probably 30 minutes is very difficult to do. What Aaron Nesmith did today can't be talked about enough."

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Aaron Nesmith 3-pointers, defense key Pacers wild Game 1 comeback win