Nesmith Nails Eight Three Pointers as Pacers Stun Knicks in Overtime
In game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, the All-Stars from both teams shined under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, but Aaron Nesmith stole the show by scoring 20 of his playoff career-high 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 14 point deficit to force overtime before prevailing over the New York Knicks, 138-135. Teams leading by at least 14 points in the final 2:45 of the fourth quarter had been 994-0 since detailed play-by-play information began being tracked in 1997-98, so it is not an exaggeration to call this the greatest and most improbable playoff comeback in at least the past 27 years. This win is a reversal of Eastern Conference Finals fortune for the Pacers, who squandered a golden opportunity to win game one on the road last year versus the Boston Celtics; the Celtics swept the Pacers en route to winning their first NBA championship since 2008.
Nesmith ranked 10th in the NBA in three point field goal percentage (career-high .431) during the regular season, and he led the Pacers in three point field goals made (27) in the 2025 playoffs prior to game one, but those numbers did not suggest that he would tie an NBA playoff record by nailing six three pointers in the fourth quarter or that he would break Indiana's playoff record by hitting eight three pointers in a game. Nesmith did not score in the overtime, but he did his part to carry the Pacers that far, and then Andrew Nembhard (seven overtime points) and Obi Toppin (four overtime points) finished the job after the Knicks took a 129-125 overtime lead.
Tyrese Haliburton scored a team-high 31 points, dished for a team-high 11 assists, and had some late game heroics of his own, drilling a shot with his foot on the three point line as time expired in regulation, tying the score at 125. Hitting clutch shots is nothing new for Haliburton, who has made five shots to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter or overtime in this year's playoffs alone, the most such shots in a single postseason since 1997. After beating the buzzer to send the game to overtime, Haliburton thought that he had made a game-winning three pointer, so he did the "choke" sign as an homage to Reggie Miller doing the "choke" sign at Madison Square Garden during the Pacers' win in game five of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Haliburton's premature celebration turned out to be prophetic, but it is worth remembering that the Pacers have a history of premature celebrations gone wrong. Miller scored 25 fourth quarter points in game five in 1994, but the Pacers lost the next two games to choke away a 3-2 series lead, and they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals three times in the next five years--sandwiched around a first round loss in 1996 and missing the playoffs in 1997--before finally reaching the NBA Finals in 2000. Miller should have learned his lesson earlier in the 1994 season: he bowed to the Chicago crowd after hitting a go ahead shot with less than one second remaining only to watch Toni Kukoc nail the game-winning three pointer on the next possession, after which the Bulls' Steve Kerr bowed toward Miller. The Pacers may want to ease up on the celebrations at least until they win a championship, something that the franchise has not accomplished since capturing the 1973 ABA title.
Pascal Siakam, a key member of Toronto's 2019 championship team, had 17 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Andrew Nembhard (15 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Myles Turner (14 points, five rebounds) made solid contributions at both ends of the court.
Jalen Brunson poured in a game-high 43 points on 15-25 field goal shooting and he passed for five assists, but he also had a game-high seven turnovers. He scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and six points in the overtime. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 35 points on 11-17 field goal shooting, and he grabbed 12 rebounds. Towns scored 13 fourth quarter points and he scored two points in the overtime. Josh Hart had a game-high 13 rebounds and a team-high seven assists along with eight points. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby scored 16 points each.
The Knicks led for most of the game, they outrebounded the Pacers 46-39, and they outscored the Pacers in the paint 62-50--but the Knicks committed 15 turnovers that the Pacers converted into 27 points while the Pacers had just seven turnovers and gave up just four points off of turnovers. If the Knicks had taken better care of the basketball and not given up 38 fourth quarter points then they would have won this game by double digits.
If this were the NCAA Tournament then the Pacers would survive and advance while the Knicks' season would be over--but an NBA playoff series is a race to four wins, so we will find out soon enough if this was a fluke win by an inferior team or if the Pacers are the better and tougher team.
Labels: Aaron Nesmith, Indiana Pacers, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 12:00 PM
2 Comments:
I don’t think the Pacers winning the game was a fluke and I would not be shocked if they upset New York the way they did with Cleveland. That being said, Tyrese Haliburton’s game tying buzzer beater was the flukiest buzzer beater in the history of fluky buzzer beaters, even more so than Kawhi Leonard’s series clinching shot against the 76ers. That ball bounced at least eight feet directly above the basket, I was just watching it on YouTube and it bounced so high it actually goes out of frame, and then swished directly into the cylinder. I am eagerly awaiting the game tonight.
Michael:
You may be right. Game three tonight is obviously New York's last chance to turn this into a competitive series.
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