An NBA-sized rim has a diameter of 18 inches. But for Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the rim was the size of the Atlantic Ocean.
Or at least that’s what it seemed like for the 25-year-old who drained six consecutive three-pointers to carry his team out of a 13-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation that led to an improbable come-from-behind 138-135 overtime win at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s unreal,” said Nesmith, who totaled 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, including eight made three-pointers. “It’s probably the best feeling in the world for me. First, I love it like when that basket feels like an ocean, and anything you toss up, you feel like it’s going to go in. It’s just so much fun.”
Nesmith’s heroics kept his team in the game with the Knicks just a few minutes away from securing a 1-0 series lead. The first trey — from one of Tyrese Haliburton’s 11 assists — shortened the deficit to 12 with 4:45 remaining. He then drained a 26-footer a minute and 31 seconds later to get closer to 11.
“I was just doing what the team needed of me,” said Nesmith, who was unaware of his hot streak during the game. “I was just letting them fly. Was in a good rhythm. Didn’t really realize what I was doing in the moment, just trying to win the basketball game.”
He would drain two more before converting his deepest one, a 30-footer steps away from the Knicks logo with OG Anunoby not close enough for a proper closeout.
“He got too much airspace, and some of it is transition,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. “Some of it is coming off pindowns. Some of it is communication. I’m gonna take a look at the film.”
His final trey in regulation came on another Haliburton assist and was shot over Josh Hart, who slipped after maneuvering around Obi Toppin’s screen on the perimeter. It brought the Pacers within two with 22.1 seconds remaining.
As the Knicks ran out of gas and sputtered, Nesmith kept his foot on the pedal. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle subbed out Nesmith for just under three minutes before the torrid stretch, allowing the sharpshooter to return with fresh legs in the comeback attempt.
“So he came back in the game fresh and he had his legs,” said Carlisle. The head coach added the treys “were all very much needed… Aaron got hot certainly at the right time.”
Nesmith’s buckets later set up Haliburton’s thrilling buzzer-beater at the end of regulation. The Pacers All-Star nailed a stepback jumper over Mitchell Robinson that the road team initially celebrated as the game-winner. Haliburton proceeded to make the choke sign — a not-so-subtle callback to Reggie Miller’s taunt directed at Spike Lee during the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
Officials deemed the made field goal a two-pointer after replay showed Haliburton’s foot on the line.
Nesmith admitted postgame he wanted the final play of regulation to be drawn up for him.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Nesmith said when asked if he’d hope to get the ball. “But big-time players make big-time plays and that’s what [Haliburton] continues to do on a daily basis.”
The game went into overtime, a period the Pacers won, 13-10. Nesmith didn’t do damage there, but Andrew Nembhard did with seven points in the extra period to secure the win. It capped another comeback win from the never-say-die Pacers squad.
Before Wednesday, postseason teams were 0-970 when they trailed by 14 or more points in the final 2:50 of regulation. The Pacers now stand alone: 1-970. The only team to overcome such deficit late in a playoff game.
And Nesmith is a big reason with his performance for the ages.
“Yeah he went unconscious,” said Nembhard. “It was obviously very much so needed. He makes those types of plays. He’s a big-time hooper.”
