If you turned off Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals with about three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, you missed an ending for the ages — with a former Boston Celtics draft pick playing a crucial role.
The New York Knicks led the Indiana Pacers by 14 points (119-105) with 2:45 on the clock. Then Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith went absolutely nuclear, hitting five 3-pointers in a span of under three minutes to help Indy storm back.
Tyrese Haliburton delivered the final dagger with a 2-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime, and the Pacers outlasted the Knicks in overtime to complete a stunning 138-135 victory. But it was Nesmith’s heroics that helped Indy become the first team in NBA playoff history to overcome a 14-point deficit in the final 2:45 of a fourth quarter.
To put Nesmith’s late-game eruption into context, the fifth-year guard hit six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, which is the most by any player in a single quarter of a playoff game since 1998. And Nesmith hit all of his triples within the final five minutes.
Nesmith has had quite the basketball journey; he was one of the best shooters in college basketball entering the 2020 NBA Draft (52.2 percent from 3-point range at Vanderbilt in 2019-20), and was expected to continue that success with the Celtics, who selected him 14th overall.
But Nesmith just couldn’t make a bucket in Boston, averaging just 4.2 points per game over two seasons (98 total games) while shooting 31.8 percent from distance. After the 2021-22 season, the Celtics dealt Nesmith — along with Daniel Theis, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan, Nik Stauskas and a 2023 first-round pick — to Indiana in return for Malcolm Brogdon.
In the short term, the deal was a win for the C’s, as Brogdon earned Sixth Man of the Year honors while helping Boston reach the Eastern Conference Finals. But Nesmith since has blossomed in Indy, rediscovering his shooting stroke (43.1 percent from 3 this season) and playing with relentless energy for a perennial East contender.
Nesmith’s contributions culminated in Wednesday’s 30-point effort on 9 of 13 shooting (8 of 9 from 3) that has the Pacers three wins from an NBA Finals berth.
“It’s unreal,” Nesmith said after the game. “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.”
The Celtics got their own star from that 2020 draft — Boston selected Payton Pritchard 12 picks later at No. 26 overall — but it has to sting a bit watching Nesmith thrive in another uniform.
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