The Indiana Pacers defeated the New York Knicks 138-135 in a Game 1 overtime win at Madison Square Garden. Pacers guard/forward Aaron Nesmith played out of his mind and exploded for 20 points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, without missing a single shot in the quarter.
Prior to the fourth quarter, Nesmith had just 10 points but finished the game with a stat line of 30 points on 69 percent shooting from the field and 89 percent from beyond the arc.
“It’s unreal, it’s probably the best feeling in the world,” Nesmith said. “I love it, when that basket feels like an ocean, anything you toss up, it feels like it’s gonna go in. It’s just so much fun.
“Didn’t really realize what I was doing in the moment. Just trying to win a basketball game.”
The Pacers scored a combined 23 points in the final 3:14 of the fourth quarter, setting a playoff record for the most points in that amount of time in the play-by-play era.
The Knicks were up by 14 points with 2:51 left to play before Tyrese Haliburton drained the game-tying shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Before New York blew their 14-point lead, teams in that situation were 994-0 in the postseason in the play-by-play era.
“Obviously, Aaron’s heroics, they can’t be talked about enough,” Haliburton said. “He was amazing down the stretch. … [Nesmith] works his tail off. I think each shot that he made just kept giving us more confidence that we could really win this game. He was really big for us. And I think for him to do what he did today, while also having to guard Jalen Brunson for probably 30 minutes, is very difficult to do.”
Nesmith and the Pacers will look to steal another road game Friday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.