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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a> to overcome a 14-point deficit in the final 2:45 of a fourth quarter.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n