Aaron Nesmith’s rolled ankle helps sink Pacers in Game 3 loss to Knicks

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It was not difficult to draw a direct line from the Pacers’ second-half stumble in a 106-100 Game 3 Eastern Conference finals home loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday night to an injury to one of their shining stars of the playoff run.

Aaron Nesmith, the maestro of the Game 1 steal at Madison Square Garden with his 8-for-9 shooting from the 3-point line., rolled his right ankle after he drove the baseline and landed on defender Jalen Brunson’s right foot. The Pacers were leading by 13 points at the time of the injury (6:06 left in the third quarter). Nesmith put little weight on his foot as he was helped to the locker room but returned to the bench by the end of the third quarter with the Pacers still leading by 10.

As the Pacers’ lead continued to dwindle, Nesmith hopped on the stationary bicycle near the tunnel, then disappeared from view as he loosened up in the hallway. He returned to an ovation from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd with 7:03 remaining and the Knicks leading 89-88 and played the rest of the game.

“I was just testing to make sure I could push off and go,” Nesmith said of preparing for his return. “I went back in and tried my best. We have to play for the full 48 minutes. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Nesmith, the primary defender in holding Brunson to 4-for-14 shooting through three quarters, said he would “see what (the ankle) looks like tomorrow” in preparation for Tuesday’s Game 4 at home. “I’ll take care of myself, do rehab and get ready to do it again,” he said.

Brunson, saddled with foul trouble, mostly watched from the bench in the fourth quarter as Karl-Anthony Towns lit up the Pacers for 20 points in the fourth. He subbed back into the game with 1:37 left and scored 20 seconds later on a 13-foot floater just over the outstretched hand of Nesmith to break a 98-98 tie.

The Knicks never trailed again.

“We just have to come out and be better,” Nesmith said of Game 4. “And fix what we didn’t do today.”

Clearly, losing Nesmith for 11 minutes was not the only reason why the Pacers were unable to hold the lead. Much of it had to do with the dominance of Towns, who did almost all of his damage in the fourth quarter. But it did seem deflating for the Pacers to lose a starter who had been so integral to the Pacers’ success.

Nesmith missed the first 35 games of the season with an injury to his left ankle.

“It’s tough,” Andrew Nembhard said of Nesmith’s absence. “He’s a big part of our success and he does a great job guarding. But I think whether that happened or not, we had other problems that we can correct next game. I think we got away from playing our pace, playing our movement game. It was a little more stagnant and we ended up taking a too many (late) shot clock shots.”

Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle said he wanted to get Nesmith back in the game so the ankle “didn’t stiffen up.” Nesmith finished with eight points, seven rebounds and two steals in 26 minutes.

But the contributions of Nesmith often go beyond the box score numbers (with the notable exception of the Game 1 explosion with 20 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter). During these playoffs he has at different points defended Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson.

“He’s a Swiss Army knife for us,” teammate T.J. McConnell said. “He does it all offensively and defensively. He does whatever is asked of him. He’s a great teammate. His ability to shoot the ball and guard the other team’s best player – you can’t put a value on that. He’s just so valuable for our team.”

But McConnell added that losing one valuable piece “is no excuse” for the Game 3 letdown.

“We gotta be better,” he said. “Deflating loss, for sure. We have to fix some things and get ready for Game 4. We’ll see in the coming days (how Nesmith’s ankle) heals. Time will tell.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

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