Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Pacers take first blood in the Eastern Conference Finals behind a wild comeback fueled by Nesmith, Haliburton and Nembhard

The Pacers got their fifth road win of the playoffs after they were close to flatlining when the Knicks were up 14 points with three minutes left. Jalen Brunson picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth frame, but his crew had taken over with deep jumpers plus a barrage of inside action as there fans celebrated in the stands and were ready to swarm the streets.

Tyrese Haliburton’s 24 points, Myles Turner’s scorching outside shooting, and Pascal Siakam’s performance were an afterthought up to that moment.

Then Aaron Nesmith sprayed five 3-pointers on the catch and dribble, the last two delivering the catastrophic power of a Howitzer to Knicks’ minds. The Pacers won a challenge in between following Siakam tipping a loose ball that was initially called a foul under the rim on him against OG Anunoby. Additionally, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anunoby missed critical freebies, the latter keeping the Knicks only up by two with seven seconds left. For New York, it was reminiscent of the main character of a horror film realizing their impending doom.

Haliburton subsequently dribbled upcourt into the lane, retreated, and hit a deep jumper over Mitchell Robinson that kissed the back iron and fell in from shot-clock height. He grabbed at his throat, doing Reggie Miller’s choking celebration from Game 5 of the ‘94 ECF before the replay showed the tip of his foot on the 3-point line.

Andrew Nembhard followed up with his own heroics after the hosts led by four in overtime, making a shot in the corner, attacking Brunson on a blow-by and scoring on a slot cut on a feed from Haliburton. And former Knick, Obi Toppin, seized victory from New York’s jaws with a baseline putback and a screen roll dunk.

The Pacers won 138-135 with 23 of their points coming via second chances and 27 on New York’s turnovers. On top of that, their half-court attack scored 109.9 points per 100 plays, good enough for the 83rd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Coach Rick Carlisle said his team wouldn’t get too excited about it because both sides have to clean things up and “Game 2 is going to be another war.”

Nesmith finished with 30 points on 69.2% shooting and became the first player in NBA history to nail six fourth-quarter triples in a playoff game, per NBA communications. He said the end of the game was a blur. “I didn’t really realize what I was doing in the moment. I was just trying to win a basketball game.”

Additionally, Haliburton had 31 digits on 52.5% shooting and 11 assists. He said doing Miller’s celebration felt right, but someone quickly told him it was a two-pointer.

Game 2 is on Friday. Before the 2025 playoffs started, the winners of Game 1 in a best of seven series advanced 75.2% of the time.