'You gotta be kidding me.' Nesmith has difficult assignment guarding Middleton, hits big shot
INDIANAPOLIS -- Aaron Nesmith had a good look at the shot.
Just a few seconds earlier, the Pacers’ guard drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner to beat the shot clock and send the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd to full throttle. With 14.4 seconds left in overtime on Friday night in the Game 3 first-round playoff series with the Milwaukee Bucks, it looked like Nesmith’s shot – his only make in seven 3-point attempts – might be the dagger in the Pacers’ first home playoff game in five years.
“I haven’t been shooting the ball well, but I trust my work,” Nesmith said on a night when he finished with 13 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
Nesmith also knew, from experience, that a three-point lead was hardly safe the way Khris Middleton was shooting. Nesmith was switched off the Bucks’ star on the next possession, guarding Damian Lillard about 35 feet from the basket. Lillard bounced the ball at the top of the key to Middleton, who let it fly over the outstretched hand of 6-11 Myles Turner.
The shot was long. Way too long. But the ball caromed off the glass and through, good for Middleton’s 40th, 41st and 42nd points. And a tie game again with 6.7 seconds remaining in overtime.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Nesmith said of his reaction after watching Middleton’s shot go through. “Typical. But it happens.”
Middleton’s shot was upstaged by Tyrese Haliburton’s three-point play on the next possession, giving the Pacers a 121-118 overtime win and a 2-1 series lead going into Sunday night’s Game 4 showdown, also at home.
Nesmith spent most of the night guarding Middleton, who hit an incredible array of shots to finish with 42 points on 16-for-29 shooting, including 4-for-9 from the 3-point line. Middleton sent the game to overtime with 1.4 seconds left in regulation when he dribbled around Turner and fired from 25 feet as Nesmith chased.
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Tough shot. Really tough shot.
“He’s a good player,” said Nesmith, who is eight years younger than Middleton but from the same hometown of Charleston, S.C. “He makes some tough shots. It’s just my job to make it difficult. But it’s pretty cool to compete against him at the highest level – someone who I’ve know for such a long time.”
Nesmith had to sweat out one more attempt by Middleton to send the game to a second overtime. After Haliburton’s go-ahead shot with 1.6 seconds left in overtime, Middleton shot a contested 3 (Nesmith doing the contesting) from 24 feet that caught the front of the rim but fell harmlessly to the floor.
“He made two hellacious shots already,” Nesmith said of the final possession. “In my mind, I was (thinking), ‘Do not foul.’ Just make it as tough as possible and hope he misses.”
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Most of Gainbridge Fieldhouse probably thought it was going in based on previous possessions. Nesmith did not.
“I knew when he shot it, I knew he missed it,” said Nesmith, who hit two clutch free throws with 7 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Pacers a three-point lead. “So, when I turned around and it was short, it was a sigh of relief.”
That sigh of relief turned into a crescendo from a sellout crowd that included Caitlin Clark, Anthony Richardson and Tony Dungy. The Pacers had to earn it, leading by as many as 19 points, falling behind by three in the fourth quarter and then grinding out an ugly overtime that included one Pacers’ possession of six missed shots.
But a win is a win. The Pacers took a punch and survived.
“Middleton was just, um, I don’t even know how to describe what he did out there,” Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “The shots he was making with guys draped all over him. Lillard, same thing.”
Why didn't the Pacers foul up 3?
The Pacers twice had a chance to foul the Bucks leading by three points before Middleton made game-tying 3-pointers. That was the plan, Carlisle said.
“We did have a scenario to foul,” Carlisle said. “We just didn’t do it. He was so far out on the first one that we laid off and didn’t lunge at him. The second one was a similar situation. I know that question will come up and when those things go wrong, it’s on me. I take responsibility for that.”
In the locker room, Pacers’ guard T.J. McConnell said it is sometimes easier said than done to foul in that situation.
“The situation when you look back at it probably just didn’t present itself,” McConnell said. “He was already in the shooting motion when we could have fouled him. But hindsight is 20/20. We’re happy that we got the win and we’ll go into (Sunday) and see what we can do better.”
Middleton, believe it or not, was a game-time decision after receiving treatment for a sprained ankle. The Bucks’ injury situation, with Giannis Antetokounmpo out and Lillard suffered an Achilles injury that sapped his explosiveness in overtime, will be something to watch going into Game 4.
“It’s big being able to defend your home court and give the fans what they want to see,” Nesmith said. “We couldn’t have done it without them and need them again on Sunday. It’s good to get this momentum and carry it forward.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Aaron Nesmith has tough assignment guarding Middleton, hits big shot late
