The Indiana Pacers tied their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night with major contributions on both ends from second-year guard Andrew Nembhard.
Nembhard has the unenviable task of being the primary defender of Damian Lillard who has lit the Pacers defense on fire early in both games. Though Indiana is quick to say it’s not a one-person job, Nembhard’s going to get the bulk of the blame for the first half explosions but the second half has been a different story for the Bucks star guard both nights and he deserves credit there.
“The challenge of chasing Lillard around is a thankless one,” Carlisle said after Tuesday’s win. “It’s almost impossible. The way he was throwing in those shots early, it was almost like deja vu again.”
Lillard has scored 35 points and 26 points in the first half of the first two games of the series but 0 and 8 points in the second halves. Nembhard took every punch and kept coming back. Eventually he and the Pacers slowed him down enough to pull away and even the series.
“Drew never really got rattled even when Dame hit some hellacious shots,” Myles Turner said. “Even when Dame kind of started barking at him, I don’t think he really backed down. That shows a lot in this playoff atmosphere to have an attitude like that. Someone who shows no fear on both ends of the floor is what you need. I’m proud of his development. He’s going to be a big x-factor for us.”
After practice on Thursday, Nembhard noted one of the challenges is how good Lillard is at pouncing the moment he notices the smallest mistake in a coverage so your focus always has to be there in the moment.
“It’s about being physical, understanding what coverage we’re in and trying to execute it to the highest level possible,” said Nembhard, “and wear on him as the game goes on.”
While his physicality on the defensive end was crucial to making Lillard work as hard as possible for those points, it was the offensive end where he really shined in game two, scoring 20 points (8 of 11) with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and zero turnovers. Carlisle called his offensive aggression a “major key to the game.”
Making Lillard work on the defensive end was a clear emphasis and Nembhard repeatedly made plays. Whether it was beating Lillard down the floor in transition, making timely baseline cuts, hitting open corner 3-pointers, or aggressively attacking the basket.
“Drew’s tough,” Pascal Siakam said of the second-year guard. “I just like that he’s so calm, cool, collected. He works so hard. The things that we ask him to do are tough. He’s growing every single day.”
Nembhard fought hard for loose balls and rebounds: grabbing a contested offensive board and then getting to the foul line by initiating contact on the ensuing drive on one occasion and not giving up on a loose ball and poking it to Tyrese Haliburton for an open 3 on another crucial play.
Even as the initiator of the offense, he was making plays, splitting a trap on one play and playing bully ball with Patrick Beverly at the rim, getting a technical foul called on him for the second straight game but sending a clear message. While Nembhard isn’t the most talkative guy, he says and does enough to get under his opponent’s skin.
Preferably, the Pacers can make enough adjustments and execute enough against Lillard for 48 minutes each game in the rest of the series but it’s encouraging that they were able to both weather the storm of another bombardment of triples in game two and still have a halftime lead. They’ll be relying on Nembhard to do all the gritty, dirty work for the rest of the series. In just his second playoff game, he was completely up to the task.
“I love competing at the highest level,” Nembhard said. “It’s just the epitome of competition. It’s fun out there.”
Player Grades:
- Andrew Nembhard: A, see above
- Pascal Siakam: A+, read all about Siakam here.
- Tyrese Haliburton: B+, Haliburton finished with 12 points and 12 assists. While he only took 10 shots, he was much more aggressive and held onto the ball a beat longer to get more favorable situations for his teammates when they caught the ball. There were still opportunities for him to do more but he orchestrated the offense to perfection and the whole team was humming thanks to him. This may be the best defensive performance of his life. He was physical and guarding guys full court, not allowing anything to be easy and showed a lot of pride on that end.
- Myles Turner: A, Turner was paramount in putting the game out of reach as he hit jumper after jumper in the fourth quarter to continue to stretch the Pacers lead, even doing Aaron Rodgers’ discount double check celebration after one corner triple. He also made some great passes with fantastic reads out of the short roll: finding Nembhard on a baseline cut and Haliburton for an open 3 on a secondary read. Both passes that he would have struggled to make the last time the Pacers were in a competitive playoff series. He also protected the rim with 3 block shots.
- Aaron Nesmith: A-, Nesmith only had 11 points on 10 shots but 7 assists really stood out as it tied his career high. He hit Toppin inside on a tough pass on a drive and moved the ball well all night. He’s done a great job on Khris Middleton so far this series despite giving up a lot in height. In this game, Middleton had 15 points (6 of 14).
- Ben Sheppard: A, Sheppard’s defense was fantastic and his strong play was a big reason why Carlisle was able to stick to only 8 players in his rotation. He hit an awesome reverse layup in transition that got the bench excited and made 2 of 3 triples in a hostile road environment. Good to see from the rookie after he looked extremely unsure of himself at times in the first contest.
- Obi Toppin: B, Toppin allowed the Pacers to go small and not play a backup center as Siakam played the five while Bobby Portis was the lone big for the Bucks. While Toppin still hasn’t had the same shooting stroke as the regular season so far, he’s finding ways to contribute with timely rebounds and good enough defense in this one.
- T.J. McConnell: C+, McConnell was bad in the first half as he struggled to make any of his typical shots and had a couple poor turnovers. But in the second half, he had a better impact and allowed Haliburton to rest while increasing the lead. He finished with 6 points (2 for 6) and 4 assists in 17 minutes.
- That doesn’t feel like that should be all but the Pacers thankfully played only 8 guys meaningful minutes after playing 11 in the first game. Carlisle was quick to point out that he’s told guys to stay ready. He was very impressed with Jarace Walker’s performance on the scout team in practice before game two.
iPacers - Indiana Pacers News 
Nembhard was tough on the boards in Game 3. Love the scrappy way he gets after it; it was essential to coming out with the win.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed. Pacers don’t win either of the last two games without his contributions on both ends.
LikeLike