After last season’s sensational playoff performance and his sizzling first half in the Indiana Pacers game one win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Andrew Nembhard may be on his way to building up a reputation as someone that rises to the occasion in big moments.
“I just think that he set the tone for us,” Myles Turner said of Nembhard’s first half. “Getting downhill, I think he went right at Brook (Lopez) a couple of times. He’s a very heady guard. People don’t realize how strong he is until you see the results. I like the way he established himself defensively and I liked offensively how he just didn’t settle.”
Nembhard attacking the basket was a frequent sight in the first quarter as he drove through the lane on transition opportunities with each finish featuring more physicality than the last. The final two showing off that strength Turner referred to with a patented shoulder bump moving the 282-pound Lopez out of the way with ease, causing the center to throw up his hands in frustration after the last one.
“Drew was aggressive from the jump. I like when he’s aggressive getting downhill,” Pascal Siakam said of Nembhard. “I always tell him that he’s one of the best at doing that. He can get downhill and also we know what he can do on defense. He’s a special player. I just loved how aggressive (he) was from the jump. We need that from him.”
Literally from the jump, you could see that aggression from Nembhard as he stole the opening tip and assisted on a Myles Turner pick and pop 3-pointer. There was a sign of perhaps a little too much adrenaline after that with an overly eager double of Giannis Antetokounmpo that led to a foul and a badly airballed 3-pointer that was long and wide (a rare occasion where I can relate to an NBA player from personal experience as I’ll never forget airballing my first shot well long in high-school tryouts on a wing 3-pointer—we’ll say it was also due to an abundance of adrenaline). The solution from there though was to take all that energy and push the ball to the rim over and over again.
Nembhard capped his nearly perfect first half with a deep 3-pointer with 8 seconds left in the second quarter that put the Pacers up 24 at halftime. He was 7 for 8 in the first half with a team-high 15 points.
Last postseason, Nembhard averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 assists while shooting 56% from the floor and 47.6% from deep, hit one of the biggest postseason game winners in Pacers history in Game 3 against the Knicks, and did everything he could in a valiant effort against the Celtics in the conference finals after Tyrese Haliburton went down with an injury.
“I feel like ever since I was a young kid, I always loved playing big games like this,” Nembhard said of elevating his game in the playoffs. “My pops was a coach … in Little League. When we would go to the championship, I couldn’t sleep the night before. I like playing winning hoops in a fun environment like this.”
It feels unreasonable to ask for that high level of play in consecutive postseason runs when his regular season averages over his career sit at 9.6 points and 4.6 assists but game one saw Nembhard finish with 17 points, 5 assists while making 8 of his 13 shots from the floor (61%). He was only 1 for 3 from deep but continued his unfortunate trend of making shots with his toes on the 3-point line. He had two corner triples go down as twos because of misplaced feet in this one.
Nembhard will only become more important as the series goes on as Damian Lillard looks to return in one of the next two games in the series according to reports. Then, it’s his defense that will need to be on full display. His well-timed steals were big plays in this one but his point-of-attack defense is maybe the biggest key in the Pacers defensive turnaround and they’ll need him at the top of his game with a motivated Lillard, who appeared anxious to get into the action after exchanging words with Haliburton during a timeout in the second half.
His offense will continue to be crucial as a secondary playmaker to Haliburton as they may look to get the ball out of the Pacers’ offensive engine’s hands more and more as the series goes on and especially if Lillard is tasked with guarding him. Making Lillard work on both ends with full-court pressure defensively and those types of physical drives may make it difficult for the Bucks guard as he regains his conditioning returning from his blood clot situation.
“Everybody on our team’s got to be armed and dangerous to score,” Carlisle said when asked about Nembhard looking to score. “Striking the right balance is everything for our team. As we get into this and you go from game to game, there’s going to be different storylines … we’ve got to maintain a high level of aggression while also maintaining poise.”
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