When you look back at tonight’s Knicks vs Pacers clash years from now, what are you likely to remember the most? Tyrese Haliburton’s choke sign to the MSG crowd following his epic game-tying bucket to force overtime? The Knicks blowing a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter? For most fans, the answer will probably be one of the two. But while those were the biggest highlights of the night, one player’s contribution was the primary reason behind the Pacers’ miraculous comeback – Aaron Nesmith.

Yes, the forward played the game of his life tonight and, in the process, etched his name in NBA history. When his team needed him the most, Nesmith dropped a highly efficient 30-piece, hitting eight of his nine three-point attempts. Moreover, six of those threes came in the fourth quarter, helping the Pacers overcome the massive double-digit deficit. Turns out, Aaron is only the sixth player in playoffs history to hit six threes in a single quarter.

The other five on the list – Stephen Curry, Bojan Bogdanovic, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, and Michael Porter Jr. Elite company indeed. Also, Nesmith is the first and only player to do it in the fourth quarter, the most crucial part of the game. Apart from him, every other player on this list hit six threes either in the first or second quarter of a playoff game.

Well, Steph did it three years ago against the Celtics in the opening quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. And he did it on the Warriors’ home floor, which is arguably a more comfortable situation than Nesmith was in tonight. Moreover, Steph ended up losing that night, whereas Aaron’s historic performance led his team to an incredible victory. Sure enough, he was ecstatic about it.

Aaron Nesmith describes “unreal” feeling after Game 1 performance as Tyrese Haliburton praises Pacers

Nesmith was in the zone tonight, and it could not have come at a better time for the Pacers. They needed every single point he scored in the final quarter to force overtime and eventually beat the Knicks. Following the successful comeback, Aaron described the feeling during his historic shooting run: “It’s unreal. It’s probably the best feeling in the world for me. I love it like when that basket feels like an ocean, and anything you toss up, you feel like it’s gonna go in. It’s just so much fun.”

Even his team leader, Tyrese Haliburton, had high praise for him and the entire Pacers squad for not losing hope amid adversity, “Yeah, we’ve played a lot of games where it felt like the other team had control. It ain’t over till it’s over, till it hits zero. That’s a hell of a win.”

However, the point guard acknowledged that they need to be a lot better moving forward, “I really do think there’s a lot for us to improve on. I don’t know what the final rebound number was. Felt like they dominated us there, that’s an area we wanna be great. We weren’t good today, but we just figured out a way to win, man. And I’m just so proud of this group.”

Although the Pacers got the job done tonight, they would prefer to not be in a situation where they need a historic performance like Aaron Nesmith’s to pull them out of a deep hole. So, their focus would be to come out with more energy in upcoming games and maintain a lead from the beginning. As for Nesmith, he would hope to continue this hot streak in the next game and do the same damage in MSG once again. Do you think he can do it?