It was Aaron Nesmith’s historic 30-point scoring outburst that got Pacers the win in Game 1. In arguably the best performance of his career, he hit six three-pointers in the fourth quarter to muscle a seventeen-point comeback, leaving the MSG crowd in absolute disbelief. With that, he became the first and only player to knock down six threes in the final quarter of a playoff game. However, since that night, Nesmith has been unable to replicate that form. And concerns grew when he played only 16 minutes in Game 5.

Turns out, Aaron has been dealing with a sprained right ankle, that might be the reason behind his recent struggles. According to TNT’s Allie LaForce, his ankle was much worse in Game 5 than Game 4 and the Pacers’ medical staff is uncertain about its current state. Well, Nesmith was initially listed questionable for Thursday’s game, but was eventually upgraded to available considering the high stakes involved.

Unfortunately, when he stepped on the floor, he looked like a shell of himself. Aaron finished with just 3 points on 1 of 8 shooting before he was replaced by Bennedict Mathurin. With the sharpshooter struggling, along with the rest of his teammates, the Pacers ended up losing the game. Following the brutal loss, Tom Thibodeau revealed why he played Nesmith for just sixteen minutes.

“He got off to a bit of a slow start. I wasn’t sure if maybe he was slowed a little bit by the ankle. So, I got Sheppard in there right away, and then Mathurin got a game going, so that dug into Aaron’s minutes some,” the head coach remarked. He also ensured that every player needs to stay ready for Game 6. And despite the injury, Nesmith was also prepared to make an impact.

Aaron Nesmith not using ankle injury as “excuse” as Pacers aim to eliminate Knicks in Game 6

Since initially hurting his ankle in Game 3, Nesmith has been playing through a lot of pain, which has reflected in his performance on the court. But realizing that his team needs him as they look to take down the Knicks in tonight’s Game 6, the forward has few excuses. Following Thursday’s encounter, he took accountability for his disappointing performance and aimed to do better in Indiana.

“It’s stiff. It hurts, but it’s no excuse. Gotta be better. I was able to play Game 4. I could play today. There was no excuse… I just need to play better,” he remarked. So, even though LaForce confirmed that Nesmith is not in the best shape since the past few games, he was back on the court tonight, trying to boost the Pacers – and boost he certainly does when he gets his minutes. Turns out, the Pacers’ defense plummets against the Knicks whenever Nesmith isn’t on the court – and the numbers back it up too. When he’s playing, they post a 109.8 DEFRTG, while his off matches register a 122.4 DEFRTG. So if Nesmith struggles, Jalen Brunson and Co. might just find themselves in sweepstakes zone.

Earlier, the Pacers HC registered his knowledge of the same too, hoping the situation looks up: “I hope so. We hope so. I’m not really sure. You know, it’s [ankle] been treatment for the last day and a half, and so, we’ll see. I mean, we don’t have him doing a lot of active stuff in our prep, because, you know, we want to ramp him up for gametime. But he’s watching and all that. So, the hope is that he’s gonna be feeling better today than he did two nights ago.”

A win would end the Knicks’ season while Pacers advance to the NBA Finals. Maybe then, Nesmith can get that much needed rest to heal his injury before he takes on the OKC Thunder for the ultimate prize. Thoughts?