{"id":443781,"date":"2025-05-26T08:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T06:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=443781"},"modified":"2025-05-26T08:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T06:30:21","slug":"aaron-nesmith-the-dam-that-broke-his-injury-shifted-game-3s-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/aaron-nesmith-the-dam-that-broke-his-injury-shifted-game-3s-momentum\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Nesmith, the Dam That Broke: His Injury Shifted Game 3\u2019s Momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Through much of Game 3, the Indiana Pacers looked in control. The home crowd was buzzing, the lead was solid, and the energy suggested a commanding 3-0 series advantage was within reach. Then, Aaron Nesmith went down.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Aaron Nesmith looks like he has a lateral ankle sprain on this play right here<\/p>\n<p>This could be SIGNIFICANT in Game 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/io8IqgUzKh\">pic.twitter.com\/io8IqgUzKh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dr. Evan Jeffries, DPT (@GameInjuryDoc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GameInjuryDoc\/status\/1926817319352701184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Midway through the third quarter, Nesmith landed awkwardly on Jalen Brunson\u2019s foot and suffered a right ankle sprain. The Pacers, who had built a 20-point lead and were dictating the pace, saw their grip on the game loosen almost immediately. During the 11 minutes he spent off the floor, Indiana was outscored by 14 points \u2014 a swing that reignited the Knicks.<\/p>\n<p>Nesmith did return in the fourth, fighting through visible discomfort. But he wasn\u2019t the same. The defensive stopper who had limited Brunson in Games 1 and 2 wasn\u2019t able to match the intensity, and New York capitalized. Karl-Anthony Towns erupted for 20 points in the final quarter, while the Pacers\u2019 defense, usually anchored by Nesmith on the perimeter, faltered under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Rick Carlisle admitted postgame that they won\u2019t know more about Nesmith\u2019s availability until Monday. \u201cRegardless of who\u2019s out there, we\u2019ve got to finish games better,\u201d he said. But Nesmith\u2019s absence was felt. He\u2019s the defensive glue of Indiana\u2019s rotation, and without him at full strength, the Knicks found room to operate \u2014 and the momentum to steal the win.<\/p>\n<p>Now trailing just 2-1 in the series, the Knicks have life again. For the Pacers, the focus shifts to recovery. Game 4 is set for Tuesday in Indianapolis, and whether Nesmith can return at full capacity could shape the direction of the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After rolling his ankle in the third quarter, Nesmith returned but couldn\u2019t stop the Knicks\u2019 comeback, leaving Indiana vulnerable at both ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":443780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[179,187],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-443781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","typology-injury","typology-video"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/05\/Gr185DwXEAAaVLE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443781"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=443781"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=443781"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=443781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}