Just when you think you’ve seen it all, a game like Game 3 between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers happens, and it just completely flips the script. We’re talking a desperate Knicks team, staring down a 0-2 hole, somehow pulling off another one of their insane 20-point comebacks to steal a 106-100 win in Indiana. But right in the middle of that Knicks surge, there was this heart-stopping moment when Pacers’ key wing, Aaron Nesmith, went down with a nasty-looking ankle injury. The whole arena held its breath. And after the game, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle shed some light on what happened.
According to Tony East, who covers the Pacers, Carlisle said Nesmith’s “ankle got re-taped. Did his best to keep moving while he was in the back.” Okay, so picture this: third quarter, Pacers are looking to put the Knicks away, and Nesmith, who’s been a beast for them all playoffs (remember that Game 1 explosion?), drives baseline. He goes up to pass, lands awkwardly on Jalen Brunson’s foot, and just crumples to the floor. It looked bad. He was clearly in a ton of pain, grabbing his right ankle, and had to be helped to the locker room.
For Pacers fans, that had to be a gut punch. But then, in the fourth quarter, to the surprise of many, Nesmith actually checked back into the game. After the dust settled on the Knicks’ wild comeback, Rick Carlisle explained what went down. And here’s the key part of Coach C’s thinking: “Rather than wait, decided the best thing to do was get him back in there so he didn’t stiffen up.“
He also mentioned he “liked his movement” and that they’d know more about the severity tomorrow. Carlisle even acknowledged, “You lose a guy like that, it affects your ability to close the quarter. But we are not going to make excuses.”
(This is a developing story…)
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