Nembhard hits The Shot, and the Pacers are back in this playoff series

Nembhard? Of all people. But the post-season is full of drama and surprises. On a night when Haliburton, Turner and Siakam shone brightest, Nembhard stole the night.

There were several different ways I could have foreseen the Pacers winning Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

First, pre-game, I was telling anybody who would listen that the Pacers would make relatively short and easy work of the undermanned Knicks, who came into the game leading the series two games to none. I mean, the Pacers were home, where they haven’t lost since March 18, they were desperate, and the Knicks are down to Harthorne Nathaniel Wingo on their depth chart. (Look him up, kids.) They’d already lost Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic prior to the series, lost backup big man Mitchell Robinson after Game 1, lost OG Anunoby after Game 2 and were playing with an injured and diminished Jalen Brunson. Surely, the Pacers would roll.

They did not.

If the game happened to be close down the stretch, I could have seen Tyrese Haliburton hitting a side-step three at the buzzer, or Myles Turner launching one of those high-arcing threes from deep, or maybe Pascal Siakam slithering his way into the paint and hitting one of those fadeaways for which he has become famous.

I did not have Andrew Nembhard hitting a step-back 31-foot set shot with 16.4 seconds to put the Pacers ahead, 109-106, on my basketball bingo card. You could have given me the choice of any of the five Pacers on the floor to hit the heroic game winner, one of the biggest playoff shots in Pacers history, and Nembhard would have been my last choice. He’d gone 1-of-7 earlier in the game and had missed two open shots on an earlier possession.

But there he was, standing deep on the wing, the ball in his hands, the shot clock winding down. It was a lousy place to be, but Nembhard didn’t have time to think about his options. He fumbled the ball a bit, dribbled, stepped back and launched the kind of shot that will earn him a place in Pacers’ playoff lore.

As Mike Breen surely said, “BANG!”

Or as the T-shirt in the fan gold out read, “BOOM BABY!”

After two late Aaron Nesmith free throws, it was final: Pacers 111, Knicks 106.

Now you can exhale. But just for a moment. Game 3 is Sunday at 3:30. This series is heading back to New York tied. Just saying.