Indiana Pacers 'Needed' Career-High Perfomance to Beat Chicago Bulls

"I thought he was just really solid the entire game," praised Rick Carlisle. "He got off to a good start, I think he saw the ball go to the basket early, and then he's just reading the game better than he ever has. His running is really good, he's able to get some easy transition buckets mixed in. He's not just a one-dimensional three-point shooter, and defensively, he's one of our best guys, so really happy for him. He's getting a big chunk of minutes right now with Mathurin out, and we needed it tonight."

Bennedict Mathurin has missed the last two games, and Indiana has relied on Nesmith in his absence.

Nesmith has had his fair share of injury struggles this season as well, sitting out from Nov. 4 to Jan. 16, missing 34 games. He will readily admit that getting back into the mix has been challenging, but Sunday's performance should boost his confidence. 

"It feels good to continue to get my rhythm back, get my shot back, get my feet under me," said Nesmith. "So it's coming back game by game, and it feels good."

On Tuesday, the Pacers will host the Houston Rockets in what should be a much more challenging game, and they will need solid efforts from all their players to beat Houston, who has been one of the better teams in the Western Conference all season.