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Key Pacers' Defender Responsible for Setting Tone in Playoffs

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jonah Kubicek | Last updated Mar 4, 2025 4:30 PM ET

For much of the NBA season last year, the Indiana Pacers were little more than an afterthought. Yes, they had the fastest and most exciting offense in the league, but they finished the year as the sixth seed and were expected to lose in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Instead, the Pacers buckled down and, admittedly, took advantage of some injuries to their opponents to run all the way to the Conference Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics.

This season, the Pacers are in a battle for fourth place with the Bucks, but no one is ready to count them out.

All season long, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Celtics, and New York Knicks have led the East, but the general consensus is that Cleveland and New York are regular-season teams not built for playoff success. That opens up the field a little bit for the Pacers, but they are not without weakness.

Indiana boasts the eighth-best offense but once again struggles on the defensive side of the ball, owning the 17th defensive rating in the league. Thankfully, both Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith are healthy, and both will have their number called in the playoffs.

Last season, Nembhard in particular embraced a larger role, going from 25 minutes a game in the regular season to 32.6 minutes per game in the postseason, increasing his production on both sides of the ball.

He will be the key to unlocking the Pacers' quiet defense in a postseason series.

"Can coach Rick Carlisle push the right buttons in terms of when and how the Pacers utilize their zone defense?" asked ESPN's Chris Herring. "Can Andrew Nembhard throw off opposing ball handlers by pressing full-court, like the Pacers did when they sprung the strategy on the first-place Cavs in January for a come-from-behind win? Given their less-than-stellar rebounding and fouling metrics, the Pacers likely need to find something they can occasionally hang their hat on defensively if they want to make another deep postseason run."

Indiana has wins over the Cavs, Celtics, and Knicks already this season and has proven that it can hang with the big boys, but a seven-game series is vastly different from a regular-season game midway through the year.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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