Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith. Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Pacers hero Aaron Nesmith makes incredible playoff history

By Sai Mohan | Last updated May 22, 2025 8:25 AM ET

Tyrese Haliburton may have flashed the "choke" sign after the Pacers stunned the Knicks in Game 1 , but Aaron Nesmith was the catalyst of his team's historic comeback.

Nesmith shot 6-of-7 from deep in the final 8:53 of regulation, becoming the first player in NBA history to drain six threes in the fourth quarter of a playoff game (play-by-play era).

Only six other players had made at least six threes in the quarter of a playoff game — Antoine Walker (April 28, 2002), Damian Lillard (May 24, 2021), Devin Booker (June 3, 2021), Michael Porter Jr. (June 3, 2021), Bojan Bogdanovic (June 16, 2021) and Stephen Curry (June 2, 2022). However, all those players caught fire in the first half, unlike Nesmith, who started slowly before producing a fourth quarter for the ages. His eight threes for the game also set a Pacers franchise record.

Aaron Nesmith is the first player in NBA history to make six three-point field goals in the 4th quarter of a playoff game.

Only six other players have made six threes in a quarter of a playoff game:

▪️ Antoine Walker, BOS at PHI, April 28, 2002 (2nd Q)
▪️ Damian Lillard, POR… pic.twitter.com/y70n6iXR4X
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 22, 2025

Furthermore, Nesmith scored all 20 of his fourth-quarter points in the final five minutes, becoming the first to do so in playoff history.

Aaron Nesmith is the FIRST player in the playbyplay era to score 20 points in a 5-minute span in the 2nd half of a playoff game.

And he did it in the final 5 minutes of the 4th to ignite maybe the most improbable comeback win in playoff history. pic.twitter.com/M8q8HhUD4Z
— Automatic (@automaticnba) May 22, 2025

Nesmith's showing drew comparisons to Pacers legend Reggie Miller, who scored eight points in 8.9 seconds against the Knicks in the 1995 playoffs. The 25-year-old still can't believe he produced a game that will likely be discussed for decades, much like Miller's performance 30 years ago.

"It's unreal," he said. "It's probably the best feeling in the world for me. Whenever that basket feels like an ocean, and anything you toss, you feel like it's going to go in. It's just so much fun [laughs]."

While it was "fun" for Nesmith and the Pacers, the Knicks fanbase will find it hard to recover from what transpired on Wednesday.

"It's unreal. It's probably the best feeling in the world for me."

Aaron Nesmith was in a flow state in Game 1 as he dropped 30 PTS and 8 3PTs pic.twitter.com/jV3ze97RnR
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 22, 2025

Nesmith has made 3.2 threes per game (on 5.9 attempts) through 11 playoff games. The sniper's 53.8 percent rate is the best in the league.

Aaron Nesmith this playoffs:

35 3PM (3rd in NBA)
53.8 3P% (1st in NBA)

pic.twitter.com/xMUjHmx1ui
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 22, 2025

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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