He was abandoned by Boston and became an Indiana savior

Even if the minimum admission ticket price for the first match of the Eastern Conference Finals is already 5,000 yuan per ticket, Madison Square Garden on May 22, 2025 is still full, and Knicks celebrities of all ages are also gathered in this stadium. They look forward to witnessing the team they support win another victory on the Eastern Conference Finals stage after 25 years.

With 5 minutes left in the game, Bridges scored under the basket, pulling the Knicks' lead to 15 points. At this moment, they can already smell the breath of New York celebrating victory.

But in just 10 seconds, things suddenly evolved in another direction: in the next round after Bridges scored, Aaron Nesmith responded with a three-pointer, continuing his breath for the anxious Pacers.

And in the next 4 and a half minutes, he shot 5 three-pointers in a row:

3 minutes and 16 seconds left in the end, Nesmith used the cover to block a little space and raised his hand and made a three-pointer. This was Nesmith's second three-pointer in the final quarter, and the Pacers were 14 points behind.

The third three-pointer, he sneaked away from Towns's back and completed a C&S at a 45-degree angle on the right. At this time, the Pacers narrowed the gap to 8 points, with 2 minutes left before the end of the game. The game ended less than one minute. Siakam wanted to get the ball and play singles, but he found that he could not break through Anunobi's defense, so he chose to follow up Nesmith.

Then, Nesmith's fourth three-pointer in the quarter.

After 20 seconds, Siakam continued to assist Nesmith in the same way, who hit the fifth three-pointer in the quarter, with a score difference of 5 points.

And the 5-point gap was instantly flattened in front of Nesmith, who felt hot. The game ended 25 seconds left, Nesmith found the shooting range. He used Toppin's cover to circumvent and received Halliburton's powerful pass. Although he had to adjust his pace frequency and even his shooting posture was distorted, his muscle memory still allowed him to shoot the ball into the basket.

This is his sixth three-pointer in the fourth quarter.

And in the last 12 seconds, it was clear that the defense would rob in advance. Nesmith changed the attack mode and chose to hit the basket to create a key two free throws, dragging the Knicks, who originally had a double-digit advantage to the last moment to determine the outcome with one goal.

If Nesmith had not scored 20 points in the last quarter, there would not have been the magical goal that Halliburton scored.

If Halliburton's level is said to be the climax of a magical reversal and celebrating the Knicks fans. Then Nesmith's 6 three-pointers were a fascinating prelude, bringing the audience into a miracle show.

"Never admit defeat", this is his tag

On this day, the Pacers became the first team in playoff history to fall 14 points behind in the last 2 minutes and 50 seconds, but completed the reversal, achieving the achievements of the predecessor's 970 failed challenges.

Although I don't want to comment on this reversal by dividing credit by head, if I have to divide the number one, two and three heroes, then Nesmith is definitely the most important person here - in addition to the output of 20 points in the last quarter and 6 key three-pointers, he continued to physically fight Brunson on the defensive end, entangling the performance of the Key Master of the Year's three mistakes, allowing the Pacers to laugh to the end in the Big Apple City.

"Never admit defeat" is the bright label on Nesmith.

When playing at Vanderbilt, his teammates couldn't understand why Nesmith always treated training as a game. Every time he makes a buzzer-beating ball in training, he celebrates as excitedly as if he makes a final shot in the game.

Perhaps all daily practices are to be able to grasp the opportunity when it comes. In the first round of last year's G3 against the Bucks, Nesmith had a highlight to save the team at a critical moment: in the last 7 seconds, he made two consecutive free throws into overtime, and then hit a key bottom corner three-pointer in overtime.

And this year, the series G2 of the Eastern Conference No. 1 Cavaliers was 7 points behind in the last 48 seconds. When everyone thought the game was like this, even the most stable Siakam missed two free throws at the free throw line, Nesmith was not discouraged at all.

He made the second free throw that Siakam did not make, and used a dunk - without Nesmith's morale--it would be hard to say whether the Pacers' magical turnaround would be achieved...

"Paperclip pitcher"

"In order to win, he went all out every night and was even willing to sacrifice his life for it." Halliburton and Miles Turner used such "extreme" words to describe Nesmith, and their boss Halliburton also added, "I think every NBA team would want a player like him."

However, not everyone can see the true value of Nesmith. In the 2020 draft, 13 teams skipped Nesmith. And two years later, the Boston Celtics who chose Nesmith personally and sent him to Indiana as a bargaining chip in exchange for Brogdon.

At the moment of the transaction, the media "Open-Air Stand" joked that the Pacers exchanged Brogdon for a bunch of "scrap", and Nesmith was one of the "scrap".

In the eyes of those who made this picture, Nesmith's value in the NBA is just a paper clip, or a bundle of ropes, so someone on the Internet called him a "paper clip pitcher". And that frustrated Nesmith, but also gave him motivation. "As soon as the transaction happened, I saw that tweet and saved it on my phone, which I kept in mind."

A year later, Nesmith put the image on social media again. He became the starter of Indiana, with averaging from 3.8 points to 10.1 points.

The power of compound interest: Don't underestimate the 1% progress

In fact, in the three seasons that Nesmith came to Indiana, he played in double-digit scores every year. His three-point shooting percentage has been stable at more than 40% in the past two seasons.

Moreover, this year's playoffs, he averaged 14.6 points, 3-point shooting percentage of 48.2%, plus or negative value + 5.2, and all the numbers are career highs. The sarcasm from the field became Nesmith's motivation to sweat heavily in the training ground and in the gym. The spare tire that could only play substitutes for Tatum and Jaylen Brown was now the main force of the Eastern Conference Finals team.

And his favorite saying is: "I am today, I have improved by 1% compared to yesterday."

Don't underestimate 1%. If you can improve by 1% every day, then the magic of compound interest over and over again for a long time will give you rich rewards.

Nestmith, who is proficient in mathematics, understands this principle. In fact, if Nesmith didn't play basketball, he might be an engineer, an actuary, or an attorney.

The low level of education for sports students is a stereotype for most people, but Nesmith is an outlier. Initially, not many teams belonging to the top five NCAA leagues were interested in Nesmith. Instead, some Ivy League schools extended olive branches to him because of cultural courses.

NeSmith's high school coach John Pearson once said, "NeSmith's focus and dedication in learning is no less than his efforts in basketball."

Nestmith has been inseparable from Jack Langford since junior high school. They both fought bulls in the basketball court in their backyard at home, and often made an appointment to study in the school library. Langford received more than 20 scholarships after graduating from high school, and finally chose Yale.

Neismith, who has better basketball talent, uses Vanderbilt University as his ladder to reach the NBA. And by the way, this is a school belonging to the NCAA Top Five Leagues. That year, they also recruited Dalius Garland, the top five expected drafts...

Pacers No. 23 jersey, the inheritance of tough guys Although Nesmith said, "basketball is not the only one in life", basketball is always his love. He is very clear about his role in society and uses how to allocate the proportion in life to fulfill his role:

When he was still a student, he regarded learning as equally important as basketball;

And when his identity changed from a "student" to a "professional player", the game became his life.

Nesmith said emotionally: "I train so hard to do what I can do every day. I really want to contribute my life to the game, I want to win the championship." In the fourth game against the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, in order to stop the opponent's fast break, Nesmith rushed back to his own half-court basket, threw himself into the air regardless of everything, slapped Portis' layup, and he fell to the ground with a heavy balance in the air.

Nesmith lay on the ground for a while before getting up, but he said, "It does hurt a little bit, but don't worry, it's just a small problem."

In Rick Carlisle's eyes, the tough Nesmith reminded him of another tough guy, Ron Artest.

Coincidentally, they are both Pacers No. 23.

21 years ago, Artest won the defensive player of the year in Indiana, while the Pacers' head coach was Carlisle, whose hair was not pale and looks like Jin Carrey. That year, they entered the Eastern Conference Final together.

, just like today 21 years later, they won the first battle of the Eastern Conference Final with great difficulty. However, the result of that round of the series 21 years ago was that the Pacers were eliminated 2-4. The Pacers 21 years ago have both external troubles and internal troubles. O'Neal Jr. and Artest were dissatisfied with each other. The 38-year-old Reggie Miller and the young core also had a generation gap... They may be able to give everything for their honor, but they cannot help their teammates move forward.

But Aaron Nesmith, he can give everything to his teammates and give it all for the team. As Turner described, “He could even sacrifice his life for the team.”

Maybe, will this walker in 21 years create different results?