UPDATE 5:40 p.m. ET: The Indiana Pacers expect to have Aaron Nesmith available for Tuesday night's Game 4 against the Knicks, per Shams Charania of ESPN. He was previously listed as questionable with a right ankle sprain suffered in Game 3.
Once again a team has a player who is ouch. That’s been a theme of these playoffs. We lost Dame, and we lost Tatum. Who knows what shape Cleveland was in for their last series. The postseason has just kind of been this way.
And Aaron Nesmith is on that list now too. Yippee for him. His official listing right now is “Questionable.”
Well, that’s one step below “Active,” so I think that’s good. We knew he turned his ankle in game three, and we knew that could be a problem. “Questionable” seems about right, I suppose. Best of luck to him.
Unfortunately …
Anecdotal stories point to potential severity of Nesmith’s injury
Yesterday, in Tim Bontemp’s recap of Game 3, the following was noted: “Nesmith walked through the locker room after the game with a noticeable limp.”
That’s not great. Complicating that, Bontemps notes in the article that due to receiving the injury, Nesmith “had to leave the game. Indiana led by 13 at the time, and by the time Nesmith returned in the fourth, the Knicks had gone on a 32-18 run over an 11-minute stretch to surge back into the lead.”
If you want to be simplistic about it, they need Nesmith out there. They don’t come back without his 3s in Game 1. Maybe they don’t give up such a big run if he’s on the court healthy.
We’ll see how it goes. According to the Indy Star, he woke up in pain on Monday. I mean, he sprained his ankle, so that makes sense. But, Nesmith being miraculously cured and okay probably would have been better news to Pacers fans.
Luckily, it’s not too late for that to happen. I’ve started a GoFundMe that I will link on my social media accounts. It’s for donations that I will Cash App directly to Nesmith’s ankle. I assume that’s a thing I can do. And if I can’t, I’ll do it anyway.