The "Friendly Man" becomes the protagonist of the first Eastern Conference Finals. If the Rockets have this person, it may be very different.

The first game of the East and West Finals of the playoffs has come to an end. Compared to the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder used 3 quarters to win at home, the Pacers completed a magical reversal in the first game between Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. The team finally won the opponent by 3 points through overtime and got a good start.

After the game, most of the spotlight was cast on the head of the Pacers core Halliburton. In the team's last attack in the regular season, Halliburton pretended to break through, then retreated to the outside line to complete the attack, the basketball bounced the frame and jumped high, and finally fell into the net for luck. Then he made the iconic locking action of Pacers legend Reggie Miller. However, after the final replay of the video, the referee said that Halliburton stepped on the line when he shot, and the final goal was counted as 2 points, and the Pacers tied and entered overtime.

But what many people don't know is that the Pacers were forced into a desperate situation by the Knicks in the fourth quarter. When the two sides were difficult to solve in the first three quarters, the Knicks suddenly found the offensive feeling in the fourth quarter and made a 16-0 attack wave, with a maximum lead of 17 points. Just when people thought the Knicks would easily defend their home advantage, Pacers young player Aaron Nesmith stood up to save the game.

In the entire fourth quarter, except for Halliburton's last magic moment, only Nesmith was in shape. He scored 6 three-pointers in the entire fourth quarter, which ultimately allowed the team to keep hope of a comeback. At the same time, he is also the first player in NBA history to score 6 or more three-pointers in a single quarter in the fourth quarter of the playoffs. At the end of the game, Nesmith scored 30 points with just 13 shots and made 8 of 9 shots from outside the three-point line.

In fact, in the regular season, Smith has begun to show his sharpshooter qualities this season, averaging 12 points, 4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, shooting percentage of 50.7%, and ranked tenth in the league in three-pointers, reaching 43.1%. After the team entered the playoffs, Nesmith's form went further. In the 11 games he played for the team, he averaged 16 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, with both shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage of 54%. He averaged 3.2 three-point shooting and a total of 35 three-pointers, ranking among the top ten players in the playoffs.

It has to be said that this game has greatly improved Nesmith's net worth. This season is the first year of his three-year $33 million contract with the Pacers. If this performance can be continued, perhaps $33 million is just his annual salary. After all, many media have already believed that Nesmith can become another Ju Holiday-like player in the league.

In fact, Nesmith's career in the first two years has not been smooth. After being selected by the Celtics in the 14th pick in the first round in 2020, Nesmith, who is 1.96 meters tall, averaged only 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. After two years of playing for the team, the Celtics decided to send it to the Pacers as part of the trade for Brogdon.

However, the Celtics never expected that Nesmith could have such energy in the Pacers system. In the first year of the Pacers, he could hand in a comprehensive data averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks, which was a huge improvement in the Celtics era. It also makes people finally see the all-around warrior who once averaged 23 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals at Vanderbilt University.

Just after the Pacers and Knicks game ended, a local Houston reporter sighed that Nesmith is the best template for the Rockets to sign ups during the offseason. On the offensive end, he never occupies the ball, borrows pick-and-rolls and a lot of runs to find open shots, and rarely takes the initiative to attack with the ball. This style of play reminds people of Hamilton, the former All-Star player in the league. On the defensive end, Nesmith can use his strong body to complete the task of wireless defense swaps. In the game against the Cavaliers, from Garland, Mitchell to Mobley, Nesmith can give him good defensive strength.

In the regular season of this season, the Cavaliers Jerome used accurate outside shooting to help the team stay first, and the Celtics Holiday also used his own defense to help the team stabilize the second place in the Eastern Conference. Now Nesmith is more like combining these two characteristics. In the Pacers, in addition to Siakam and Halliburton, Nesmith is also a great help for the team to stand on the Eastern Conference Final stage.

Looking back at the Rockets, if the team can have a player who has the same excellent shooting and defense, then the team is likely to have not been eliminated yet. As long as two teams are present at the same time, the team will have to accept problems in the shooting or defensive end. Although Nesmith's performance is likely not to be maintained for a long time, at least such a player may be the reason why the Pacers go further than the Rockets!