On Aaron Nesmith & the village guarding Jalen Brunson (Patreon)

How the Pacers are reinforcing the length and tenacity of Nesmith by collapsing 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

It was a tiny footnote of a key, momentum swinging play. With the Pacers trailing 98-94 with 8:06 to play in Game 3, Aaron Nesmith proceeded to execute the game-plan, hounding Jalen Brunson the full-length of the floor. For the game, Brunson scored 32.0 points per 100 match-ups when defended by Nesmith -- a considerably lower mark than the 48.3 points per 100 match-ups that the small but mighty guard put up against Andrew Nembhard in the prior contest. Granted, Brunson was hobbled, appearing as though he had considerably less lift after injuring his foot in Game 2, but Nesmith also played the part of a pebble in the relentless All-Star's shoe, providing a constant source of friction along with more length to contest in the event of separation.

That said, while Nesmith certainly provided the bedrock of the adjustment, he wasn't the only cornerstone -- nor the footnote of what ultimately became a pick-six for Tyrese Haliburton. To understand why, pay attention to what happens when Nesmith starts to allow Brunson to turn middle with his dominant left hand. As Brunson breaks the arc, Nembhard pounces, jumping onto the ball from Josh Hart while motioning for Pascal Siakam to stay home on Donte DiVincenzo.

In that regard, there was a trickle down effect that came from swapping Nesmith onto Brunson. With Nembhard starting the game opposite of Hart, other players, including mainly Haliburton, ended up getting singed by the fire that was Donte DiVincenzo's inferno. Still, for this possession, Nembhard was taking his turn on the hot shooter before recognizing the wing exchange between Hart and DiVincenzo and operating on feel to teleport in front of Brunson. Then, once the drive was cut-off, forcing Brunson to pivot away from the basket, Haliburton activated his instincts as aerial ace and made the read to, quite literally, take first pass on the back-side of the action.

In essence, part of the reason why Nesmith could be so aggressive on-ball, just as Haliburton was off-ball, is because of the wall Nembhard put up between them. In addition to the length on contests, that's what was missing in Games 1 and 2 - a shadow presence with actual presence.

Here, for example, rather than jump-switching onto the ball or providing full-bodied help, Haliburton releases from the stunt like a swinging door as Brunson is getting downhill to his left.

Or, how about this dig from Siakam that isn't so much a dig as a meager swipe, neither affecting the balance of Brunson nor staying within arm's reach of Hart.

Put simply, Nembhard wasn't just short-limbed, he was also short-handed -- not getting the same amount of commitment from help rotations that he stepped over to provide for Nesmith resulting in the pick six from Haliburton. The only problem is, with DiVincenzo burning down every cornfield in Indiana, Nembhard needed to play fire hose opposite of the hot shooter to start Game 4, which meant he wasn't available to hop here, there, and everywhere from Hart.

So, instead, that role was transferred to Pascal Siakam, only with Precious Achiuwa serving as the launch point. For that reason, when Nesmith starts to get crunched chasing over the empty-side ball screen, Siakam is already lurking in the paint, towering behind the action.

That's a change from Game 3, when Haliburton was strangely sliding over from DiVincenzo as the low-man with Siakam not affecting the drive nor the cut.

By comparison, notice how he floods all the way over to the strong-side block and actually makes contact both in tagging Isaiah Hartenstein and boxing out Achiuwa.

In that way, it was evident that he was the intentionally designated roamer, as he could also be seen helping from the ball-side corner. Again, the credit for the contest goes to Nesmith, but Siakam is also impacting Brunson's pick-up point as the goalie.  

There can be a tax to that type of coverage. After all, even if Achiuwa isn't a knockdown shooter, he can be an explosive cutter, and the option is also there for him to flow into an uphill hand-off from the corner, carving open paths for rolling to the rim.

Even so, if Turner had bumped Achiuwa on that possession, the risk of exposure on those dives would be lessened. Plus, when Siakam jump switches onto the ball, as Nembhard did in Game 3, the on-ball defender can peel off to Achiuwa, which is what Haliburton can be seen doing here.

To be fair, that's a drive from Hart -- not Brunson, but that type of adventurous spirit also extended to the minutes when Obi Toppin was on the floor with Nesmith, as he could be seen sinking to the nail to prevent Brunson from busting through the stunt with his strong hand, like what was the case against Haliburton in Game 2.

It's worth questioning how feasible this coverage of collapsing off the four-man would be if/when O.G. Anunoby is available as a nearly 40-percent three-point shooter. When Achiuwa was off the floor, Siakam kept to the same tactic, turning up his nose at Hart in order to poke his nose into driving lanes and actions involving Brunson and DiVincenzo.

If Anunoby plays, Haliburton would have to take on that mantle from Siakam, with less size to project in the lane. Otherwise, they would have to resort to Haliburton guarding Anunoby, who is the least likely comfortable screener but might result in some bullying.

Meanwhile, it was also clearly unfortunate that Nesmith stepped under Brunson while shooting a three in the first quarter. To that point, it's impossible to know to what he is being limited by his own body versus the bodies that the Pacers are throwing at him. At the beginning of February, Brunson scored 50.0 points per 100 match-ups against Nesmith, who ended up fouling out and being replaced by Nembhard as the star guard's primary defender in the next meeting. Now, the roles have been reversed, with Nesmith laying down the foundation of the changes that have changed the series. From what was temporary or flimsy walls of meek stunts to the more emboldened presence of reinforcements, Nesmith isn't the only player guarding Brunson, there have also been designated roamers, erecting the village it takes to corral the relentless guard, as it turns out, by collapsing.