On the day SGA was named MVP, another Canadian stole the spotlight on Broadway.
After Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton completed a stunning fourth-quarter comeback with a game-tying buzzer-beater in Game 1 against the New York Knicks, it was Aurora, Ont.’s Andrew Nembhard‘s time to shine in overtime.
With the Pacers trailing 135-134 late in the extra frame, the 25-year-old Canadian put the visitors back on top with 26 seconds remaining thanks to a nice cut and finish at the hoop.
His layup would end up as the game-winning bucket thanks to a play he’d make on the ensuing defensive possession. Matched up with Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson, Nembhard got his hand on a pass that deflected out of bounds.
After the officials initially ruled the ball out of bounds off Nembhard, a video review revealed that the ball actually last touched Brunson’s fingers and gave the ball back to the Pacers.
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If those two plays weren’t enough, Nembhard then had an assist on an Obi Toppin dunk that put Indiana up 138-135.
It all helped the Pacers complete a stunning comeback that saw them erase a 14-point deficit in the final 2:50 of the fourth quarter. Per Keerthika Uthayakumar, NBA teams were 0-970 when down by 14 or more points in the final 2:50 of regulation in the playoffs over the last 27 seasons until the Pacers pulled off the miracle.
The Pacers scored 23 points in the final 3:14. No team, at least in the play-by-play era that goes back to 1997, had scored that many in the final 3:14 of regulation of a playoff game.
And like his Team Canada teammate and NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nembard and his team are now just three wins away from an NBA Finals appearance.
— With files from the Associated Press
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