On Andrew Nembhard's game-winner & the brink

Both of the three-point line and the season 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

It's been somewhat of a conundrum. Since rejoining the starting lineup, when Tyrese Haliburton is orchestrating out of empty-side pick-and-roll, Andrew Nembhard will oftentimes stand nearly out of view, spacing high and a bit wide of the opposite slot.

In effect, with his feet planted closer to the logo than the three-point line, this is communicating that his purpose is to create as much room as possible for Haliburton and whoever the screener happens to be while also providing himself with a runway to slalom downhill into a second side action in case the ball gets reversed. That's what happens here when he uses the reject to set up the screen and throw a dart to the opposite corner.

Of course, in that case, he caught the ball with 13 seconds go on the shot-clock and still had plenty of time to float with the ball and manipulate the defense. In other instances, when he has to play the part of grenadier, the result of standing that far off the line ends up being taking what should be a 23-foot shot as a 27-foot shot -- even after hopping into the catch.

According to Second Spectrum, Nembhard has posted an effective field-goal percentage of 40.7 percent on the 114 threes that he has attempted from 25-feet out and beyond this season, which is 10.3 percent below his expected effective field-goal percentage on those shots (51.1 percent). Meanwhile, his effective field-goal percentage on threes from that range in which he has taken at least one dribble is 37.5 percent -- which, again, is more than 10 percent below his expected field-goal percentage on those shots (48.2 percent). Needless to say, given that he spent most of the season underperforming his shot quality on attempts from way downtown or when dribbling into them, there was reason to question whether the potential gain in spacing for everyone else was worth not having him hug up closer to the arc for himself as a release valve.

Well, turns out, standing that far out from the line all season was apparently meant to prepare him for the biggest shot of his career.

"I can't say that was a product of practicing deep threes," Nembhard told reporters of the 31-foot, tiebreaking three-pointer he made with 16 seconds remaining in the game and only two seconds left on the shot-clock. "It was just an in the moment type of thing, but I definitely try to space a little bit deeper on the line so (I) can kind of work a longer closeout."

To be fair, Haliburton needed him to space deeper on this possession -- not just because of the context of the defense, but also because of the context of what occurred earlier in the quarter, when the star guard rolled his ankle attacking in transition. For the game, Haliburton recorded 25 drives per 100 possessions, marking his highest tally since he was listed as questionable with back spasms ahead of Game 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks. After spending most of the series spinning his tires on the perimeter against mismatches, he finally found some tread, crossing over to his dominant hand and decisively splitting between the help to finish at the rim.

Once he came up hopping, though, after he had already taken a hard fall on his back, he didn't appear as though he was feeling quite as dangerous while attempting to, quite literally, limp to the finish. As such, when he got matched up with Hartenstein following an offensive rebound with the clock winding down in a tie game, he didn't try to evade the trap, powering downhill on his tweaked right ankle and toward the slower big man; he retreated up the floor, seeking out a passing angle to Nembhard with Deuce McBride sending the hit against the switch.

After lifting to meet the pass, Nembhard had to create for himself, attacking forward before ultimately backing up to bang in a shot and put the game to rest from what had been a spot of unrest at various points throughout the season.

And, here's the thing: Prior to that dagger, Nembhard had shot 1-of-7 from the field, missing two threes from closer range within the final two minutes of action. For the season, he was 0-of-7 on 30-foot long bombs, and he had only made a total of five unassisted threes.

Granted, the way in which he assisted himself wasn't completely clean. He bobbled the ball both on the catch and the gather, but the shot was pure -- raining down to put out the fire that was Donte DiVincenzo's inferno, with the Knicks shooting 61.8 percent from three through the game's first three quarters. Nembhard wasn't the only late-game hero for the Pacers; however, in stepping up by stepping back, he was arguably the unlikeliest, bringing the season back from the brink to prove why, for at least one monumental possession, there can be value in not standing on the brink of the three-point line. Mystery solved.