WATCH: Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard hits buzzer beater against Los Angeles Lakers
The Indiana Pacers pulled off a miraculous 17-point comeback against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. Despite being down 101-84 with under ten minutes to play, the Pacers emerged victorious and walked away with a 116-115 win.
Indiana outscored Los Angeles 32-22 in the fourth quarter to pull off the win. An unlikely hero stepped up for the Pacers at the buzzer to lift the team to victory — rookie guard Andrew Nembhard.
Nembhard, 22, was drafted 31st overall by Indiana in the 2022 NBA Draft. He has been a solid rotation piece for the blue and gold this season, but he had missed four straight games due to injury prior to Pacers-Lakers.
During the game, Nemhard had 12 points, four rebounds, and two blocks to help Indiana pull out the win. But nothing he did was more important than his final shot. With less than one second on the clock and the Pacers trailing 115-113, the rookie guard launched a three-point shot over four-time MVP LeBron James and buried it to give his team the victory. You can watch the shot below in a tweet from the Pacers.
Nembhard is averaging 6.7 points per game this season, and he was huge on both ends on Monday night. He defended James well throughout the night and made some resourceful plays on offense. But nothing he did was more impressive than his game winner, which is far and away the biggest play of his career.
The Pacers improved to 12-8 with the win while the Lakers fell to 7-12 with the loss.
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