by Dustin Dopirak
LAS VEGAS – Andrew Nembhard will miss Saturday’s In-Season Tournament championship against the Lakers, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Friday, but the Pacers believe the injury won’t be as devastating as they initially feared.
“We don’t know anything yet,” Carlisle said at the off-day press conference. “We’re waiting for results of some tests. He will not play (Saturday). But we’re hopeful that he may have dodged a bullet and this may not be as long a term thing as it could have been. But we’ll know more later this afternoon.”
Nembhard was limited to standing under the bucket and rebounding shots for teammates at Friday’s practice, but he was standing upright, which was a good sign after Nembhard appeared to hyperextend his right knee in Thursday night’s win over the Bucks. Carlisle said the hope is that it was simply a mild hyper extension and that the ligaments in the knee remained intact.
Nembhard’s absence Saturday will still be significant. When the Pacers beat the Lakers in December of last year, Nembhard hit the game-winning shot and also defended LeBron James for an extended period of time, helping to hold him to 21 points on 8 of 22 shooting.
After starting at shooting guard last season, Nembhard has been operating as the backup point guard this season behind Tyrese Haliburton. He scored eight points on 4 of 5 shooting in the Pacers’ win over Milwaukee on Thursday night and he’s averaging 7.0 points and 4.1 assists this season, but the more significant loss will be his on-ball defense. The 6-5 Nembhard has taken on some of the toughest perimeter assignments for the Pacers each of the past two years.
Nembhard being out means more minutes for veteran T.J. McConnell, though the two have frequently operated together in the second-team backcourt. McConnell posted nine points, four assists and three steals in Thursday’s game and is averaging 7.4 points on 56.1% shooting and 4.2 assists in just 14.3 minutes per game this season.
“He’s a big part of our culture, our personality and how we have to play,” Carlisle said. “There’s a reckless competitiveness about him that is something that we need to have for this game tomorrow. He’s obviously an important part of that — an even bigger part of that now that Andrew will not be available tomorrow. He’s been doing this for nine years, coming in and creating chaos. In a chaotic situation, he thrives. We want speed. We want pace in the game. We need the things that he brings.”
Originally posted on indystar.com