Underrated part of Andrew Nembhard’s game deserves more love

By now, it must be a shock to no one to see Andrew Nembhard step up and be a playoff hero for the second consecutive 12 months. Nevertheless, Nembhard performs his finest basketball when the lights are at their brightest on each side of the ball, and it’s about time he will get his respect for what he does on the defensive aspect.

Pacers followers are properly conscious of Nembhard’s defensive contributions. He’s pesky and is arguably the Pacers’ finest perimeter defender. He was strong final 12 months, however he took it up one other stage this season, and if it weren’t for one of many NBA’s most controversial guidelines, Nembhard would have been in legit consideration for a defensive award.

Nembhard’s defensive worth was on show within the Pacers’ Sport 1 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and as they give the impression of being to drag off the upset, the crew will depend on him much more from right here on out.

Andrew Nembhard did a incredible job towards Donovan Mitchell in Sport 1

The Cavaliers ended the common season with 64 wins and entered the postseason because the No. 1 seed within the East. Most of their success is due to Donovan Mitchell, who earned his sixth consecutive All-Star choice this 12 months. To ensure that Cleveland to go on a deep playoff run and return to the NBA Finals for the primary time since 2018, they’ll rely closely on Mitchell. For essentially the most half, this can be a good technique as Mitchell is likely one of the finest capturing guards within the NBA. Nevertheless, this didn’t work out too properly for the Cavaliers in Sport 1, and that’s largely due to Nembhard.

Within the loss, Mitchell scored 33 factors, which is phenomenal on the floor. Nevertheless, he shot simply 13-for-30 from the sector and 1-for-11 from three-point land. Nembhard was Mitchell’s main defender, and it’s clear that he made issues troublesome for the Cavaliers star.

You will need to observe that the Cavaliers have been with out Darius Garland, who’s coping with a toe harm. As soon as he returns, it is going to take a little bit of strain off Mitchell and make issues simpler for the Cavaliers general. Nevertheless, even so, Nembhard is proving that he’s a drive on the defensive aspect of the ball and might include even a number of the NBA’s high scorers.

For the remainder of the collection, Nembhard shall be essential to Indiana’s success, not only for his offense, but additionally for the worth he brings defensively. The Pacers are removed from an ideal defensive crew, however they’ve improved drastically, and a whole lot of that may be attributed to Nembhard’s improvement. Nembhard has the potential to be a high defender within the NBA if he’s not one already, and he deserves his flowers.