'Aaron's the best we got:' Pacers hold Lakers to 90 thanks to Nesmith's defensive effort

INDIANAPOLIS -- Myles Turner heard the statistical premise to a reporter's question to Aaron Nesmith and, apparently, couldn't believe it.

Nesmith, the Pacers' starting small forward and top wing defender, had played 39 minutes and spent most of it ably guarding LeBron James -- the NBA's all-time leading scorer and one of the most dominant physical forces to ever play the game -- and committed just one foul. He helped hold James to 16 points, and just five days after the Pacers surrendered 150 points to the Lakers in a defeat in Los Angeles, the Pacers beat them 106-90, allowing their lowest point total this season. They improved to 42-33 to clinch their first winning season since 2019-20 and held on to the critical sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

So before Nesmith could answer exactly how he managed to pull that off, Turner spoke up from his locker room stall across the room.

"He said 39 minutes and one foul?" the Pacers' veteran center asked loudly enough to momentarily stop the conversation. "I ain't never seen it."

About two months into last season, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle started giving Nesmith defensive matchups against the game's best players and the one thing he struggled to do was guard those top-level players without fouling. He averaged 4.7 per 36 minutes, which was second only to whistle-prone center Isaiah Jackson among Pacers who played at least 1,000 minutes for the season. This year he's at 4.4 per 36 minutes, which again puts him second only to Jackson among Pacers players who have played in at least 10 games. He had at least four fouls in each of his three previous games and had five against the Lakers when they played Sunday.

But after two previous games against James, Nesmith knew what he was in for, knew what situations he had to avoid. The Pacers as a whole got more benefit of the doubt from the officials Friday when they did Sunday -- when the Lakers won thanks in large part to a 43-16 free throw disparity -- but he was clearly wiser in his execution.

"I just stuck to the game plan," Nesmith said. "He challenges you, but I just did a good job tonight."

Nesmith's growth in that particular area was emblematic of the Pacers' defensive growth as a whole as they've maintained their NBA scoring lead but also proven they can win games with stops from time to time. Their progress hasn't always come on a consistent upward trajectory, but the fact that they are capable of holding any team to 90 points, much less one with two future Hall-of-Famers that just scored 150 on them five days prior, says a lot about how far they've come.

On the season, they've still allowed the second-most points per game (120.5), only better than the lottery-bound Wizards and their defensive rating of 117.8 points per 100 possessions is 25th in the 30-team league. In 19 games since the All-Star break, however, they're allowing 115.4 points per game which puts them 25th in the league, and their defensive rating of 113.4 puts them 15th.

The Pacers didn't hold a single opponent under 100 points until Feb. 4, but it's happened three times since then with the last two coming against Orlando and the Lakers, teams bound for some kind of postseason and with the size that has given Indiana trouble in the recent past.

The Pacers didn't hold a single opponent under 111 points until they kept the Bulls to 104 on Dec. 28. Since then, they've held 12 opponents to 111 or fewer and won all of those games. So even as their offense has taken a slight downturn, the math has still mostly worked out and they head into the final two weeks of the regular season holding a one-game lead on the seventh-place Heat and a 1 1/2 game lead on the eighth-place 76ers for sixth place and the final playoff position that doesn't require a win in the play-in round.

"It was pretty obvious early in the year that our mindset from a players' perspective was we were just going to outscore people," Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton said. "I think around Christmas when we were at around .500 there, we had to make a decision to defend and understand that the better that we are defensively, our offense kind of flows off that."

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle notes that there have been some small schematic shifts, but the biggest difference between the Pacers in November and December and the Pacers now is that they're playing with more of what they call "presence" -- which essentially boils down to physicality and attention to detail.

"Much greater edge," Carlisle said. "Much greater compete level. Determination. Level of guts. All that kind of stuff. Grit."

Grit is something the Pacers have been able to depend on from Nesmith since they got him in July of 2022 from Boston in the trade that sent Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics. Last season, his defensive presence proved to be so essential that he won the starting power forward job even though he's undersized for the position at 6-6, 215 pounds.

This season, Nesmith started the year coming off the bench as the backup power forward, but part of the lineup shift the Pacers made on Dec. 26 was to move Nesmith into the starting lineup at small forward with Jalen Smith at power forward. The Pacers since acquired Pascal Siakam to play at power forward, but Nesmith has maintained his starting spot since and has maintained his position as one of the Pacers' top two defenders along with guard Andrew Nembhard. They always get the two toughest defensive assignments, and since Nesmith as about an inch in height and 25 pounds on Nembhard, he usually defends the bigger of the two top perimeter players. Throughout this season, that's meant guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, and, of course, LeBron James on all three occasions the Pacers have played the Lakers.

"Aaron carries the flag when it comes to guarding guys like LeBron James,” Carlisle said. “That body type, we have nobody else."

In all three matchups with James this year, Nesmith has played with physicality and a willingness to wear the bumps and bruises that come with such a decision. He fought James constantly in the Pacers' loss in the In-Season Tournament Finals in December, taking a hit on a charge that put him on the injury report for the following game with a bruised hip. The Lakers won 123-109 and James had 24 points and 11 rebounds, but he was 10 of 21 from the field.

Nesmith caused trouble for James early in Sunday's game as well as James was just 4 of 12 in the first half, including 1 of 6 in the first quarter. However, Nesmith collided with Lakers wing Cam Reddish in the second quarter and was hobbled the rest of the way and he also picked up his fifth foul early in the third quarter so that allowed James to get going for 26 points and 10 assists.

On Friday, Nesmith was determined to use the lessons learned from the first two outings to make it more difficult on James while also making sure his contact was legal.

"Sometimes you've gotta be aggressive," Nesmith said. "Sometimes you've gotta let him come down. Just continuing to make him think the game as he comes off pick-and-rolls and when he's backing me down, giving him different looks as much as possible. ... You might reach to make him back up a little bit, make him fight over the pick and roll. Try to make as life as difficult as possible."

James shot 6 of 12 from the field, taking his fewest field goal attempts in a game since Jan. 11. He missed on all three of his 3-point attempts and he also went to the line just four times. Nesmith committed his only foul at the 5:27 mark of the third quarter when James got him to bite badly on a shot fake, taking the air so that James could draw easy contact.

"It speaks to his maturity," Carlisle said. "It speaks to how he's adjusted his game to fit the game the way it's being officiated now. He puts his body in there. He shows his hands, and he makes it tough and he keeps coming."

"He's just so strong at his size and able to hold his own against one of the best players ever," Siakam said. "LeBron is strong and Aaron has that strength too. He plays so hard and I think obviously, it's a team deal, but he's the one on him and making it hard on him every single possession. Kudos to him, man. That's a tough assignment to have as a player. And he took it. Every time LeBron was out there, he was out there and guarding him the whole way. So shout out to him. That's really impressive."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Aaron Nesmith helps Pacers hold LeBron James and Lakers to 90 points