The first three went in with 52.1 seconds left. The second went in with 20.6. Aaron Nesmith cut a four-point Dallas lead to one both times, which is an exhausting way for the team with the lead to spend the last minute of a basketball game.
Dallas held on to beat Indiana 125-122 Monday at American Airlines Center, but Nesmith was the reason the Mavericks had to keep answering after they appeared ready to put the Pacers away. His late work did not produce an Indiana win. It did make every Dallas basket carry extra weight, which is a different kind of pressure from simply chasing a deficit.
The sequence began with a little more than a minute left. Naji Marshall’s floater put Dallas ahead 118-113 at 1:24. Nesmith then made all three free throws at 1:14, trimming the margin to 118-116. Dallas had a response ready: Cooper Flagg hit an 18-foot pull-up jumper at 1:02 for 120-116.
Nesmith answered again at 52.1, making a 23-foot three-pointer assisted by Andrew Nembhard. Flagg supplied another difficult reply at 26.3, repeating the 18-foot pull-up from the left side of the exchange and moving Dallas ahead 123-119. Nesmith’s second three, assisted by Pascal Siakam, made it 123-122 with 20.6 seconds remaining.
That comparison says plenty about the ending. Flagg’s two jumpers created separation one shot at a time. Nesmith kept erasing it one shot at a time. Neither player needed a complicated explanation for his production: both found a repeatable scoring answer when the margin was shrinking. The difference was that Dallas got the last clean response.
Kyrie Irving made both free throws at 18.0 seconds, restoring a three-point lead. Nesmith then missed a 24-foot pull-up three at 6.5, and Washington secured the rebound. Indiana still had one final possession, but the Pacers did not convert it before the clock expired.
The missed shot should remain in the story. Nesmith was not flawless down the stretch, and his 23-foot attempt at 9:23 came after Irving’s three at 9:36 had given Dallas a 98-97 lead. A make there would have put Indiana ahead 100-98; it was a go-ahead try, not a tying attempt.
Nesmith missed, then kept taking the shots the situation required and made the ones that kept Indiana alive.
Irving’s contribution looked different but was just as important. His three at 9:36 answered a 95-95 tie and put Dallas ahead 98-97. He also made all three free throws at 8:30, part of a 35-point night that included a season-best seven threes on 10 attempts.
The two free throws at 18.0 were less glamorous than his perimeter shooting, but they were the points that finally held off Nesmith’s last challenge.
