That’s typical too: Nembhard’s career playoff averages of 13.9 points with an effective field goal percentage of .598 are significantly better than his career regular-season marks of 9.6 points with an eFG of .524. But it’s defence that the Pacers have come to depend on. “He loves the challenge. He has a great intellectual curiosity about defence and the challenge of trying to — I mean, you don’t stop players today. You try to make it hard,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “… They are both from Canada and they both have played a lot with and against each other over the years … but this is the ultimate challenge, a guy like him who is the MVP. He’s just so skilled, so quick, bigger than you think. Everybody talks about the lethal mid-range, but he makes threes easily, too. He lives at the free throw line. So there’s no breaks. There’s no breaks. But Drew is one of these guys that he has an equal focus on the defensive end as the offensive end, and that’s — it’s a bit rare with today’s players.” -via SportsNet / June 7, 2025
