The Pacers’ starting small forward, , is still playing through a right ankle sprain suffered during Game 3 against the Knicks, and Game 5 proved more difficult than Game 4 in that regard, writes Dustin Dopirak of the Indy Star. However, he’s not letting himself off the hook for a 16-minute, three-point performance.

“It hurts, but it’s no excuse. Gotta be better. I was able to play Game 4. I could play today. There was no excuse,” he said.

While Dopirak points to a first-quarter collision with Knicks’ center in Game 5 as a potential reason for the extra pain, Nesmith rebuked that idea.

“It wasn’t a play today that made it worse,” he said.

While Nesmith has taken the bulk of responsibility guarding Knicks’ star throughout the series, head coach Rick Carlisle turned to other wing options after Nesmith struggled out of the gate.

“He got off to a bit of a slow start. I wasn’t sure if maybe he was slowed a little bit by the ankle. I put in there right away and then got a game going. That dug into Aaron’s minutes some. But everyone’s just gonna have to be ready for Game 6,” explained Carlisle.

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