When the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals tip off, New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson will be tasked with overcoming Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard. It's a task most would think Brunson will be up to, as no one has been able to stop him up to this point in the postseason.
The difference between Nembhard and the players Brunson has encountered thus far, however, is that he's already locked an All-NBA scoring guard down during the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
Nembhard and the Pacers are coming off of a dominant 4-1 series win over the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a stunning result, as Indiana handily defeated a Cleveland team that won 64 games during the regular season.
Nembhard played a crucial role in the Pacers' success, operating as the team's most effective defender against Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell still managed to turn in an impressive series, averaging 34.2 points per game. A bulk of his success, however, was experienced when defended by anyone other than Nembhard—shooting 54.9 percent from the field in those scenarios.
Unfortunately for Mitchell, Nembhard had his number, forcing him to shoot just 10-of-43 from the field and 3-of-18 from beyond the arc.
Pacers' Andrew Nembhard held Donovan Mitchell to 10-of-43 shooting
Having experienced such resounding success against Mitchell, it stands to reason that Nembhard will be the Pacers' top choice to defend Jalen Brunson in the Eastern Conference Finals. Brunson and Mitchell are hardly carbon copies of one another, but they're both undersized scoring guards with shifty approaches to finding the bottom of the net.
The biggest challenge Brunson has faced this season has thus arrived, as few defenders are in finer form than Nembhard at this stage of the postseason.
Nembhard didn't spend much time on Brunson during the regular season, but when he drew the assignment, he delivered. Brunson shot just 3-of-8 against Indiana's lockdown guard, albeit while recording four assists to just one turnover.
Thankfully, Brunson has already proven that he can dominate Nembhard in a head-to-head postseason matchup.
When the Knicks and Pacers met in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Nembhard defended Brunson on 110 possessions. During that time, the All-NBA point guard torched his Indiana contemporary for 67 points in seven games.
If that doesn't jump off the page at you, try the fact that Brunson shot 26-of-39 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc when defended by Nembhard during the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Much has changed over the past year, with Nembhard making drastic improvements on the defensive end of the floor. As such, one can't help but question if the Pacers' breakout guard will be the one to finally slow the Knicks' superstar down.
Thankfully, in the midst of a postseason during which he's averaged 28.8 points on .440/.363/.819 shooting, it's fair to assume Brunson isn't taking any of his matchups lightly.