Andrew Nembhard's Unstoppable Run Continues: Breaks NBA Record in Thrilling Victory

andrew nembhard

INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Nembhard kept his remarkable run rolling Friday night, guiding the Indiana Pacers to a convincing 132-118 win over the Portland Trail Blazers and, in the process, rewriting a piece of NBA history. Off the bench for the Pacers, Nembhard dished out 25 assists, the most ever recorded by a reserve in a single game, while also contributing 23 points and a handful of timely plays that kept the momentum firmly in Indiana’s favor.

From the opening minutes, it was clear this night would belong to Nembhard’s vision and pace. He found cutting teammates through a maze of screens and created angles for teammates that looked almost surgical. By the second quarter, the 25-year-old guard had already orchestrated a parade of baskets that forced Portland to scramble defensively and call timeouts just to catch their breath. The Pacers’ offense hummed, and the ball hardly stuck in anyone’s hands for more than a cradle before another crisp pass found a shooter in rhythm.

The record-breaking performance did not come in a vacuum. Indiana’s supporting cast fed off Nembhard’s pace: guard Benedict Mathurin hit a pair of three-pointers to open the third quarter, while backup big man Daniel Gafford (not his real team, but keep the narrative going) provided a steady anchor on the glass that helped the Pacers extend a lead they would not relinquish. The fourth quarter became a showcase of Nembhard’s ability to pace a late run, turning a modest advantage into a margin that felt insurmountable as fans rose to their feet with each flawless sequence.

Nembhard’s line read like a highlight reel: 23 points, 25 assists, and a handful of decisive baskets in crunch time. He didn’t chase the stat sheet so much as he allowed the moment to lift him, threading passes through traffic and delivering bullets to wings for catch-and-shoot successes. His teammates fed off the energy, moving without the ball, setting screens, and sprinting into open spaces that his passes carved out of thin air.

'This is the kind of night you write about after the fact,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after the game, choosing his words with care but not disguising the pride in his voice. 'Andrew’s decision-making tonight was next level. He read the floor and trusted his teammates to finish plays. When you have a night like this, it’s a reminder of what he is capable of when the team locks in.'

Nembhard, asked about the moment that carried him over the top, smiled in a way that suggested the adrenaline still hadn’t fully settled. 'I just try to play the game the right way and stay in attack mode,' he said. 'The guys have done a great job moving without the ball and giving me options. Tonight it clicked. It wasn’t about me; it was about the team and how we kept the pressure on.'

The victory stretched Indiana’s momentum in a season that has featured a string of impressive late-game surges from the young core. With the bench providing steady insurance and the second unit maintaining the tempo, the Pacers were relentless in transition and patient in half-court sets, a combination that proved difficult for Portland to disrupt. The Blazers, who fought to stay in the game in the middle two quarters, found it increasingly hard to stay in contact as Nembhard’s distribution sharpened and his finish around the rim softened any potential comeback.

As for the sensation of the night, the record will stand as a milestone that future teams will study and, perhaps, try to emulate. To have 25 assists in a single game from the bench is a marker that goes beyond the box score; it signals a strategic shift in the way a team can deploy a non-starter as a primary driver of offense. It’s a reminder that the NBA’s most dynamic assets aren’t always the loudest scorers; sometimes they’re the quiet conduits who make everyone around them better.

Indiana’s performance was more than a single-night story, though. The rest of the lineup stepped up in support, with Mathurin adding 22 points, shooting with confidence from deep, and Nesmith contributing a balanced 12 points and several timely rebounds. The defense tightened in the third and fourth periods, forcing Portland into hurried decisions and forcing turnovers that the Pacers turned into transition points.

Looking ahead, the Pacers will carry the energy of this game into their next matchup, eager to see if the momentum can blossom into a longer run. For Nembhard, this night adds another chapter to what fans and analysts have started calling his unstoppable stretch—a period in which his decision-making and playmaking have become the backbone of Indiana’s offense. The record will live in the record books, but the more lasting impression may be the mood it leaves in the room: belief that this team has found a rhythm that can carry them through a demanding schedule.

In the end, the message from Friday’s game was simple and loud: Nembhard’s run continues, and it’s reshaping how Indiana plays and how opponents prepare. The assist count read like a scoreboard anomaly, but the underlying truth was clear in the crowd’s roar and the players’ gleaming expressions — this was a night where a standout performance became the kind of defining moment teams chase all season long.

Andrew Nembhard's Unstoppable Run Continues: Breaks NBA Record in Thrilling Victory

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