Pacers ride Mathurin, bench to Game 3 victory

INDIANAPOLIS -- With a huge boost from their bench and a better game from their stars, the Indiana Pacers reclaimed the lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, with a 116-107 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3.

Bennedict Mathurin scored a team-high 27 points off the bench, the most points for a reserve in an NBA Finals game since Jason Terry in 2011, and T.J. McConnell had five steals, leading the way as the Pacers' bench outscored the Thunder's 49-18.

Tyrese Haliburton added 22 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds while Pascal Siakam scored 21 points as the Pacers took a 2-1 series advantage over the heavily favored Thunder.

"This is the kind of team that we are," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We need everybody to be ready. It's not always going to be exactly the same guys that are stepping up with scoring and stuff like that, but this is how we got to do it. We got to do it as a team."

The Pacers now find themselves in control of the series. Teams that win Game 3 of a 1-1 NBA Finals have gone on to win 80.5% of the time, and Indiana remains unbeaten after a loss in the 2025 postseason, improving to 5-0. The Pacers still have not dropped back-to-back games since March 8-10.

Game 4 is in Indianapolis on Friday night.

Mathurin was the catalyst Wednesday. He became the sixth player since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77 to score 25 or more points in the Finals at age 22 or younger, joining Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.

"He did a great job of coming off handoffs, reading the pocket, rising up from the mid-range," Haliburton said. "This is a defense that will give that up."

And the Pacers got a huge spark from McConnell, who scored 10 points with five assists to go along with the five steals, numbers no player has ever put up in an NBA Finals game.

"That's the great thing about the Finals, great thing about basketball," Haliburton said. "When you have a team with this much depth, it be can anybody's night."

Mathurin had not played a huge role in the first two games of the series -- playing 16 minutes in Game 1 and 22 in Game 2 with a stint in garbage time -- so he put in some extra work over the weekend to help prepare for this game.

"Just staying ready," Mathurin said Wednesday night. "Whenever my number is called, go into the game and do the right things and try to help my team win. That's the whole mindset."

It's a mindset the Pacers have seen from Mathurin ever since he was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2022 draft, but especially as Mathurin was sidelined in March of 2024 with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

The injury prevented him from playing during the Pacers' run to the Eastern Conference finals last year, and Haliburton said they have talked all season about how crucial it would be to have Mathurin in the rotation this time around.

"As much as I was out last year, not being able to play, I learned a lot," Mathurin said. "Just being on the bench and being next to the coaches who were able to run me through the game and stuff like that. It was an unfortunate situation, but I was fortunate enough to learn a lot and be ready for this year."

After the injury last March, Carlisle said Mathurin placed a calendar in the team's training room with a countdown to when he would finally be cleared to play.

"Every day he would come in and take one off, take one off," Carlisle recalled. "He was counting the days down to being cleared sometime in August. Then be able to begin training camp, begin five-on-five with our guys in September and then be in training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs.

"He's putting a lot of work to be ready for these moments, and tonight he was an absolute major factor."