Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points as Indiana shook off an early deficit for a 116-107 win over Oklahoma City in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly unbeatable when the games get tight, the Indiana Pacers once again thrived under pressure Wednesday night, earning a 116-107 victory in Game 3 of the NBA Finals over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It marked the Pacers’ ninth win of this postseason in games considered as clutch and gave them a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4 is Friday night in Indianapolis.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points, but his effort was buttressed by Thunder miscues (19 turnovers for 21 Pacers points) and help throughout Indiana’s roster, including a game-high 27 from backup forward Bennedict Mathurin. Indiana outscored the Thunder, the overall No. 1 seed after a 68-win regular season, 32-18 in the final quarter to secure the victory.
The Sports Moment newsletter
(The Washington Post)
Reporter Ava Wallace takes you through the buzziest, most engaging sports stories of the week. Sign up for the weekly newsletter
End of carousel
For the informal fan, this year’s Finals might feel like a starless exhibition. Unless viewers really want to see what that guy from the AT&T commercials does in his day job.
Through the first half, even the series’ most well-known players took a back seat to the kind of player only a purist would love.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the star of those TV spots, might have won Most Valuable Player for his work in the regular season, and even made history by scoring the most points (72) through two games for a first-time Finals player. But he began Game 3 as Chet Holmgren’s sidekick. Holmgren was the Thunder offense by scoring 13 points. Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t scratch the scoreboard until 2:27 remained in the quarter — without getting the satisfaction of watching his shot fall through since Pacers center Myles Turner blocked the layup off the glass for goaltending.
Indiana trailed by eight after the first quarter needed to find a counter, quickly. Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle, notoriously mum as it relates to sharing his game plan, stayed true to character ahead of the pivotal matchup.
“I’m not going to talk about strategy,” he said hours before tip-off, for probably the 38th time this postseason.
Maybe Carlisle just didn’t want to state the most obvious strategy, the one everyone expected: unleash bench players Mathurin and T.J. McConnell and get out the way.
The Pacers had trailed through most of this series, and it remained that way until McConnell and his chaos took over. In the second quarter, McConnell disrupted inbounds plays (he had three steals in his first six minutes on the floor), zipped passes to open three-point shooters (four assists during that same time frame) and played and acted like a madman, firing up the crowd and pushing the Pacers to their first lead.
Mathurin, the recipient of a pair of McConnell assists, poured it on like a starter with 14 points in just 10 minutes of action in the first half. Thanks in large part to the reserves, the Pacers broke down Oklahoma City’s physical defense with 40 points in the second quarter, taking a 64-60 lead into intermission.
“If you go out there and you’re like, hey, we’re trying to stop this one player or one player, they’re going to get you somewhere else,” Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault said, sounding like a prophet before the game. “That’s why they’re here. It’s why they’re successful. We have a lot of respect for them. It’s why they’re a tough opponent.”
After recovering from a slim five-point deficit early in the third quarter, the Pacers again used their depth as their best weapon. In a stretch that started with Haliburton stepping back and drilling a three-pointer, Turner chipped in with a layup and a big block against Holmgren on the next play.
In the decisive fourth quarter, Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith did their part to build the lead and the Pacers never looked back in their first Finals game on their home court in 25 years.
NBA
HAND CURATED
The breakout star of the NBA playoffs now has a new foe: ScrutinyJune 11, 2025