The Pacers took care of things at home in a hard-fought Game 3. After a massive team effort, the Pacers ultimately would take the game by a score of 116-107 , led by Bennedict Mathurin with 27 points.
The first quarter began with some hot shooting for the Thunder by Chet Holmgren, dropping 13 total points in the quarter. He was aggressive with his shot selection, and shot the ball with confidence. The same goes for Pascal Siakam, who for the first half of the quarter was trading buckets with Holmgren.
The Pacers seemed committed to what Haliburton previously spoke about in a recent interview, and that is starting from the inside out. Several times they would immediately look to get into the paint and work their way out.
Luguentz Dort had a very Jekyll and Hyde quarter. He would attempt a few targets off of the dribble, and would miss wildly. However, he would knock down three shots from behind the arc when he would take his time and set his feet. They would really need the offense from Dort and Holmgren to offset the lack of scoring from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in this quarter.
The story of the second quarter was the defensive pressure and energy provided by the Pacers bench. Guys like Obi Toppin and TJ McConnell would set the pace. Toppin would pitch in six points off of the bench, while McConnell would put up 4 early assists and two steals, as well as an offensive rebound to give his team second chance points. In fact, it was this energy that led the Thunder to have more turnovers than made field goals in the second quarter.
The Pacers continued to get downhill and attack the rim. They would take advantage of Oklahoma City being out of sync defensively and, bolstered by a 24-8 outscoring of their bench versus the Thunder bench, found themselves up 64-60 at the end of the half.
Oklahoma City would rip of three straight buckets to take an early lead. However, the Pacers would settle down and continue to crank up their defensive efforts and guard Gilgeous-Alexander for 94 feet, making him use extra energy on the offensive end. The Pacers did play some passive defense at time on drives to the basket with these three players in early foul trouble: Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam.
Mathurin would stay hot for Indiana in the third quarter. He really put a focused effort on taking efficient shots shooting six out of eight throughout most of the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Thunder seemed to abandon their approach of going to Holmgren, who was red-hot in the first half. This would not seem to hurt them too much as the Thunder took a 5 point lead into the fourth.
Haliburton, in an interview between quarters said that the key to closing this game out was to rebound. The team that has won the rebound battle has won both games in this series so far. Rebounding might be the key to this series after all.
Mathurin not only competed on the offensive end, but also showed poise and discipline on the defensive end, often times switching to guard Williams or Gilgeous-Alexander. TJ McConnell also showed off his defensive awareness with his second inbound-pass steal of the game to tie up the game. Obi Toppin came up huge as well with some late-game blocks.
There was a controversial official review late in the quarter on a hard foul by Aaron Nesmith on Alex Caruso. It was determined not to be flagrant, which could have given the Thunder two shots and possession. Myles Turner came through with some pivotal blocks to push the Pacers lead out to eight.
However, the Pacers would ultimately seize the moment and close out the game by a score of 116-107 to take the 2-1 series lead. Game 4 will be on Friday night.