Pacers Reclaim The Series Lead After NBA Finals Game 3 Win

The Indiana Pacers reclaimed the lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night with a 116-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 due to a huge boost from their bench and a better game from the stars.

Bennedict Mathurin scored a game-high 27 points off the bench, which is 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 nine 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.”

Mathurin was the catalyst on Wednesday as 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 the likes of 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 midrange,” Hailiburton said postgame. “This is a defense that will give that up.”

The Pacers got a huge spark from McConnell, who scored 10 points with five assists to go along with 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 postgame. “When you have a team with this much depth, it can be anybody’s night.”

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 the Pacers remain unbeaten after a loss in the 2025 postseason, improving to 5-0. The Pacers have not dropped back-to-back games since March 8 and 10.