McConnell, Mathurin lead Pacers' bench charge in Game 3, fueling 2-1 NBA Finals lead over Thunder
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — TJ McConnell stole inbounds passes not once, not twice, but three times in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. He waved his arms, pumped his fists and shouted at an already delirious crowd to make more noise.
Bennedict Mathurin made just about every shot, calm and cool, always coming up with the bucket that Indiana needed.
Separately, they couldn't seem more different. Together, they were a two-man bench wrecking crew for the Pacers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals — two of the biggest reasons why Indiana has a 2-1 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the title series.
McConnell became the first reserve in finals history to have five assists and five steals in a game. Mathurin — who couldn't play in Indiana's playoff run last year because of a shoulder injury — scored 27 points, the most by a reserve in a finals game in 14 years. Sure, Tyrese Haliburton nearly had a triple-double and Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and Myles Turner battled through illness to have a pair of huge blocks late in Indiana's 116-107 victory Wednesday night, but McConnell and Mathurin were the story.
'Just getting a win in general in the playoffs and in the finals, it's really hard," McConnell said. 'So, obviously, happy about this one, but have to move on. Have to still correct some stuff and make some adjustments.'
Game 4 is Friday night. And McConnell was looking ahead to Friday almost immediately after Wednesday night's game ended.
Haliburton says McConnell is like a big brother to him, always knowing what needs to be done, always knowing what needs to be said. He delivered on both counts in Game 3.
'He does a great job of giving us energy plays consistently and getting downhill and operating. I mean, nobody operates on the baseline like that guy,' Haliburton said. 'I thought did he a great job of consistently getting there and making hustle play after hustle play, and sticking with it, and I thought we did a great job of just feeding off of what he was doing.'
McConnell was the scrappy energy. Mathurin, he was just smooth.
Before Mathurin did it in Game 3, the last player who scored 27 points off the bench in a finals game was Jason Terry for Dallas in 2011 — doing so in the Game 6 title-clinching win over Miami.
The coach of that Mavs team: Rick Carlisle. The coach of this Pacers team: Rick Carlisle.
And when it was all over Wednesday, Carlisle told the story of how Mathurin — after getting his shoulder surgically repaired last spring — got one of those calendars that counted down the number of days he had to wait before being cleared to play again. It was in the Pacers' training room and part of Mathurin's routine was to tear off a page each day.
'He was counting the days down to being cleared sometime in August and then be able to begin training camp, begin 5-on-5 with our guys in September and then be in training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs,' Carlisle said. 'And so, he's putting a lot of work to be ready for these moments.'
Mathurin said he learned a lot as well from just watching last year's playoff run, when Indiana made the East finals.
'Just being on the bench and being next to the coaches who were able to run me through the game and stuff like that ... I was fortunate enough to learn a lot and be ready for this year,' Mathurin said.
Mathurin has had four 20-point games in these playoffs. The Thunder knew he had the capability.
'He seems to have a game like this in every series. He's a talented player,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'He was really aggressive. He did a great job. McConnell did a great job. Their bench really came in the game and was excellent.'
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
recommended
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
24 minutes ago
- USA Today
30 years ago today: Rockets complete historic journey to second NBA championship
30 years ago today: Rockets complete historic journey to second NBA championship It was June 14, 1995, when Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets completed perhaps the most iconic run to a championship in NBA history. Now 30 years later, we're taking a look back. On this day 30 years ago, the 1994-95 Rockets finished off what could be the toughest path to a championship in NBA history. NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston in Game 4 versus Orlando with 35 points and 15 rebounds, sending 'Clutch City' to a 113-101 home victory (box score) on June 14, 1995, and securing a series sweep. Mario Elie chipped in with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting (81.8%) from the field, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers (66.7%). All-Stars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny' Hardaway each scored 25 for the Magic. HoopsHype has more perspective on the historic journey by the sixth-seeded Rockets to a second consecutive NBA crown. According to research in which we looked at every team's path to their eventual championship wins, the 1994-95 Rockets had the toughest road ever to winning a title. The worst team they beat had a 57-25 record, and that was their Finals opponent, the Orlando Magic, who boasted a lineup featuring Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, amongst many valuable role players. In all, the 1995 run can be summed up perfectly by the postgame quote that night from legendary head coach Rudy Tomjanovich. 'Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!' To this day, it remains the most recent NBA title for the Rockets. However, led by head coach Ime Udoka, the current Rockets would like to change that in the near future. More: Rockets, Mario Elie celebrate 30-year anniverary of iconic 'Kiss of Death' in NBA playoffs
San Francisco Chronicle
43 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Thunder embraced their moments of adversity this season. It paid off in Game 4 of the NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The book is called 'The Obstacle Is the Way.' It's a gift that Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault gave to Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein during a trying time this season, knowing the voracious reader would figure out the meaning. Message delivered. 'I read it and remembered that everything happens for a reason,' Hartenstein said. 'And after that, everything worked out great.' Such has been the story of the Thunder season. Such was the story of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Faced with the biggest challenge of their season — a 10-point deficit in the second half, staring at a very real chance of the Indiana Pacers grabbing the almost-insurmountable 3-1 lead in the title round — the Thunder, once again, came away saying everything worked out great. Led by a dazzling and frantic finish from the reigning MVP and scoring champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who had 15 of his 35 points in the final five minutes or so — the Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Indiana 111-104 on Friday night. The series is now tied 2-2, heading back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Monday night, and it's the Thunder who have home-court advantage again. 'That was an uphill game against a great team,' Daigneault said after Game 4 in Indianapolis, simultaneously lauding his team while also raving about the Pacers. 'This is one of the best teams in the league in the last couple months, since All-Star break. They're a hard team to beat here. They're a hard team to beat, period. I thought we gutted it out on a night when we didn't have a lot going, especially offensively.' It was a night when the Thunder made only three 3-pointers and were shooting 45% with about five minutes left before Gilgeous-Alexander got going. He took 11 shots in the final 4:40 — three field-goal attempts, one of them a 3-point try, and eight free throws — and made them all. A perfect finish, on a night when little had gone to plan. 'It's unbelievable," Daigneault said. 'He really didn't have it going a lot of the night. He was laboring. We had a hard time shaking him free. For him to be able to flip the switch like that and get the rhythm he got just speaks to how great of a player he is.' It might not have seemed so to the outside world — those who fixated on things like Oklahoma City's 68-14 franchise-best record, its 16-game lead over its nearest challenger in the Western Conference standings, a record number of double-digit wins and how all of it was led by the MVP and scoring champion in Gilgeous-Alexander. But the Thunder did, in fact, face some adversity this season. They played without Chet Holmgren and Hartenstein for a while during the year. There was some flux to the lineup at times. Everybody probably had some sort of mini-slump along the way. There was a Game 1 loss in the second round to Denver. And Daigneault embraced every bit of that pain, knowing that for the Thunder to get to where they want to go adversity was going to present itself. Like the being-down-10, late-third-quarter sort of adversity that came up in Game 4. Just like Hartenstein was led to believe by the book, everything worked out great. 'We haven't really had to show it a lot this year, with the success we had in the regular season,' guard Jalen Williams said shortly before the team left for the flight back to Oklahoma City, where a huge crowd showed up in the middle of the night to greet the team at the airport — as they often do. 'We've had a lot of ups and downs during the playoffs. We've just learned from those experiences. That is something Mark is really big on; every game you should be able to learn, then the next game you should be able to apply something and get better at it. That's what we're trying to do every time.' The series is far from over and the Thunder know it. Indiana already has won once at Oklahoma City in these finals; surely, the Pacers think they can do it again. And even though the teams finished 18 wins apart in the final standings — OKC won 68 times, Indiana won 50 — it doesn't seem like 18 wins worth of disparity between the clubs right now. Indiana stole Game 1 at the end. Oklahoma City stole Game 4 at the end, albeit not as dramatically as the Pacers took the opener. Game 2 was pretty much controlled by the Thunder throughout; the Pacers had the best of the play for the majority of Game 3. Add it up, and it looks exactly like what it is — a 2-2 series going into Game 5. 'I still feel like we have so much work to do,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'Halfway there, obviously, but still so far from the finish line.' ___
San Francisco Chronicle
43 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
He's not Batman. He's Alex Caruso. And he's leading the Thunder in his own way in the NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alex Caruso got asked after Game 4 of the NBA Finals if he's aware that he's achieved a level of superhero-type status among fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder during this playoff run. After all, having zero 20-point games in the regular season followed by two — and counting — in the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers tends to have an effect on people. 'For the superhero reference, we'll just do Robin because that's the only one I can probably make some similarities to,' Caruso said. 'I've got better players around me that are doing more.' That's part of the Caruso story, and he's just fine with that. He was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team — alongside a Batman in LeBron James — that won a title in the pandemic 'bubble' in 2020. And he has helped this Thunder team — alongside another Batman in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and scoring champion who slapped on his cape and carried OKC down the stretch of Game 4 — move within two wins of what would be his second championship. He had 20 points against the Pacers in Game 2 and 20 points again in a probably season-saving win in Game 4; it's no coincidence that those are the games the Thunder have won in this series. And his Game 4 performance was historic; no player in finals history had ever had 20 points and five steals off the bench in a game during the title series. Before Friday, that is, when he did just that. 'He's a competitive monster, clearly,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'He's proven that time and again over his career. Certainly in these playoffs … I can't say enough about him as a competitor.' Caruso, 31, is the oldest player on the Thunder roster. And his teammates have no problem pointing out that he's the wise sage of the team, the vet with a ring, the one you go to for advice on virtually any topic. 'He plays the game, he thinks the game and he's also coaching the game all at the same time,' forward Cason Wallace said. 'He's always a few steps ahead.' Caruso's is the quintessential story of bucking the odds. A four-star recruit out of high school, not drafted by any NBA team, and some coaches still lament letting him get away. Among them: Rick Carlisle. Now the Indiana coach, Carlisle was with Dallas when the Mavericks brought Caruso — a Texas A&M guy — in for a workout. They didn't even offer him a summer league deal. Whoops. 'Some of these guys that go under the radar have that level of grit and determination that is able to get them to the league and to get them some longevity and high impact,' Carlisle said. James, even now, still calls Caruso 'one of my favorite teammates of all time.' The Thunder feel the same way about him, for obvious reasons. Caruso doesn't need to be Batman. Being a Robin is just fine with him. 'It just comes down to really wanting to win, being super competitive,' Caruso said. 'That's why my career is the way it is. That's why I've had success. That's why I'm still in the NBA. That's why I'm here talking to you right now.' ___
