Forward Bennedict Mathurin drops a playoff career-high lifting Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of NBA Finals
Bennedict Mathurin. Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
The Indiana Pacers
seem to be unstoppable with each one of the players racking up scores for the team in Game 3. While the team lagged towards the end of the third quarter by a 5-point difference, Pacers' small forward
Bennedict Mathurin
pushed the team's aggregate score while penning down a new
playoff career high
in the fourth quarter of
Game 3
.
Bennedict Mathurin becomes the first bench player since Jason Terry in 2011 to score 25+ points in the Finals
22-year-old Bennedict Mathurin has made his mark within the NBA with an impressive performance amid the legends in the 2024-2025 season. The player was selected with the sixth overall pick by the Indiana Pacers in the 2022 NBA draft. The current stats of the player in this season stand at an average of 16.1 points with 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
In today's Game 3, the player showcased another impressive performance, racking up the highest score, while this was still being written, surpassing even the NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Mathurin's play-off career high now stands at 27 points, a new record for the young player of the team. Along with this new personal record, Mathurin becomes the first bench player to score 25+ PTS in the Finals since Jason Terry in 2011.
This is also the third highest in NBA Finals history to have been scored off the bench.
Mathurin, owing to his skills and scores on the court, made it to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2023, and he finished fourth in voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2023. Fans of the team and the player are showering the athlete with praises for his performance and leading the team on his back in the fourth quarter of Game 3. One of the users wrote, 'Bennedict Mathurin putting the Pacers on his back'
Another user wrote while appreciating the timeliness of the performance put up by the player, 'Mathurin been hoopin fr! He picking the perfect time to turn up'
One of the users appreciated both Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton for their dedicated showcase of skills in the game, 'Pacers needed someone else to step up and it was Mathurin this game. Hali just hit another big 3 too!'
Also read:
Tyrese Haliburton's injury report for NBA Finals Game 3 Indiana Pacers vs OKC Thunder (June 11, 2025)
While anything can happen in the last moment, as it was seen in Game 1, which ended in a surprising win by the last minute dunk for Indiana Pacers, the team actually led the score card to rack up a comfortable win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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