2025 NBA Finals: Pacers Use Bench And Details To Take 2-1 Series Lead

Forbes

18 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JUNE 11: T.J. McConnell #9 of the Indiana Pacers drives to the basket around ... More Obi Toppin #1 and Cason Wallace #22 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter in Game Three of the 2025 NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 11, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by)
INDIANAPOLIS – About 50 minutes before tipoff, Bennedict Mathurin settles into his locker, basketball in hand. He rhythmically dribbles between his legs on the carpeted floor as a Pacers assistant coach approaches with a laptop loaded with NBA film. Together, they pore over the footage and study the tape, dialing in on the smallest details.
It's a ritual that has become routine for Mathurin, and it's one that used to happen courtside until the stadium noise became too distracting. Now, the locker room serves as Mathurin's study ground. It's quieter and more focused. That same process played out Wednesday night, just before the most important game of Mathurin's young career – Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
So that's where he sat before a crucial battle against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The series was tied at 1-1, and Indiana, hosting an NBA Finals game for the first time in a quarter century, was preparing for one of the biggest games in franchise history. They needed to bounce back after a crummy Game 2, and doing so would require focusing on the details. Less than an hour before tipoff, Mathurin was doing exactly that.
About an hour-and-a-half later, Mathurin entered Game 3 for the first time. The Pacers were down eight at the time. The third-year pro scored 34 seconds after checking in, a sign of things to come, then again with 10:28 on the clock in the second quarter. Just 67 seconds passed before he buried a three that cut OKC's lead to one. The Thunder took a timeout. It was a huge sequence spearheaded by Mathurin and the Pacers bench, and it changed the makeup of the game.
'Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball in the basket,' Pacers head coach Rick Carlsile said later.
By halftime, Mathurin already had 14 points. He looked unstoppable against a Thunder defense that had been keeping the Pacers out of the paint through the first two games of the Finals. This time, Mathurin was undeniable. He kept attacking, and he kept scoring.
After three quarters, he was up to 17 points. By the end of the night, he had 27 – the most by an Indiana player in the 2025 NBA Finals so far and Mathurin's playoff career high. He was sensational against one of the league's best defenses and ended up being the face of a terrific night for the Pacers bench and the team's attention to detail.
'It was huge. It seemed like any time the starters weren't doing what we're supposed to do, the bench just picked it up,' Pacers starting wing Aaron Nesmith said postgame. He was as impressed as anyone. 'They kept us afloat.'
Mathurin's pregame focus and tremendous outing were both just examples of what Game 3 became for the Pacers. The rest of the second unit was also special, and Indiana needed everyone against a 68-win team.
T.J. McConnell, the Pacers backup point guard, had an unforgettable night. Despite shooting just 3/8 from the field, McConnell made many plays that he alone can make, and they were vital for the Pacers success.
His five assists were big, but it was his defense, and more specifically his steals, that changed the game. McConnell had five of them, including three off of inbounds passes by OKC. Each swipe ignited the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd, shifting momentum and frustrating the Thunder. They changed the tenor of the game. Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard called McConnell sneaky, but he isn't sure how the veteran gets so many steals from inbounds passes. Neither do his opponents.
His energy, as always, was contagious. McConnell finished the night with 10 points, too, as he put together his best Finals game yet. 'I think his energy is unbelievable. He's definitely a crowd favorite,' Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said of McConnell postgame before calling him the Great White Hope. 'He does a great job of bringing energy in this building. And I think people feed off that.'
Ben Sheppard contributed to the Pacers second unit success with his usual turbo-charged defense while Obi Toppin was the finisher for the bench. Toppin, a key player in this series due to his size and speed, was already playing well and adding juice to the game when he put an exclamation point on a Finals win.
Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein ... More (55) during the first half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
With 4:23 to go in the game, Toppin skied in for an impressive offensive rebound and dunk. It put the Pacers up seven and got them to 107 on the scoreboard, which ended up being OKC's final total. It was nearly the dagger. The highlight play made the crowd explode with excitement – they realized in that moment that their favorite team was going to win.
Mathurin tossed in a few free throws later for the final bench points of the night for Indiana. They finished with 49 of them, a major advantage compared to the Thunder's 18. The Pacers don't win Game 3 without their second unit. Yet as Mathurin's pregame film session showed, they don't win without a focus on the details either.
The specifics of the Pacers success were sprinkled in through the night. It began about two hours before tipoff as Pacers center Myles Turner went through his pregame warmup. Assistant coach Lloyd Pierce was passing him the ball as Turner attempted jump shots, and basketball assistant Gary McGhee was grabbing rebounds. But McGhee's role shifted. He was asked to be a defender and contest Turner's threes, starting in the corner. The big man wanted to practice with more game-like pressure.
Sure enough, Turner's first made field goal of the outing was a contested corner three. He drilled it over Thunder big man Isaiah Hartenstein, and it was a crucial basket with Indiana down eight early. It was exactly what he practiced. Turner didn't have his best night as he battled an illness, but his early attention to detail during warmups steered the Pacers back into the game.
From the sidelines, Carlisle coached the particulars relentlessly. When one of his players was defending OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Carlisle would lift his forearms and hands against his shoulders, signaling to his team to stop defending with their upper extremities. They hoped to avoid fouls. Gilgeous-Alexander, the league's MVP, was muted compared to other games in the series, and Pacers star Pascal Siakam defended him to perfection with just 67 seconds to go as Indiana sealed the victory.
'With a team like that that's so good defensively and really punishes you for every mistake that you make, you've got to look at the little things and be the best you can,' Nesmith explained.
At other times throughout the game, almost always after a lost rebound or a turnover, Carlisle would put both of his hands in front of his body and make a circle shape with his hands. His gesture was clear: two hands on the ball. The head coach has stressed the importance of ball security all season long, and his team had their lowest turnover number of the series in Game 3.
They also had many crucial offensive rebounds, including one from Haliburton with under five minutes to go and the Pacers leading by three. Haliburton's second effort eventually led to two points for Nembhard, and those points don't come without nailing the details.
It wasn't a perfect game for the Pacers, who shot the ball poorly from long range and narrowly avoided being buried by a pile of Jalen Williams runners. But all night, Indiana's bench was sublime and their discipline made the difference. It has them up 2-1 in the 2025 NBA Finals.