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Tyrese Haliburton starred with 22 points and 9 rebounds in addition to his 11 assists to help the Pacers to a 116-107 win over Thunder on Thursday.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) loses the ball under pressure from Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
The Indiana Pacers posted a 116-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday to earn a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals as Tyrese Haliburton starred with 22 points and 9 rebounds in addition to his 11 assists, while Bennedict Mathurin added a career playoff-high 27 points in the game.
“So many different guys chipped in,” Haliburton said following the victory.
“Ben Mathurin was amazing off the bench tonight. He just stuck with it. We just had guys make plays after plays.”
“Those guys were tremendous,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
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“T.J. just brought a will, competitive will, to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball in the basket. This is the kind of team that we are,” he added.
“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’ve got to do it, and we got to do it as a team,” he added.
“The main thing is you have to be resilient. You have to be the aggressor in order to win games,” Mathurin said.
The Pacers bench outscored Oklahoma City’s reserves 49-18, and Indiana managed to wear down NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored only three of his 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Pascal Siakam contributed 21 points for Indiana, while TJ McConnell added 10 points and five steals off the bench, helping the Pacers improve to 10-0 since March 11 in games following a defeat.
They aim to extend their lead in the best-of-seven championship series when they host game four on Friday before the series returns to Oklahoma City for game five on Monday.
Trailing by five points entering the fourth quarter, the Pacers took the lead for good with a three-pointer by Haliburton with 6:42 remaining.
Obi Toppin delivered a dunk that pushed the score to 107-100 and then blocked a Jalen Williams layup, allowing the Pacers to gain control in a closely contested game.
The Thunder started strong, silencing the excited crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis by taking a 15-6 lead in under five minutes.
The Pacers closed the gap to two points with a Haliburton three-pointer, but the Thunder responded and led by eight at the end of the first quarter.
Indiana fans, who haven’t seen their team in the Finals since the Pacers lost to the Lakers in the 2000 championship series, were soon rewarded. A second-half surge by Indiana’s reserves allowed the Pacers to seize the lead.
McConnell’s free throws gave the Pacers a 37-36 lead, and Mathurin’s running layup extended it to 46-42, marking Indiana’s largest lead of the series.
The Pacers stretched the lead to seven points, but Oklahoma City tied it at 51-51. The score was knotted at 55-55 when Haliburton hit a three-pointer, and McConnell’s fadeaway jump shot gave Indiana a 64-60 lead at halftime.
The back-and-forth battle resumed in the third quarter, with Oklahoma City starting with an 8-0 run. However, the Pacers quickly regained their footing.
After five more lead changes, the Thunder held an 89-84 lead heading into the final period, but they couldn’t secure the win.
Williams finished with 26 points, and Chet Holmgren added 20 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City. However, the Thunder committed 19 turnovers, which led to 21 points for the Pacers.
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“In the fourth quarter, I just thought they really outplayed us on both ends,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said afterwards.
“I thought they were in character in terms of their physicality, their pressure on defense. Then they were in character in terms of their pace on offense. They just stacked way more quality possessions in the fourth quarter than we did,” he concluded.
(With Inputs From AFP)
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