Tyrese Haliburton might be the face of the Pacers right now, but after Game 3 of the NBA Finals, he was all about the guys coming off the bench.
“We just had guys make plays after plays,” Haliburton told reporters postgame. “Our bench was amazing. … It’s a big win for us.”
The Pacers stormed past the Thunder 116-107 to take a 2-1 lead in the series and it was their second unit that completely flipped the script.
The breakout star was Bennedict Mathurin. The 22-year-old came off the bench with fire, dropping 27 points in what became the most points scored by a reserve in a Finals game since Jason Terry in 2011.
“Just staying ready,” Mathurin said after the game. “Whenever my number is called, go into the game and do the right things and try to help my team win. That’s the whole mindset.”
Mathurin has waited a long time for this shot. After missing last year’s postseason with a torn labrum, he hung a literal countdown calendar in the training room just to mark the days until his return.
“This is a defense that will give that [midrange looks] up,” Haliburton said, giving credit to how well Mathurin read the game and executed. “When you have a team with this much depth, it can be anybody’s night.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle saw the work ethic and said it best.
“He was an absolute major factor.”
But he wasn’t alone. T.J. McConnell came in and threw chaos at OKC like only he can, with 10 points, 5 assists, five steals.
This Pacers squad isn’t riding on one or two stars, they’re rolling ten deep.
Indiana is now 10-0 after losses since March and statistically in a very good place, teams who win Game 3 of a 1-1 Finals series go on to win the whole thing 80.5 percent of the time.
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