The Thunder’s bench has been one of their biggest strengths. But the Pacers’ bench was the difference in Game 3.
Throughout the playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bench has been one of the biggest advantages for any team.
Alex Caruso has been a game-changing defensive presence. Cason Wallace was on the bench for most of the playoffs but the Thunder’s ability to insert him into the starting lineup and bring Isaiah Hartenstein off the bench in the 2025 NBA Finals highlights just how versatile the team is.
But the Indiana Pacers came into the Finals with a strong bench of their own, and, in Game 3, it was the Indiana bench that was the difference. The Pacers’ reserves outscored OKC’s 49-18 on the way to a 116-107 home win that gave Indiana a 2-1 series lead heading into Friday’s Game 4.
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T.J. McConnell has good games and bad games like any other player. But no matter how well he plays, the small guard is always noticeable.
He’s always prodding, looking for the slightest crack in the defense that allows him to penetrate into the lane. If the offense ever loses focus on an inbounds pass, McConnell will be there to steal it. He’s a low-intensity player’s worst nightmare. The second an opposing player doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do at max intensity, McConnell is there to take advantage.
This has been a tough series for either team to get easy points. Both transition defenses have been remarkable and there haven’t been enough windows to attack before the defense is set.
But when everyone is playing at a 10 of 10 intensity level, McConnell finds a way to turn it up to 11. He completely transformed the game in the second quarter with his energy.
Despite the Pacers’ excellent early defense on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren started strong and the Thunder led 32-24 after the first quarter. But McConnell had an offensive rebound and assist 34 seconds into the second quarter, an isolation jumper with 7.1 seconds left and every winning play imaginable in between.
It didn’t matter if it was a made basket, a missed shot or a steal off an inbounds pass (something he did twice in Game 3), McConnell was on a mission to get the ball into the paint before the Thunder’s defense got set.
Simply put, the Pacers haven’t gotten the ball into the paint enough in this series. It was a big problem in Game 2 when their offense stalled several times. McConnell tried to fix that problem all by himself and never got out of control while being aggressive. Once he drew help, he gave the ball up to whoever was open.
The Moment of Mathurin
The Thunder have done a good enough job making players other than Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam beat them. But in Game 3, Bennedict Mathurin was up to the challenge.
The former Arizona Wildcat had a playoff career-high 27 points on a blistering 9-of-12 shooting. He knocked down two of his three 3-point attempts and seven of his eight free-throw attempts.
Mathurin, who has had an up-and-down postseason, totaled nine points in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks and Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He showed signs of breaking out in Game 2 with 14 points, but Game 3 was the culmination of every step he’s taken since joining the league.
He made excellent decisions with the ball and got into the lane when possible, including on back cuts when his defender left to help. Mathurin is a great scorer when the defense is leveraged, and Haliburton and McConnell were finally able to bend the defense enough early in possessions to get him going.
The Thunder have to go back to the drawing board against Mathurin after he made them pay for leaving him alone. If they take that chance two more times, they might not be playing anymore. Mathurin won’t always have it going like he did in Game 3, but his big game has completely changed the series.
As if the Pacers needed another jolt of electricity, Obi Toppin played like he stuck a fork in an electrical socket right before running onto the court. He only had eight points on 4-of-8 shooting, but they were loud points, including a massive putback dunk to give the Pacers a 107-100 lead late in the fourth quarter.
Behind these three players, the Pacers’ bench did what the Thunder’s bench has done so many times this season: change the tempo of a game. The Thunder dictated how Game 2 was played. It looked like they were on their way to doing so again in Game 3.
But Indiana’s reserves helped rewrite the script, at least for one game – and possibly for the series.
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Thunder vs. Pacers: Bench Comes Up Big as Indiana Takes Game 3 of the NBA Finals Opta Analyst.
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