The last time the Thunder took a strong lead in Wednesday’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals, was when Jalen Williams hit a pull-up three pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to give his team a 5-point lead. After that, the Pacers’ bench took control of the game which ended in a 116-107 loss for the away squad.
With this result, Indiana have now retaken the lead, going up 2-1 in the series. “We just had a lot of unforced errors,” Williams shared after a defeat in which they were outscored 32-18 in the fourth quarter. “They capitalized on them because they’re a good team.”
This was the second time this campaign in which the Pacers outscored Oklahoma City by a double-digit margin in the last stages of the contest. “In the fourth quarter, I just thought they really outplayed us on both ends,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expressed postgame.
The OKC tactician then praised his opponent’s defensive stance late in the game. “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,” he assured, as his team now awaits for Game 4 on Friday night.
The Indiana club has now improved to 9-1 in clutch matches this season, which are the most victories in these terms since the Heat posted an 11-3 mark in the same amount of games back in 2020. The Thunder, on the other hand, have been in a 2-1 deficit before, as they fought back to beat the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.
Chet Holmgren, who dropped 20 points throughout Game 3 but then went 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter, still believes they can turn things around. “We have a great opportunity here,” he shared, after Pacers center Myles Turner blocked off his shots three times.
“The great thing is we have another game coming up, Game 4. We can’t be thinking about frustration or anything. No matter how good it’s going, how bad it’s going, the focus can’t be on your emotions. It has to be on what we’re trying to accomplish, the task at hand,” he assured postgame.
