To everyone’s surprise, the Pacers stars improved with a huge boost from their bench to reclaim the lead in the NBA Finals during this past Wednesday’s matchup. Last night ended in a 116-107 win against the Thunder in Game 3, inspired by Bennedict Mathurin‘s team-high 27 points.
The Indiana guard’s performance went straight into the history books, as he scored the most points for a reserve in an NBA Finals ever since Jason Terry back in 2011. The home team’s bench outscored Oklahoma City‘s by 49 to 18.
“This is the kind of team that we are,” coach Rick Carlisle said the Pacers, who are up 2-1 in the series. “We need everybody to be ready. 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 got to do it. We got to do it as a team.”
Team star Tyrese Haliburton contributed with 22 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds, while Pascal Siakam added 21 points last night. However, it was certainly Mathurin who changed things around in Indianapolis, as he became only the sixth player with 22 years or younger, so score more than 25 points in the last stages.
The young star joins the likes of Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.”He did a great job of coming off handoffs, reading the pocket, rising up from the mid-range,” Haliburton shared postgame. “This is a defense that will give that up.”
TJ McConnell was also inspired in front of their crowd, and proved it posting a stat line that hasn’t ever been seen in an NBA Finals game (10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals). “That’s the great thing about the Finals, great thing about basketball,” Tyrese insisted. “When you have a team with this much depth, it be can anybody’s night.”
Bennedict improved greatly since his last games, as he had only played a total of 38 minutes in Game 1 and 2. “Just staying ready,” he said about the key to his success. “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.”
