Mathurin's big night leads Pacers in Game 3 victory

Joel A. Erickson

13 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — A page-a-day calendar sat in the Pacers’ training room last year.

A marker for Bennedict Mathurin.

Every day after undergoing surgery to repair the torn labrum that ended his season and kept Mathurin out of Indiana’s surprising run to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers guard would walk by the calendar and rip off a page.

“He was counting down the days to being cleared sometime in August, and then to begin 5-on-5 with our guys in September, and then to begin training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.

Mathurin finally reached the peak of his hike in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, pouring in 27 points off the bench to lead Indiana to a 116-107 win over Oklahoma City in front of a raucous Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd Wednesday night.

The Pacers have spent the entire season telling anybody who would listen that a healthy Mathurin would make a big difference in the postseason.

“You’re seeing why,” Indiana point guard Tyrese Haliburton said.

Mathurin’s march to this point has been anything but smooth.

Carlisle prefers to play Mathurin off the bench, partly because his style of play isn’t a perfect fit with the Pacers’ style and partly because Mathurin gives the team’s second unit a bona fide scorer, but the role has not been easy.

Injuries forced Mathurin into the starting lineup for most of the first two months, giving him a chance to establish himself in a starting role, only to head back to the second unit when Aaron Nesmith was fully ready to return to the lineup in February.

He can be an imperfect fit for this Pacers team, and as a result, his playing time in the playoffs has been spotty. Mathurin has been given 11 minutes or fewer four times in the playoffs, including three times in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks.

Mathurin also has four games of 20 points or more, none bigger than Wednesday night’s lethal performance, the third-highest scoring performance for any player coming off the bench in NBA Finals history.

A performance that initially seemed like it would be one of the nights Mathurin was used sparingly.

Mathurin sat out the entire first quarter, watching as Oklahoma City jumped out to a 32-24 lead that felt too much like Indiana’s other slow starts in this Finals.

The Pacers needed a spark when Mathurin entered the game at the beginning of the second quarter.

“Mathurin jumped in there and was immediately aggressive,” Carlisle said. “This is the kind of team that we are. We need everybody to be ready.”

Oklahoma City’s defense can be suffocating, taking away an offense’s best shots with its pressure, taking away the lane. Early in the series, Mathurin spent too much time driving into traffic, a problem that plagued the entire Pacers offense.

But Mathurin is also the kind of player who can make the Thunder pay for the types of shots they’re willing to let teams take.

“He did a great job of coming off handoffs, reading the pocket, rising up for the mid-range,” Haliburton said. “This is a defense that will give that up; analytically, that’s not the best shot. I thought he did a great job of hunting that, getting downhill.”

Playing off another brilliant bench performance from T.J. McConnell, Mathurin helped bring the Pacers roaring back, taking a 39-36 lead on a Mathurin 3-pointer midway through the second quarter and setting the tone for a back-and-forth game that Indiana eventually won.

“It’s a group of guys who play extremely hard, and I think that’s exactly what we needed, to get the fans back on their feet,” Mathurin said.

Mathurin ended up playing 22 minutes after missing the entire first quarter, and he kept finding ways to get to his spots.

Mathurin knocked down 9-of-12 shots, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and knocked down 7-of-8 free throws, playing an efficient brand of basketball while handling the contact and physicality Oklahoma City presents defensively.

Indiana entered Game 3 knowing the offense needed to get into the paint.

Mathurin plays with the physicality that can get him into the paint and get him to the free-throw line.

“Pretty much just shooting shots that I like,” Mathurin said. Mathurin’s brilliance can be spotty. But Wednesday night’s game was a reminder of what he brings to the Pacers, what Indiana was missing during last year’s magical playoff run. Mathurin spent last year’s playoff run rehabbing his shoulder, focusing on being a presence for the Pacers the next time the team made a deep run.

Now, the best game of his young career has Indiana two wins away from an NBA title.

“As much as this is a dream right now, I’m not trying to live in my dream,” Mathurin said. “I’m trying to live in the present and make sure the dream ends well, which means winning the next game and winning a championship.”

Then Mathurin and the Pacers can tear off the final page.

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‘I couldn’t hear myself think’: Fans fuel win

13 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star

Joshua Heron

Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK 

INDIANAPOLIS — After T.J. McConnell tallied his fourth assist of the second quarter less than three minutes into the period, he gestured for Indiana Pacers fans to make more noise before pointing to his ears and said, “I can’t hear you.” An already boisterous crowd draped in gold shirts that read “But this is Indiana” got even louder.

Indiana hosted an NBA Finals game for the first time since 2000 on Wednesday. The Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 to take a 2-1 series lead behind dominant bench play spearheaded by Bennedict Mathurin. The third-year guard finished with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

“The state of Indiana is about basketball, and that’s the first time I really felt it,” Mathurin said about the Pacers crowd at Game 3.

Among the Pacers crowd was former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, Indianapolis 500 champion Alex Palou, Indiana Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Aaliyah Boston, Pacers legend Reggie Miller, Manchester City star Manuel Akanji and actor and Pacers fan Terry Crews.

During the fourth quarter, McAfee appeared on the jumbotron to remind fans that “it’s been 9,126 days since our state hosted an NBA Finals,” urging them to “turn this city up.” The Pacers faithful responded to McAfee’s call, but by this juncture in the game, the crowd noise had already motivated Crews to switch careers.

“I was half suited up. I was ready to go out there,” said Crews, who was wearing a Jermaine O’Neal Pacers jersey. “Hearing this crowd made me feel like I wanted to go out and play. I love this midwestern energy; it’s beautiful.”

To opponents, that energy is daunting. Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox was on the Lakers team that defeated the Pacers in their last finals appearance. Wednesday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis felt no different than the one Fox played in 20 years ago.

”This is my second Game 3 in Indiana and the first time I couldn’t hear myself think,” Fox, who attended Warsaw High School in Indiana, told IndyStar. “This time, I don’t have to compete, but it matches the same intensity I’ve always known Indiana basketball to have. It doesn’t matter if it’s middle school, high school, college or the pros.”

Fox called the Pacers crowd the “sixth man” and said a supportive crowd like Indiana’s will “push a player on” and allow players to have hope in comeback scenarios. The Thunder held a fivepoint lead heading into the fourth before being outscored 32-18 in the final period. The Pacers made 13-of-21 field goals and held the Thunder to 35% shooting in the fourth.

“They (the crowd) were everything we had hoped for tonight. We talked about telling our crowd through the media that we really need them,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They were great. Especially in the fourth quarter, it just went up a few decibels.”

Sure, Pacers fans are loud. But Paycom Center is also thunderous when Oklahoma plays. To Fox, however, Indiana distinguishes itself from the Thunder and the rest of the league because behind the deafening noise levels is a profound knowledge of basketball.

“You have an educated IQ basketball fan that has come from birth playing basketball and understanding the game, so they’re passionate and connective to every possession because they comprehend it on another level,” Fox said.

Matt Asen, known as the “Pacer Guy,” has been a franchise fan for 38 years. Asen believes the Pacers have the “coach and the depth” to defeat the Thunder. Asen hopes the Pacers fan base can cheer their team to a Game 4 victory on Friday.

“We rocked the building tonight and hopefully we can rock Oklahoma out of here,” Asen said. “New York and Boston they root for their superstars and they think they deserve it. But in 49 states, it’s just basketball, but this is Indiana,” Asen said. “We are an educated fan base hungry for a championship.”

***

Turner ‘under the weather,’ but blocks key Game 3 win

Joel A. Erickson

Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK

INDIANAPOLIS – Myles Turner was far from his normal self in Game 3.

Turner has spent a decade in Indianapolis waiting for this moment, a chance to lead the Pacers into an NBA Finals game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and when it finally came, Turner walked into the arena batting cold-like symptoms that have sapped his energy the past couple of days.

The effects of Turner’s illness were palpable for most of the game.

But in the game’s final minutes, Turner found enough energy to make the defensive play of the game, blocking Thunder center Chet Holmgren at the 3point line and then smothering Holmgren on the way to the basket to preserve Indiana’s late lead in a game the Pacers won 116-107 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

“Well, Myles is under the weather,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said later. “He may not even be with us tomorrow. He just hasn’t been feeling well the last couple of days. It was affecting his wind. He won’t bring it up, but I think it’s just appropriate to mention that he’s working through something.”

Turner was not available in the postgame locker room, likely another sign of the illness that has drained his body.

Indiana’s center battled against Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.

A battle that looked like a losing effort for most of the night. Turner made just one of his first eight shots, grabbed just two rebounds and played a role in Holmgren scoring 13 points in another ugly first quarter for Indiana.

Turner stayed in the game, kept taking shots, kept fighting.

“That’s what a lot of this is,” Carlisle said. “You have to be super resilient.”

He saved his best efforts for the fourth quarter.

“I thought he did a great job of just taking a couple of deep breaths in the third quarter, just doing a quick reset and coming back in there ready,” Carlisle said.

Turner made a pair of free throws two minutes into the third quarter, knocked down a jumper a little bit later.

He finished with nine points, two rebounds and five blocks.

None bigger than his back-to-back rejections of Holmgren when the Pacers needed it most.

Turner now has a day to recover before trying to do it again in Game 4 Friday night.

“Some kind of a cold or whatever, but he’s just not feeling himself,” Carlisle said. “We’ll see where things are tomorrow with him.”