Bennedict Mathurin
By Andrew Rosario
The Indiana Pacers did to the Oklahoma City Thunder what they did to the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks in their previous series when they played game 3 on the home floor at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Wednesday night. The Pacers got off to a slow as OKC looked like the momentum carried over from their game 2 victory as they jumped out to 32-24 first quarter lead. The Thunders center/forward came out aggressive scoring 13 points. Indiana’s guard Tyrese Haliburton continued his early game struggles as he only scored 5 points.
The teams went back and forth in the second quarter with no lead bigger than 5 points when Indiana went up 47-42. The Pacers outscored the Thunder 40-28 taking a 64-60 halftime lead.
OKC bounced back in the third quarter and outscored Indiana 29-20 and a 89-84 lead going into the final quarter hoping they steal game 3 on the road. It would not happen.
The Pacers were led by a very unlikely source. Guard Bennedict Mathurin came off the bench to lead all scorers with 27 points as he connected on 9 of 12 shots and nailed 2 of 3 shots from 3-point land. When he got to the free throw line, he converted 7 of 8. The Thunder were just the opposite as they missed 7 free throws (23-30) as they missed crucial free throws towards the end of the game.
In the 116-107 win, the Pacers clamped down on the regular season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who although scoring 24 points, he turned the ball over 6 times. Said Pacers head coach Rick Carlilse of his team’s performance, “this is the kind of team that we are. 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’ve got to do it.”
Game 4 is back on the Pacers floor Friday night. Indiana will be looking put the Thunder on the ropes if they can come up with the victory. Alexander might have something to say about it.
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