Pacers bench carries Indy to 2-1 Finals lead

The Indiana Pacers bench caught fire in Wednesday's Game 3 to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 and take a series lead in the NBA Finals.

Pacers reserves outscored the Thunder 49-18. Bennedict Mathurin led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and T.J. McConnell had 10 points, five assists, and five steals.

"T.J. just brought a competitive will to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball in the basket," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame, per ESPN.

"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, but this is how we gotta do it, and we gotta do it as a team. We gotta make it as hard as possible on them."

Mathurin's scoring output ties him for the third-most points off the bench in a Finals game in league history. It was the most since Jason Terry also scored 27 in 2011.

"I think you just have to stay ready, you know stay ready so you don't have to get ready," Mathurin said. "That's me, just get in the game and try to help my team win. I think some people get it confused with just knowing myself. I'm a very, very confident player and I think I can be the best player every night. So if it's not the attitude or the energy that you have going into the game then I think that's a little bit harder."

McConnell became the first player in an NBA Finals to have at least 10 points, five assists, and five steals in a single game off the bench, according to The Associated Press' Tim Reynolds.

"We really needed that boost, especially in the second quarter," Indiana star Haliburton said. "We had a rough first quarter, second unit came brought energy. When T.J. gets those steals, the building really gets into it. Ben was amazing getting downhill, not overthinking things. ... He just made play after play, our whole second group. Honestly our second group really won us the game."

Haliburton also stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds, two steals, and a block.

The Thunder's trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren combined for 70 points. However, OKC's offense shot 1-of-10 in the final 5:25 of the contest and got blocked five times during that time.

Game 4 will take place Friday in Indiana.