INDIANAPOLIS — This wasn’t about the stars. This wasn’t about the bright lights, the All-NBA resume, or a Game 3 must-win tilt in the shadows of legends past. This was Indiana. This was a midwestern uprising. This was about one name echoing louder than the rest on Wednesday night inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse:
Bennedict Mathurin.
Twenty-seven points off the pine. Twenty-two years old. One torn shoulder later. And the kid—no, the man—from Montreal turned his Finals moment into mythology.
The Pacers, your Pacers, just hijacked control of the 2025 NBA Finals with a 116-107 win over the favored-to-finish Thunder, now holding a 2-1 lead in the series and the attention of every casual doubter left in the league.
“This is the kind of team that we are,” Coach Rick Carlisle said, quietly, but firmly. A reminder. Not a boast.
But look deeper.
This wasn’t a game. This was a proof of concept. That team basketball still beats hype. That system still beats stardom. That heart can still bench-press history.
BENNEDICT’S MOMENT
We’ve seen it before. A sixth man stepping into the void and setting the Finals on fire. Jason Terry in 2011. Vinnie Johnson in 1990. Michael Cooper in the Showtime 80s. But Mathurin? He wasn’t just spark. He was detonation.
Midrange. Off screens. Pocket reads. Backdoor cuts. No fear, just footwork. Twenty-seven on 16 shots. A performance that joined the rare air of LeBron, Magic, Kobe, Tony Parker, and Kawhi—young bloods who didn’t wait their turn. They took it.
“I was just staying ready,” Mathurin said like a vet, eyes clear. “That’s the mindset.”
You see, what the box score doesn’t tell you: this was personal. Mathurin missed last year’s playoff run. Torn labrum in March ‘24. Watch-from-the-sidelines personal. Coach Carlisle remembers the calendar. The countdown. One day at a time, ripped off the wall like an advent prayer.
“He was counting the days to being cleared,” Carlisle said. “Tonight, he made it count.”
THE UNSUNG HERO: T.J. “STETHOSCOPE” McCONNELL
Five steals. Ten points. Five assists. A defensive sorcerer with the soul of a second-string quarterback who lives for two-minute drills. McConnell played like he could hear the heartbeat of every Thunder set before they ran it. Just knew where the ball would be before the ball knew where the ball would be.
No player in NBA Finals history has ever posted that stat line. Not Jordan. Not Pippen. Not anyone. Ok, so I’m overly excited. Ha!
It wasn’t flashy. It was fatal.
He turned Cason Wallace into a panic button. He turned Isaiah Joe into a ghost.
“He’s the most annoying teammate to scrimmage,” Haliburton laughed postgame. “But man, I’m glad he’s ours.”
THE STARS DIDN’T SHINE, THEY STEERED
Tyrese Haliburton: 22 points, 11 assists, 9 boards. One dime away from his first Finals triple-double. But this wasn’t a numbers game—it was a conductor’s performance. The 24-year-old savant saw the Thunder’s soft spots and pressed into them like pressure points.
Pascal Siakam added 21. Veteran poise. Spin moves from the Serengeti. Each bucket a brushstroke on a canvas painted in bruises and sweat.
This wasn’t about making noise. This was about muting the Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his moments, but none that shifted tectonics. Chet Holmgren looked more flustered than fierce. Jalen Williams was brilliant then caught in quicksand. And OKC’s bench? Outscored 49 to 18.
THE MOMENTUM, THE MATH, THE MENTALITY
Here’s the calculus: Teams who win Game 3 of a 1-1 Finals go on to win the series 80.5% of the time.
Here’s the reality: The Pacers haven’t lost two straight games since March 10th. In this postseason? They are undefeated coming off a loss. 5-0. Emotionally ambidextrous.
This isn’t a Cinderella run. That script expired two rounds ago. This is a revolution. One built not on names, but on next-men-up.
“This is how we’ve got to do it,” Carlisle said. “We got to do it as a team.”
FRIDAY LOOMS.
Game 4 is coming. Back in Indy. Thunder leaning on the ropes. And suddenly, the Finals don’t feel inevitable anymore. They feel open. Fragile. Human.
Because now we know—Bennedict Mathurin knows, T.J. McConnell knows, Haliburton damn sure knows:
The Pacers belong here.
And when that belief goes bench-deep?
Good luck.
This is the Finals. This is Indiana.