NBA Finals Game 3: Interesting Wrinkles for the Thunder and Pacers

The Indiana Pacers now lead the Oklahoma City Thunder 2-1 in their best-of-seven Finals series to determine the 2025 NBA Champion. The Pacers are making a great showing in a matchup that many experts, myself included, figured was likely to go to the Thunder. But in a slightly-more-solid prediction, I said before the series that Indiana versus OKC was going to be good for basketball as a sport. I think that has borne out so far. These games aren’t just about star power and three-point shooting. Small wrinkles are turning the tide for each team.

In particular, three factors either played a big role in Indiana’s win or demonstrated how the evening was going irrespective of the obvious trends.

The first, and more glaring was Benedict Mathurin scoring 27 points on 9-12 shooting off the bench for the Pacers. It wasn’t just that Mathurin scored, but how. Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton relayed it best in his post-game interview:

“He did a great job of coming off handoffs, reading the pocket, rising up from the midrange,” Haliburton said. “This is a defense that will give that up.”

Mathurin went counter-cultural. The modern NBA loves three-pointers and layups. The mid-range game has all but disappeared from its height in the Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant years. Teams want the extra point that comes with the three or the sure bet (and possible foul shots) that layups provide, nothing in between.

Knowing this, defenses key up against those two shots. It’s smart. It usually works. On Wednesday, Mathurin demonstrated that there’s always a counter, one of the beauties of the game of basketball. Instead of driving to the cup, he drove hard, got the defense retreating to guard against the layup, then pulled up in the empty “pocket” that Haliburton references, hitting jumpers in the middle ground, relatively unguarded.

Trail Blazers fans will want to elbow Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, both of whom could take advantage of this technique to keep defenders off balance. Portland’s guards are deadly when they get to the rim. Opponents will scheme for that. Hard planting and rising off the drive would open up opportunities for the young backcourt players that they currently miss.

The second factor in Game 3 was more hidden, but really indicative. Obi Toppin had an energetic game for the Pacers, shooting 4-8 for 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 28 minutes.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Toppin is not going to be the reason Indiana wins games. He is a pretty good indication that Oklahoma City is losing it though. On Wednesday night, Toppin was flying at the rim, soaring and all but unopposed. It wasn’t just straight-line on the court, it was vertical in the air. OKC wasn’t getting a body on him anywhere, on the runway or during take-off.

That’s a decent sign that the Thunder are either tired or resigned. If you put coequal energy into stopping Toppin, his contributions will probably be muted. Letting him run free means you stopped trying your hardest.

The final factor was T.J. McConnell off the bench. Much has been made of his historical 10-5-5 performance in 15 minutes of play. The 5 steals were the big thing. That’s not just an enormous statistical number, it’s literally taking the lion’s teeth out of his own mouth and biting him back with it. Oklahoma City thrives on turnovers and run-outs. McConnell didn’t even let them get off the launching pad. OKC forced only 13 turnovers all game long. T.J. got 40% of them back in those 15 minutes on the floor. If Indiana can keep a ratio like that, they’re going to have a lot easier time overcoming the Thunder’s natural defensive advantage.

Put these all together and this was one of the more interesting Finals games in recent memory despite not being terribly flashy. Let’s see what adjustments the teams make for Game 4. The pressure is on Oklahoma City now. Will they have an answer on Friday night?

What else did you notice from Game 3? Anything that the Blazers might learn from? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.