Tyrese Haliburton may be the Pacers' face now, but after Game 3 of the NBA Finals, he was all on the bench.
Halliburton told Reporter, “We just let the guys make the game after the game.” “Our bench was amazing. … It was a huge win for us.”
The Pacers rushed past the Thunder 116-107 and led 2-1 in the series, which was their second unit that completely flipped the script.
The breakthrough star is Bennedict Mathurin. The 22-year-old caught fire on the bench and has scored a reserve-high 27 points in the finals since Jason Terry in 2011.
After the game, Mathurin said, “Just ready,” he said. “Whenever my phone number is called to the game, you have to go into the game, do the right thing and try to help my team win. That's the whole mindset.”
Mathurin waited for a long time. After falling into trouble in last year's playoffs, he hung up a literal countdown calendar in the training room just to mark the days until his return.
“This is a defense [midrange looks] Halliburton said he praised Matthewlin's reading and how he performed it. “It could be anyone’s night when you have such a deep team.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle saw the work ethics and said the best.
“He is definitely the main factor.”
But he is not alone. TJ McConnell came in and could only get into chaos on OKC with 10 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
The Pacers didn't ride on one or two stars, they rolled ten deep.
Indiana's losses and statistical losses since March are now 10-0, and in a very good place, the team that won Game 3 of the 1-1 Finals Series continues to win 80.5% of the entire game.
Read more: Demarcus Cousins
