Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle lauded his team's bench as they played a starring role in their Game 3 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. 

The Pacers took a 2-1 series lead with a 116-107 victory on Wednesday, with Bennedict Mathurin scoring a team-high 27 points off the bench. 

Indeed, Mathurin's haul was the most points for a reserve in an NBA Finals game since Jason Terry in 2011, and T.J. McConnell had five steals in the game. 

Indiana's bench outscored the Thunder's 49-18, while Tyrese Haliburton added 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds as Pascal Siakam played his part with 21 points. 

"This is the kind of team that we are," Carlisle said. "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 got to do it. We got to do it as a team."

The Pacers now find themselves in control of the series, with history on their side. Teams that have won Game 3 of a 1-1 NBA finals have gone on to win 80.5% of the time. 

Indiana also remained unbeaten after a loss in the 2025 postseason, improving to 5-0. The Pacers still have not dropped back-to-back games since March 8 and 10.

goodnight pic.twitter.com/a3TsAW7F42

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 12, 2025

Mathurin was the catalyst behind Indiana's victory, with the Pacers trailing Oklahoma by five points at the end of the third quarter. 

Indeed, he became the sixth player since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77 to score 25 or more points in the Finals at age 22 or younger, joining Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.

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

The Pacers also got a spark from McConnell, who scored 10 points with five assists to go along with the five steals, numbers no player has ever put up in an NBA Finals game.

"That's the great thing about the Finals, great thing about basketball," Haliburton said. "When you have a team with this much depth, it can be anybody's night."

Mathurin had not played a huge role in the first two games of the series -- playing 16 minutes in Game 1 and 22 in Game 2 with a stint in garbage time. 

"Just staying ready," Mathurin said. "Whenever my number is called, go into the game and do the right things and try to help my team win. That's the whole mindset."

It's been a difficult few seasons for Mathurin, who picked up a torn labrum in his right shoulder in March 2024. 

The injury prevented him from featuring in the Pacers' run to the Eastern Conference finals last year. 

After the injury last March, Carlisle revealed that Mathurin placed a calendar in the team's training room with a countdown to when he would finally be cleared to play.

"Every day he would come in and take one off, take one off," Carlisle said. "He was counting the days down to being cleared sometime in August.

"Then be able to begin training camp, begin 5-on-5 with our guys in September and then be in training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs.

"He's putting a lot of work to be ready for these moments, and tonight he was an absolute major factor."