Good morning, I’m Tyler Lauletta, filling in for your usual host, Dan Gartland, on newsletter duty today. A little about me: I like basketball, Steely Dan and long walks on the beach. Oh, and writing newsletters. Let’s get to newslettering.
In today’s SI:AM:
A different kind of Pacers win
The Indiana Pacers have pulled off so many improbable wins this postseason that we probably shouldn’t be surprised anymore. No team reaches the NBA Finals by accident.
But Wednesday night’s Game 3 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder was a far different surprise than the one they pulled off in Game 1 of the series and time and time again on their run through the playoffs. The Pacers beat the Thunder, not with an epic comeback where they caught the opposition sleeping late, but with a full 48 minutes of hard-nosed, hustle-first-ask-questions-later basketball. Neither team ever led by double digits. It was a bar fight from start to finish, and the Thunder ultimately got bounced.
Tyrese Haliburton was once again the centerpiece for the Pacers, finishing the night with 22 points, 11 assists and one rebound shy of completing his triple-double. The Indiana bench shone the brightest on Wednesday night.
Bennedict Mathurin led all scorers with 27 points in 22 minutes off the bench, shooting an electric 9-of-12 from the floor. It was the most points by a bench player in the Finals in more than a decade, and he also earned one of the best calls of the night from play-by-play man Mike Breen.
MATHURIN FOR 25 AND A NEW PLAYOFF CAREER HIGH!
— NBA (@NBA) June 12, 2025
Gives the @Pacers the lead in the 4th 🔥🍿 pic.twitter.com/MpQ8BK8vJ1
T.J. McConnell was also a certified spark for the Pacers. While he played just 15 minutes off the bench, he was absolutely everywhere, picking pockets and throwing his body across the floor to scrape every inch of advantage that he could. His stat line of 10 points, five assists and five steals was just the 16th of its kind in the NBA Finals, and the first one ever to come off the bench.
TJ MCCONNELL ALL HUSTLE 😤 pic.twitter.com/RRazUMNF74
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 12, 2025
Hustle was a theme for the Pacers, and it was present up and down the roster. There’s a lot of talk about rotations tightening in the NBA playoffs, but the Pacers ran 10 men on the floor with nine of them playing at least 15 minutes in a game that was always within striking distance for both teams. Hearing coach Rick Carlisle tell it after the game, this is just how this team rolls.
“T.J. just brought a will, competitive will to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball to the basket,” Carlisle said, praising his stars off the bench. “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 stepping up and scoring. This is how we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to do it as a team.”
It takes a lot of trust for a basketball team to ever operate like that, and even more to do it in the NBA Finals, but it’s how this team is built.
“They have this belief about them,” Breen told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after the game. “There’s just a special fight to this group because of what they’ve gone through the last couple of playoffs, and they’ve gone through it together. It’s the perfect example of continuity on a basketball team. Same coach, same players. They know their strengths, they know their weaknesses. It’s fun to watch because they know how to play together.”
Indiana entered the Finals as massive underdogs. Before that, they were massive underdogs to even reach the Finals. They have answered every single question that has been asked of them, time and time again. Now, they’re two wins away from their first NBA title in franchise history, and even if the oddsmakers still have the Thunder as favorites to take the trophy, it's the Pacers that are undeniably in the driver’s seat right now.
The last time this team lost two games in a row, we were all still waiting for the March Madness bracket to drop. If they can extend that streak just a few more days, they’ll lift the trophy.
Game 4 is set for Friday night. Don’t miss it.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Chris Mannix was in Indianapolis for Game 3 of the NBA Finals, where he writes that Tyrese Haliburton responded to the criticism of his Game 2 performance with a near triple-double, leading the Pacers to a 2-1 series lead over the Thunder.
- In the latest installment of 32 Teams in 32 Days, the Indianapolis Colts consider 2025 a pivotal season for the franchise. Can quarterback Anthony Richardson stay healthy and show why he was the No. 4 overall draft pick in the 2023 Draft?
- The U.S. Open at Oakmont is here. Our team makes their picks with the player’s winning score.
- In the latest NFL mailbag, Albert Breer addresses why a potential Kirk Cousins trade is currently unlikely, stalled due to his hefty salary, no‑trade clause, and lack of interest from other teams. This leaves him positioned as a likely backup in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Breer walks through his reasons why T.J. Watt and Terry McLaurin will eventually get an extension done
- Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers scored a career-high 35 points on Wednesday after missing the last four games due to a concussion and illness.
- The strangest part of the Rays’ starting rotation? Just how normal it is. Nick Selbe investigates.
The top five…
…things I saw last night:
5. This NBA Finals is the battle of fan bases that are down to wear the free shirt.
4. Charles Barkley thinks the Knicks’ coaching search is as funny as the rest of us do.
3. Seattle Storm guard Erica Wheeler was so emotional after snapping the Minnesota Lynx undefeated streak.
2. Jake Fraley lays it all on the line.
1. Obi Toppin put the exclamation point on the Pacers’ win.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Pacers Grind Past Thunder to Take Game 3.
