By James Mario Ajero
The 116-107 win in Game 3 is a joyous moment for the fans of the Indiana Pacers, a team that has not seen the NBA Finals at home since 2000.
The audience at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse was beaming with pride and triumph as the Pacers recaptured the series lead, 2-1, bringing them two steps closer to a coveted NBA championship.
Indiana Pacers
Balanced playstyle was the name of the game for Tyrese Haliburton who exerted a more strategic effort in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
With an output of 22 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists, and two steals in 36 minutes of play, Haliburton made sure he got a grip on what was happening at the opposite ends of the floor.
Apart from that, he scored four threes in eight attempts, making him a perimeter threat for the Thunder.
Pascal Siakam, meanwhile, delivered another 21 points, showing that he is still a reliable double-digit producer for Indiana.
The Pacers had a better offensive and defensive performance in Game 3, evident with Indiana forcing Oklahoma City to commit 19 turnovers.
In a report from CBS News, the Pacers’ bench contributed 49 points, compared to the 19 markers made by their Thunder counterparts.
TJ McConnell almost came out of nowhere to torment OKC, delivering 10 points, five assists, and five steals from the bench, a feat that has not been done since the 1973-74 season, according to the league’s statistics.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, their nightmare did not end with McConnell.
Benedict Mathurin shot 9-for-12 from the field, going 2-for-3 from deep to finish the game with 27 points.
OKC Thunder
While the Pacers remain the underdogs in the series, OKC needs to win Game 4 to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole for obvious reasons.
So far, the Thunder are 5-0 after playoff losses with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander urging his teammates to “suck it up, get it done.”
For All-Star Jalen Williams, OKC needs to revert to the identity that made them a 68-win team in the regular season.
Though the rest of the team is trying to share the scoring responsibility from Gilgeous-Alexander who is still averaging 32 points in the series, OKC’s swarming defense was absent in Game 3.
“That’s our identity. We’ve kind of (strayed) away from it a little bit.”
“I think when you’re scoring at a good rate, sometimes it can drop off a little bit. That’s something that we’ve looked at,” said Williams.
OKC’s lack of defensive intensity late in the game caused the squad to lose their five-point lead prior to Haliburton’s three that allowed the Pacers to press ahead, 101-98.
Meanwhile, former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Magic Johnson believes Haliburton still has some adjustments to do if they want to win over the Thunder.
“You can’t just have 15 assists and 12 points or 15 points. That’s not enough.”
“You gotta score in this series.”
“See, you gotta remember that OKC is the highest scoring team in the league, so you have to personally, Haliburton, come out and say, ‘I gotta get my assists but also I gotta score. I gotta score’,” said Johnson on First Take.
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Newsjustnews writers 
Geoffrey H. Latayan