Last season, the Indiana Pacers were a surprise Eastern Conference Finals participant. This season, they surprised even more people by reaching the NBA Finals. Now, they sit just two wins away from the franchise’s first NBA championship. While they made a lengthy run in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, they were missing a key piece throughout the postseason. The return of Bennedict Mathurin for this year’s playoffs has been a huge boon for the team, and it was clearly evidenced in the Pacers Game 3 victory on Wednesday.
Pacers See What Was Missing Last Year With Top Scoring Reserve
Return Of Bennedict Mathurin Has Boosted Indiana’s Bench Unit, Particularly In Game 3 Of NBA Finals
It was a pivotal Game 3 with the NBA Finals squared up at one win apiece. On their home court, Indiana took the series lead with a 116-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The second and fourth quarters were where the Pacers (and their bench) gave themselves the advantage. The second stanza was won by the Pacers 40-28, while the last 12 minutes were won 32-18 by Indiana. Reserves T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin played a large role for the Pacers, but it was Mathurin who put together a career-best postseason outing.
In just 22 minutes, the soon-to-be 23-year-old (birthday is June 19) Mathurin dropped 27 points. He did so despite not even playing in the first quarter. His Game 3 performance saw him shoot 9-12 from the field, 2-3 from beyond the arc, and 7-8 from the free-throw line. He constantly attacked a stout Thunder defense that had no answers for him in this outing.
It was the aforementioned second and fourth quarters where Mathurin did much of his damage. In both of them, he reached double figures in points. Fourteen points came in the second and 10 were scored in the fourth. The Pacers were a +16 in his time on the floor meaning they were -7 when he sat.
This was the first time that a player had scored that much off the bench in the NBA Finals since Jason Terry. He did so in 2011 when he scored 27 in the Dallas Mavericks championship-clinching Game 6 win over the Miami Heat. Mathurin’s 27 points are also the most in NBA Finals history while seeing 22 or less minutes of action.
Was Not Available During Last Year’s Postseason
Now in his third season, Mathurin was selected sixth overall by the Pacers in the 2022 NBA Draft. This postseason is his first taste of playoff basketball. Indiana missed the playoffs in Mathurin’s rookie year, and he unfortunately was sidelined during last year’s Eastern Conference Finals run. A torn labrum forced him to watch rather than participate.
The top-scoring team in the NBA last season was not able to have the offensive explosions they were accustomed to against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. After scoring 128 in an overtime loss in Game 1, they averaged 107.7 points over the last three games. That is a far cry from the 123.3 they averaged during the regular season, and Indiana was unceremoniously swept. Certainly, they could have used another excellent scorer off the bench in Mathurin.
Wednesday marked the fifth time this postseason where Mathurin finished with at least 19 points. The Pacers depth is a major reason they are just two wins from a championship, and the 6-foot-6 forward has been the main offensive cog off their bench. While it may be too optimistic to believe that the Pacers would have toppled the Celtics last year with Mathurin in tow, he would have absolutely helped.
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