SportsOrbit

Indianapolis — A bad start to the game. A bad start to the second half. The third quarter ended on a low note. Add it all together, and the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated those game segments — a total of nearly six and a half minutes — by a score of 27-6. Fortunately for the Indiana Pacers, there were 41 more minutes in Game 3 of the 2025 Finals on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Six of those came in the fourth quarter, when the Pacers’ big men Myles Turner and Obi Toppin made all the difference, scoring a little and denying even more as defenders to help Indiana win 116-107 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship series. The moment Indiana’s 7-1 run early in the fourth quarter was necessary, but it only gave them a 98-96 lead with eight minutes remaining. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were on fire for OKC, with the latter’s left-handed layup bringing the Thunder even at 98-98. Turner then checked in with 7:04 left to play. Toppin had been in since the beginning of the fourth. The Pacers’ two big men — both capable of shooting from outside the arc and both rangy enough to protect the rim — were on the court together against this opponent, which draws more attention when its two bigs, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, play together. The Impact Turner, who had been fighting a cold all day, began simply by passing the ball to Tyrese Haliburton for a three-pointer that forced the Thunder to take a timeout. The longest-tenured Indiana player was penalized for a moving screen, costing his team the ball and allowing Williams’ floater to cut the lead to 101-100. Turner made up for it with a basket over Holmgren with 5:38 remaining. That’s when the largest Pacers asserted their dominance. Turner blocked Holmgren’s layup attempt. Toppin cleared a missed three-pointer by Lu Dort. Toppin slapped back Haliburton’s inaccurate jumper. Then it was Toppin’s time to defend Williams near the rim. When both teams looked up, the Pacers had completed a 9-2 run that put them up, 107-100. Turner and Toppin stayed in, and Turner capped their contributions by blocking Holmgren twice in a row, first on a long 3-pointer and then on a driving layup. At that time, the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd was delirious. The Pacers led 110-104 with less than two minutes remaining. The Thunder had lost all momentum and rhythm, and they were settling for split free shots. In a league where clubs that score by threes appear to have an advantage, scoring by one wasn’t going to cut it. What are they saying? “Well, Myles is under the weather. He might not even be with us tomorrow. He hasn’t been feeling well for the past few days.” —Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, referring to Friday’s practice rather than Turner’s cold. “He did an excellent job of taking a few deep breaths in the third quarter, resetting, and returning to the game prepared. That’s what much of this is. You have to be quite resilient. Things occur in milliseconds. I mean, these guys pass you by, dunk the ball, do this and that. There’s a lot going on. — Carlisle on Turner’s resurgence after a rough start. “They outplayed us in the fourth quarter. I thought they were true to character in terms of toughness and defensive pressure. Then they were in character with their offensive speed. They just had a lot more quality possessions in the fourth quarter than we did. – Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “[Obi] is gifted. We know what he’s capable of, and he’s one of the league’s fastest big men on the floor. He’s ideal for what we want to achieve, and his dunking skill is undeniably impressive. I simply adore when he gets aggressive. Playing defense, running, and again, using his agility to get in the paint, rebound, and do anything he can as a big that can move.” – Pacers forward Pascal Siakam. What’s next? If the Pacers have any say in the matter, and if they intend to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, they will need at least two more performances like this one. It’s always about the collective, whether it’s Turner and Toppin disrupting OKC’s shots and flow, Bennedict Mathurin dropping an unexpected 27 off the bench, or backup guard T.J. McConnell bending the game to his will anytime he comes in. “Look, this is the kind of team that we are,” stated coach Rick Carlisle. “We need everybody to be prepared. It won’t always be the same players who step up with scores and such. But here is how we managed to achieve it. “We need all of our guys to bring whatever is their thing to our thing.” They’ll aim to do it again with only 48 hours between games. Game 4 is scheduled for Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), marking the series’ shortest game turnaround.