27+5+5 steals! Pacers surprises defeat the Thunder! The NBA s most ruthless dog makes the favorites desperate

25 years of waiting, I finally waited until today after a long time! The Pacers once again shine in the NBA Finals! In the third game of the NBA Finals, the Pacers defeated the Thunder 116-107 at home, leading 2-1 with a big score.

When you encounter strong, you will be strong, and your combat power will be unlimited! The Pacers are still evolving in the finals, and this magical team cannot judge them by common sense!

Halliburton's quasi-tripled, Siakam's stable output, Matherin's explosion, and the Pacers confirmed that the team's basketball can also play the finals! What's even more amazing is that their substitute scored 49 points, while the Thunder scored only 18 points. This depth of crushing became the watershed of the victory or defeat of the game.

X factor explodes! The Pacers bench crashed on the Thunder

If Halliburton is the Pacers' engine, then Mathering is the nuclear warhead tonight. The 22-year-old made a substitute, scoring 27 points on 9 of 12 shots, scoring one of them surpassed the Thunder's entire bench. His impact force makes the Thunder defense line lose sight of one thing, whether it is a breakthrough dunk or a cold arrow from the outside, it makes the opponent unable to defend. What is even more surprising is veteran TJ McConnell. The 1.85-meter white point guard contributed 10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals in 15 minutes, becoming the first substitute player in NBA history to reach a "5 assists + 5 interruption" in a single game in the Finals. His ghostly steals and precise passes completely disrupted the Thunder's offensive rhythm.

Haliburton's transformation: From the passer master to the offense and defense core, people used to say that Halliburton was "modern Nash", but tonight he proved that he was much more than that. In addition to 11 assists to revitalize the team, he also grabbed 9 rebounds, sent 2 steals and 1 block. Facing MVP Alexander, Harry refused to give in on the defensive end, allowing the latter to score only 3 points in the final quarter and make 6 mistakes.

"We don't care who scores, we only care about how to win." Halliburton's words after the game perfectly interpret the Pacers' basketball philosophy. They don’t have superstars, but everyone can stand up at critical moments – Turner’s key block, Toppin’s violent patch, Nemhard’s cold-blooded three-pointer… The scary thing about this team is that you never know who will be a hero in the next game.

Thunder's Dilemma: Why did talent lose to the system?

In contrast, Thunder, their talents are beyond doubt. The three young couples of Alexander, Jewish and Chett were invincible in the regular season, but they seemed to be isolated tonight. Coach Dagnot's stubborn seven-player rotation allowed the main players to overdraw their physical fitness in the final quarter; the double tower tactics were dragged down by the Pacers' five smalls, and Chet was completely lost in Turner's confrontation.

What's more fatal is that the Thunder's bench was completely silent. While the Pacers kept sending new forces to maintain defensive strength, the Thunder's substitute was unable to provide fire support. Shooters such as Joe and Wallace were DNP, and the main players' solo fights seemed pale and powerless in front of the Pacers' team defense.

history is repeating? After this game, the Pacers became the third No. 4 seed team in NBA history to lead the first three games of the Finals. Among the first two teams that achieved this achievement, the Rockets finally won the championship in 1995 - the "Under Dog" team led by Olajuwon is a classic representative of team basketball.

Nowadays, walkers are moving along similar trajectories. Their fast pace (scoring the Thunder with 51-31 fast break in this game), high-intensity defense (13 steals hit a playoff high) and deep rotation (9 players in the team scored) constitute the ultimate weapon to challenge the giants.

Optimistic G4: The Thunder has no way out

The G4 on June 14 will become the turning point in the series. The Thunder must solve three major problems:

Substitute score: must activate shooters such as Joe, Carson Wallace;

Last quarter physical fitness: expand rotation to avoid overdraft of the main force;

crack the five small: give up the inefficient double towers and match the Pacers' speed.

And for Pacers, they only need to stick to their basketball - as coach Carlisle said: "When 12 of us believe that we can change the game, nothing is impossible."

In this era of advocating superstars, Pacers proved in the most primitive way: basketball has never been a game built by superstars, but a war between five people. The essence of basketball is always the heartbeat of five people to form a rhythm. When fans at Gainbridge Arena shout "Defense", what you hear is not only cheering, but also an echo of basketball belief.

Perhaps, the O'Brien Cup will eventually belong to this city that will never be bad. Because there are always some victories, which have nothing to do with talent, but only connected with passion.