NBA Matchups: June 13

Oklahoma City Thunder at Indiana Pacers

Team Totals: Thunder 116.5, Pacers 110.5

Injury Report: Jarace Walker (O, ankle), Nikola Topic (O, ACL)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Thunder projected starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren

Offensive Ranks: Pacers 10th, Thunder 2nd
Defensive Ranks: Pacers 13th, Thunder 1st

Season Series: 2-0 Thunder

Noteworthy Missed Games: Alex Caruso (1), Chet Holmgren (2), Bennedict Mathurin (1), Aaron Nesmith (1)

Carlisle quotes: Said T.J. brought a competitive will to the game and Mathurin just put the ball in the basket, said it’s not always going to be the same guys that step up but that’s how it has to be, said they are going to have to be ready for the adjustments coming from OKC’s defense in Game 4, said Haliburton was aggressive and did a great job of getting the ball to his teammates, said it was a big response from them to have a great start for the fourth, said Myles Turner is “under the weather” and he may not practice on Thursday, said Turner didn’t have his wind because of the illness, said Mathurin took a lot of mental notes in the playoffs last year when he was hurt.

Daigneault quotes: Said they took control of the game in the third but the Pacers really outplayed them in the fourth, said the Pacers were more physical and they didn’t stack up enough plays to get a road win, said the Pacers had more than enough pace to get themselves into the paint, said they have to get back to who they are in Game 4. 

Stats and notes:

*The bench has been a huge story in this series with the winner’s bench having the edge in all three games (G1 Indy +11, G2 OKC +14, Indy +31), and once again Indy’s depth has provided tremendous value in a series. On the whole, the Thunder were just flat-out beaten on Wednesday with a 48-minute performance from the Pacers. OKC shot 45.5% from deep and took their first L of the season when they shot that well from deep (11-0). The Pacers also won fast-break points again with a 17-10 edge, and they were able to get some paint scoring as they won that 50-48. The Pacers only had a 14.0% turnover percentage for OKC’s second-lowest percentage allowed all postseason, and OKC had their highest turnover percentage in any game this postseason (18.8%). The Pacers were still getting a ton of shots late in the clock in Game 3 and they are not making those, but they really cashed in early in the clock with an 18-of-26 (69.2 FG%, 70 eFG%) shooting line from 15-24 seconds left on the clock. The Pacers finally upped their transition with 17.2% of their possessions for the second-highest mark OKC allowed this postseason. Plus, OKC had their second-lowest transition frequency in any postseason game. Basically Indiana went full OKC on OKC in Game 3.