The Indiana Pacers overcame an early deficit and closed out strong to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in a contest heard last night on the Sports Voice. Indiana leads the best of seven series two games to one. Going into last night’s game, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the home crowd had to be loud. He got that, along with contributions from nine different players who scored at least one point, led by Bennedict Mathurin’s game high 27. Tyrese Haliburton just missed a triple double; he had 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Trailing by eight after the first quarter, the Pacers outscored the Thunder 40-28 to lead 64-60 at halftime, but Oklahoma City regained the lead at the end of the third quarter, 89-84. The fourth quarter belonged to the Pacers. They outscored the Thunder in the final period, 32-18. Indiana’s bench outscored the Thunder bench, 49-18. This was the first time the Pacers franchise hosted an NBA Finals game in 25 years. Game Four is tomorrow night in downtown Indianapolis. Our coverage begins with tipoff at 8:30.
It was the Guardians over the Reds 11-2 in Cleveland yesterday afternoon in a game you heard here on WRBI. The loss snapped the Reds five game winning streak. Nick Lodolo was roughed up; he gave up six earned runs on five hits while striking out six and walking two. Lodolo also surrendered a grand slam in the 3rd inning. The Reds only runs came on solo homers by Elly De La Cruz and T.J. Friedl. Despite the loss, Reds outfielder Will Benson was named the Frank Robinson Ohio Cup MVP. In five games against his former team this year, Benson had a .474 batting average with four home runs, eight driven in – including two go-ahead RBIs – and six runs scored. Cincinnati took five out of six games the two teams played this year. The Reds are off today before starting a three-game weekend series in Detroit tomorrow night against the Tigers.
