Indiana Pacers rallied to beat Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 at home and claim a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals after Game 3 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Shooting guard Tyrese Haliburton showed off his talents with 22 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds, while power forward Pascal Siakam added 21 points for the Pacers, who have not lost back-to-back games since December.
At the end of the third quarter, Oklahoma City had surged ahead for their biggest lead of the second half at 89-84, Jalen Williams leading the way for Thunder with 26 points while NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points.
However, the Pacers finished the match strongly and Siakam effectively sealed the victory with an easy basket that gave them a 112-104 lead with 69 seconds left.
"This is the kind of team that we are," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
"We need everybody to be ready. It's not always going to be exactly the same guys that are stepping up with scoring and stuff like that. But this is how we've got to do it."
In the 41 previous NBA Finals that were tied at a game apiece - after Pacers stunned Thunder in Game 1 and Oklahoma got their revenge in Game 2 - the winner of Game 3 went on to lift the trophy 33 times.
"We had a lot of good stretches of the game," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
"But they had more good stretches than we did - and outplayed us over the course of 48 minutes."
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Friday in Indianapolis.
