NBA Finals Game 3 updates: Thunder vs Pacers predictions, time, where to watch

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We’re all tied up in the 2025 NBA Finals. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 123-107 in Game 2 on Sunday to even up the championship series as it shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Wednesday. 

Following his 38-point performance in the Thunder’s Game 1 loss, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander exploded for 34 points in Game 2 win. During the win, Gilgeous-Alexander became the 12th player in NBA history to score 3,000 points in the regular season and postseason, joining the likes of Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Is another big game in store for the 2025 NBA MVP? 

Meanwhile, Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton has struggled to get going in the 2025 NBA Finals so far. Despite scoring the go-ahead field goal to steal Game 1 from the Thunder, Haliburton has been limited to 14 points in Game 1 and 17 points in Game 2. 

It all adds up to a must-see Game 3. USA TODAY Sports will provide the latest updates, highlights, wild plays, analysis and more throughout the game. Follow along. 

The Pacers took full advantage of the non-SGA minutes.

With NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting a breather to start the second quarter, Indiana got massive contributions from its own bench to claim its first lead of the game, 39-36.

This, for those wondering, is Indiana’s largest lead of the series.

T.J. McConnell and Bennedict Mathurin are leading the charge, with Indiana’s bench outscoring Oklahoma City’s 19-0. McConnell has just two points but four assists, and Mathurin has poured in nine points in just 4:33 on the floor.

Gilgeous-Alexander has returned to floor.

Holmgren is listed at 7-foot-1. He’s averaging 10.5 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block through the first two games of the 2025 NBA Finals, down from his regular-season average of 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 32 regular season games (all starts).

Looking to reclaim homecourt advantage, the Oklahoma City Thunder started Game 3 like a team looking to steal one on the road.

The Thunder have opened a 32-24 lead through one, shooting 55% from the floor. Although NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did score a modest six points in the period, it was the contributions of center Chet Holmgren (13 points on 4-of-5 shooting) and Luguentz Dort (nine points on three made 3-pointers) that got the Thunder going.

The Pacers did reasonably well on offense in the first quarter, shooting 50%, but their transition defense at times yielded easy opportunities for Oklahoma City. Another area where Indiana struggled was keeping the Thunder off the line; while both teams put up 20 shot attempts in the period, Pacers fouls led to eight free throw attempts for OKC, which converted seven of those. The Pacers, by comparison, were just 2-of-4 from the stripe.

Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was aggressive early on, scoring Indiana’s first three field goals, but his final shot attempt of the period came with 9:01 to play. Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton scored five points but recorded four assists to get his teammates going.

Game 3 started just the way the first two did: with the Thunder red hot to start and the Pacers slow out of the gate.

Oklahoma City drained six of its first nine attempts (66.7%), opening up a quick nine-point lead, 15-6, through the first four-and-a-half minutes of play.

Thunder center Chet Holmgren’s struggles from Game 1 feel rather distant, as he has made all three of his attempts, leading all scorers with eight points.

Indiana, meanwhile, has looked to get forward Pascal Siakam going, and he has six quick points on 3-of-4 shooting. The only issue? The rest of the team is 0-for-3 and does not have a single point.

Indiana Fever teammates Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Natasha Howard are in the building. One day after the Fever’s 77-58 road loss to the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday, Clark, Boston and Howard returned to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to cheer on their NBA counterparts in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It’s not the first game Clark has attended this postseason — she cheered on the Pacers during the team’s Game 6 win over the Knicks to clinch the Eastern Conference title.

The Fever stars are simply returning the favor. Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers attended the Fever’s opening night win over the Chicago Sky on May 17. The Fever next host the New York Liberty at home on Saturday. Clark is nursing a left quad strain that has sidelined her for five games and it’s not clear if she’ll play this weekend. 

Clark is not the only star in the house. Former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, “America’s Got Talent” host Terry Crews and NBA legend Oscar Robertson were among the celebrities in attendance.

Reggie Miller is in the crowd in Indiana, supporting the Pacers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Miller was sporting former teammate Mark Jackson’s No. 13 jersey on Wednesday. Miller spent all 18 seasons of his professional career with the Pacers in the No. 31 jersey before retiring in 2005 and becoming a color commentator and analyst for TNT. He played with Jackson on the Pacers for parts of six seasons, including 1999-2000 when the Pacers last reached the NBA Finals.

Miller was on the call for the Eastern Conference finals between the Pacers and New York Knicks.

Michael Kang sang the national anthem before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Kang is a mandolin and violin player for The String Cheese Incident, an American jam band from Colorado that formed in 1993. He is a longtime friend of Steve Simon, the son of Pacers owner Herb Simon.

The group is scheduled to begin a tour on Thursday, starting in Maine.

What time is Thunder vs Pacers game today?

The Oklahoma City Thunder host the Indiana Pacers for Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.

Where to watch Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 3

• Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
• Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Indiana)
• TV: ABC
• Stream: Fubo, Sling TV

Watch the NBA Finals with Fubo

Where is Game 3 between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder?

The Indiana Pacers host the Oklahoma City Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. 

Game 3 between the Thunder and Pacers is available on ABC. Fans can also stream the action with Sling TV and Fubo, which offers a free trial for new users.

The Oklahoma City Thunder host the Indiana Pacers at 8:30 p.m. ET with coverage on ABC.

• Lu Dort
• Jalen Williams
• Chet Holmgren
• Cason Wallace
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

• Aaron Nesmith
• Pascal Siakam
• Myles Turner
• Andrew Nembhard
• Tyrese Haliburton

Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton is not listed on the injury report, despite dealing with what he calls “a lower leg thing.” However, Jarace Walker (right ankle strain) and Isaiah Jackson (Achilles) are both ruled out.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have one NBA Championship. However, it came in 1979 when the team was the Seattle SuperSonics. It has not won a title since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008.

The Indiana Pacers have not won an NBA Championship. It has two Eastern Conference titles (2000, 2025).

The 2025 NBA Finals is, in many ways, a celebration of the point guard.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar, and Tyrese Haliburton, the pass-first point guard with a penchant in the clutch, are each franchise’s hope to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Though they likely won’t match up directly all the time, the responsibility of guarding the other likely falling to more specialized defenders, Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton are reshaping the image of the point guard in the modern NBA.

USA TODAY’s Jeff Zillgitt and Lorenzo Reyes look at the Pacers and Thunder’s biggest stars.

The NBA’s 3-point shot has enemies.

Too many 3s, they say. The shot is ruining the game, they say.

And those critics of the 3-point shot found ammunition in the Eastern Conference semifinals of this season’s playoffs when the Boston Celtics attempted 60 3-pointers and missed 45 against the New York Knicks. The guffawing ignored the fact that Boston’s 3-point shooting was instrumental in its 2023-24 championship season and in its 61-21 record this season.

Regardless of your aesthetic view of how basketball should be played and what it should look like, the 3-point shot has turned divisive but remains vital to winning championships.

USA TODAY’s Jeff Zillgitt takes a deeper look at this divisive shot.

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Chet Holmgren
• Jalen Williams
• Luguentz Dort
• Alex Caruso
• Isaiah Joe
• Cason Wallace
• Jaylin Williams
• Aaron Wiggins
• Kenrich Williams
• Isaiah Hartenstein
• Ousmane Diang
• Nikola Topic
• Ajay Mitchell
• Dillon Jones

• Tyrese Haliburton
• Pascal Siakam
• Myles Turner
• Benedict Mathurin
• Obi Toppin
• Andrew Nebhard
• Aaron Nesmith
• T.J. McConnell
• Isaiah Jackson
• Jarace Walker
• Ben Sheppard
• Johnny Furphy
• James Johnson
• Thomas Bryant

Though he walked with a limp following Oklahoma City’s Game 2 victory, Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton is not on the NBA’s official injury report for Game 3.

He called it a “lower leg thing” on Tuesday, June 10, and said, “I’m fine … I’ll leave it at that. I don’t think there’s anything more to elaborate. I feel fine, and I’ll be ready to go for Game 3.”

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said, “He practiced. He went through everything. I know he has some discomfort. He feels it. But each day it’s getting better. I don’t think you’re going to hear him making a big deal out of it.”

Per Dustin Dopriak of the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, Walker is “going to be out for a while” and was officially ruled out for Games 1 and 2 of the Finals, meaning his earliest possible return would have been for Game 3 on June 11 in Indianapolis.

However, Walker is now reportedly out for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Official assignments are announced at 9 a.m. on the day of the game. Here are the referees assigned to the 2025 NBA Finals.

• James Capers (13th Finals)
• Tony Brothers (14th Finals)
• Tyler Ford (First Finals)

As Game 1 of the NBA Finals began at Paycom Center, discerning fans on social media asked: “Why aren’t there NBA Finals logos on the court?”

For the most part – there are two exceptions – the NBA has not placed Finals logos on the court since the 2014 Finals.

Some fans clamored to see a court that matched the magnitude of the event – meaning they didn’t want to see a court that was no different than a regular-season game. It was pointed out that the league’s NBA Cup court has logos on it for the in-season tournament.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took note of the comments and explained.

USA TODAY Sports’s Jeff Zillgitt breaks down why the logo is absent from the court this series.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are favorites to take a 2-1 series lead over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals, according to BetMGM (odds as of Tuesday, June 10):

• Spread: Thunder (-5.5)
• Moneyline: Thunder (-220); Pacers (+180)
• Over/under: 228.5

The Oklahoma City Thunder enter Game 2 as the favorite to win the 2025 NBA Finals over the Indiana Pacers, according to BetMGM (odds as of Saturday, June 7)

• Series winner: Thunder (-600); Pacers (+425)

USA TODAY: Every expert picks the Thunder

Ahead of the series opener, all of the NBA experts at USA Today Sports picked the Oklahoma City Thunder to beat the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals

• Scooby Axson: Thunder in five
• Jordan Mendoza: Thunder in six
• Lorenzo Reyes: Thunder in six
• James Williams: Thunder in six
• Jeff Zillgitt: Thunder in five

USA TODAY: Most pick the Thunder in Game 3

• Scooby Axson: Pacers 110, Thunder 107
• Jordan Mendoza: Thunder 102, Pacers 98
• Cydney Henderson: Thunder 115, Pacers 107
• Lorenzo Reyes: Thunder 111, Pacers 104
• Heather Tucker: Pacers 108, Thunder 101
• Jeff Zillgitt: Thunder 110, Pacers 101

• Game 1, June 5: Pacers 111, Thunder 110
• Game 2, June 8: Thunder 123, Pacers 107
• Game 3, June 11: Thunder at Pacers | ABC, Fubo | 8:30 p.m.
• Game 4, June 13: Thunder at Pacers | ABC, Fubo | 8:30 p.m.
• Game 5, June 16: Pacers at Thunder | ABC, Fubo | 8:30 p.m.*
• Game 6, June 19: Thunder at Pacers | ABC, Fubo | 8:30 p.m.*
• Game 7, June 22: Pacers at Thunder | ABC, Fubo | 8 p.m.*

All times Eastern; *-if necessary

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