Bennedict Mathurin was ejected from Game 4 after a flagrant two penalty for a “closed fist to the sternum” of De’Andre Hunter after playing just over one minute of the Indiana Pacers dominant victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers where they were up by 41 points at halftime but without him this series would be tied at 2-2 instead of Indiana being up 3-1 with three chances to make it consecutive seasons in the conference finals. 

No, I don’t mean his ejection from the game is the reason the Pacers would go from up 11 after his flagrant foul to up by as many as 44 early in the third quarter. Mathurin’s always had a penchant for getting under people’s skin, just ask Jaden Ivey or Giannis Antetokounmpo. The playoffs amplify all of your strongest traits and Mathurin has been peak irritant. It’s the second time he’s got into something during this series with Hunter after they both received double techs in the third game. Here he thought he perfectly baited Hunter into a reaction but instead got himself tossed.

While it likely wasn’t the catalyst that the scoreboard indicated, it did further fire up a crowd that was already turned up to 11, as they understandably felt like the Pacers were wronged with De’Andre Hunter able to stay in the game after retaliating with a two-handed shove. And, the referees did seem more prone to call fouls like the off-ball grabbing of Tyrese Haliburton that has been happening all series after this play (though the Cavaliers went to the line 40 times compared to the Pacers 20) as they attempted to avoid things escalating further. So, yes, it probably did help the reverse Cavalanche come to pass, but no, I’m really talking about Game 2, the one the Pacers were able to steal thanks to the heroics of Tyrese Haliburton. It never would have made it to that point without Mathurin rising to the challenge in the second half.

About halfway through the third quarter of Game 2, the Indiana Pacers had allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers lead to balloon back to 20 points. After Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin made a pair of three pointers to cut the lead back to 14, Rick Carlisle did something unusual with 5:07 left in the quarter.

He went to a 5-man bench unit, pulling all four of the starters that were on the floor after a Cavaliers timeout. Outside of garbage time, the Pacers hadn’t really played without at least one of Tyrese Haliburton or Pascal Siakam on the floor during this playoff run but now the Pacers head coach had taken not just his two stars but all of the starting unit out of the game.

It felt like he was waving the white flag early, like he was admitting that the Pacers didn’t have it that night, like they would be content leaving Cleveland with the one win needed to flip home-court advantage. By the end of the game, it felt like a stroke of genius– but the insane flurry of a comeback in the final minute wouldn’t have happened without the bench unit surviving the end of the third quarter.

It was a moment that felt familiar like Game 2 of the conference finals last season against the Boston Celtics when Carlisle pulled starters early in the second half and gave minutes to Doug McDermott. The difference being Bennedict Mathurin wasn’t healthy for the team’s playoff run last year. And he’s the reason this decision paid dividends, as Mathurin had his best game of his first playoff run so far. While the Pacers weren’t able to muster many stops to end the third quarter, Mathurin scored 7 points in two and a half minutes with strong drives into the paint either finishing at the rim or getting fouled.

He did enough to force Donovan Mitchell back into the game with 2:12 left in the quarter even with the Cleveland lead was only cut by two points to 12. Even with Mitchell coming in, Carlisle kept his bench unit out there. Suddenly, the game turned into Mitchell vs. Mathurin with Mitchell quickly scoring on a layup in his first possession then Mathurin matching it was a pull-up 3-pointer. Mitchell then scored again while drawing a foul on Mathurin quickly bouncing up off the floor to flex.

“That’s when I pretty much got it going,” Mathurin said after Game 2 about the stretch in the third quarter. “It was a great opportunity to go in there and take advantage of the timing to give the team a scoring boost. I feel like that’s what I do. Scoring is my biggest ability, so I had the chance to do it and I think I did it pretty well.”

While Mathurin wasn’t quite able to keep up with Mitchell scoring 7 points in the next minute, he was helping wear him down. Mitchell was magnificent but was also throwing his body into defenders, hitting the ground often, and doing so much that it seemed to accumulate to a breaking point in that final minute of the fourth quarter when by his own admission he couldn’t move after scoring 48 points on 30 shots and 21 free throw attempts. (Now Mitchell is dealing with an injured ankle and an MRI Monday indicated that he’ll be a game-time decision for Game 5.)

“We wore on them for 48 minutes,” Haliburton said. “They came out and pressed us full court. They played more our style and by the end of the game everybody was tired, but they were tired. That’s part of the wear-down effect of 48 minutes.”

The Pacers starting five after that break to end the third quarter? Fresh and energized in a rare opportunity to start the fourth quarter against an opposing second unit. Carlisle finished the final play of the third with Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, and Myles Turner subbing back into the game and Nesmith hitting a corner triple to cut the lead back to where it was when they left the game at 14. 

Mathurin earned extra playing time with his play in the third quarter and stayed in the game alongside the normal starters in place of Nesmith to start the fourth as the Pacers begin chipping away at the 14-point deficit. Even while on the floor with the starters, Mathurin stayed aggressive, finding opportunities to score as he leaked out in transition after Haliburton blocked a Merrill 3, crashed the offensive glass for a dunk on a Turner missed layup, and had a well-timed cut to the rim to finish off some nice ball movement to cut the Cavaliers lead to 5 with 6:58 left.

He had played so well that he even had Carlisle trying to play small while giving Siakam his usual brief break in the middle of the fourth quarter. While he didn’t end up closing this game, the Pacers don’t get the opportunity to steal this win without his 16 second-half points. 

He followed this up in Game 3 by leading the team in scoring with 23 points in a Pacers loss. After he struggled against the Bucks after missing a game due to injury, he seemed to find his rhythm again now against Cleveland. The Pacers will need his contributions on the floor again as they look to close the series in Game 5 back in the Cavaliers’ arena where he’s sure to see a hostile crowd.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Carlisle said after the Game 4 win. “We’re a pretty significant underdog in every game we’ve played in the series and that won’t change … This game is now history so we’ve got to stay in the present moment as much as we can.”

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