INDIANAPOLIS – T.J. McConnell could walk through any city in America – except Indianapolis – and no one save the most diehard NBA fan would recognize him as a professional basketball player in the best league in the world.
Make no mistake, McConnell is a paid professional.
McConnell, the Indiana Pacers’ 6-foot-1 reserve guard, did what no player in NBA Finals history has done since steals and blocks became an official stat in 1973-74: he is the first reserve to have at least 10 points, five steals and five assists in a Finals game.
Indiana’s bench stole Game 3, helping the Pacers to a 116-107 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, June 11, pushing the Pacers to a 2-1 series lead.
A 10-year veteran, McConnell was a major part of a massive Pacers’ bench effort that reshaped the tone of the series, scoring 10 points, delivering five assists and collecting five steals.
Indiana’s bench outscored the Thunder’s 49-18, and had more rebounds (13-1), assists (7-6), blocks (3-0) and steals (7-3).
“Those guys were tremendous,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “T.J. just brought a will, competitive will to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball in the basket.
“This is the kind of team that we are. 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 got to do it, and we got to do it as a team.”
Much discussion has been given to Oklahoma City’s depth and for good reason. But the Pacers have depth, too, going 10 deep with nine guys playing at least 15 minutes in Game 3.
McConnell’s first steal came on an OKC in-bounds pass after a Pascal Siakam layup.
Here was McConnell’s sequence in a six-second span: assist, steal, offensive rebound, assist.
Three of his steals came on Thunder in-bounds passes, including a steal and layup that tied the score at 95-95 with 8:35 remaining.
“In a series like this what’s so important is the margins. You have to win in the margins,” Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said. “It’s not necessarily who can make the most shots or anything. It’s taking care of the ball, rebounding, little things like that. He does a great job of giving us energy plays consistently and getting downhill and operating. Nobody operates on the baseline like that guy. He does a great job of consistently getting there and making hustle play after hustle play.”
Mathurin, 22, was injured last year during Indiana’s run to the Eastern Conference finals, but Carlisle said, “He was with the team. He just wasn’t playing. He took a lot of notes, a lot of mental notes, and he may have written some things down. He’s putting (in) a lot of work to be ready for these moments, and tonight he was an absolute major factor.”
His scoring is down in the playoffs compared to the regular season, but he has scored at least 20 points in four games. His first-half offensive production was necessary and his points in the second half either extended Indiana’s lead or cut into a deficit at a critical time. They were important buckets.
Mathurin is the youngest player to score 25 or more points off the bench in a Finals game since starters and bench players were first tracked in 1970-71.
“He’s had games like this in previous series. He seems to have a game like this in every series. He’s a talented player,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He was really aggressive tonight. He did a great job. … Their bench really came in the game and was excellent.”
The Pacers had their best start-to-finish game of the series. Haliburton had 22 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and two steals, producing his game against the Thunder. Indiana needed that from him.
But the Pacers don’t win Game 3 without their bench play. And they will need that again at some point if they want to win two more games and earn the franchise’s first NBA championship since they left the ABA in 1976.