How a 33-Year-Old Vet Became an NBA Finals Cult Hero

Shortly after the final buzzer sounded on the Indiana Pacers' 108-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, ESPN's Lisa Salters told Tyrese Haliburton to "Describe the impact that T.J. McConnell had on this game."

For a moment, Haliburton was nearly speechless. All he could muster was an "unbelievable," which would've been fair after McConnell's 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals in just 24 minutes on Thursday.

But a few seconds later, Haliburton found what may have been the line of the night.

He called his bulldog of a backup point guard Indiana's "great white hope."

The moniker previously owned (and hated) by the legendary Larry Bird may seem a bit much for a 6'1" guard averaging 9.2 points in the playoffs. Being the subject of a prompt to the team's star in the national TV postgame interview probably falls in the same category. Getting his own postgame interview on NBA TV may come as a bit of a surprise to the uninitiated, too.

After all, McConnell scored fewer points than four other Pacers (including fellow reserve Obi Toppin) in Game 6.

But for those who've been paying any attention to this run (and McConnell's six years with the Pacers), the attention likely comes as no surprise.

McConnell's impact is that big, even if his physical frame isn't. And in this specific series against the juggernaut Thunder, he's provided all of what's made him indispensable to the Pacers throughout his tenure there.

More than just the cliched "steadying presence" or "floor general" that many of the league's better backup point guards have been described as, McConnell has earned that reputation while also being a leader and playing with a level of intensity that's unmatched on the rest of Indiana's roster.

While several of the Pacers' ball-handlers, including Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam, have sometimes looked rattled by the over-the-top pressure of defenders like Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso, McConnell seemingly feeds off of it.

To him, an uncalled hand check or a little extra ball pressure from an opponent might as well be a challenge to a duel.

McConnell has looked more energized than scared by a defense that has (at least in stretches) flummoxed the likes of Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokić.

In this series, he's averaging 20.3 points (second only to Siakam among Pacers), and a team-high 8.0 assists per 75 possessions, while shooting 53.7 percent from the field.

And if his team pulls off the upset in Sunday's Game 7, this playoff run from McConnell is going to go down as one of the best we've ever seen from a reserve.

But again, none of this is new for McConnell or the Pacers fans who've followed him closely since 2019. Long before his introduction on the Finals stage, McConnell was swinging games from the bench, hitting his little pull-up jumper in the paint and setting up teammates for easy buckets. The ball he snagged from Isaiah Hartenstein on Thursday was far from his first contested rebound against a big.

Over the last three years, specifically, McConnell averaged 9.3 points, 5.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds in just 18.8 minutes, while shooting 38.8 percent from deep.

In that same stretch, he started just 11 of his 225 games. Payton Pritchard is the only player in the league with more wins over replacement player while starting 11 or fewer games since the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.

In other words, McConnell has been far more than the game manager many backup point guards are. And he's been more for a while.

He's a creator whose competitiveness and feel for the game help him find angles others often miss. He's an opportunistic scorer who does much of his damage from the mid-range. And though he's almost always undersized as a defender, his awareness on that end has helped him more than survive (only 15 players in NBA history have more total seasons with a 30-plus assist percentage and an above-average defensive box plus/minus than McConnell's seven).

All of the above is now on vivid display on basketball's biggest stage. And it's well worth all the postgame attention it got on Thursday.

Chances are, the heavily favored Thunder will still win Game 7. If they do, this late-career breakout from a 10-year undrafted veteran may fade.

But NBA history is often made by the underdogs, and McConnell has a chance to cap one of the best underdog stories we've seen in modern NBA history with one more heroic night.