T.J. McConnell was instrumental in lighting the Pacers’ fire in Game 3.
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INDIANAPOLIS — On Wednesday, an understudy outsang Caruso.
(David, stop it: no one under 75 gets that.)
(No, see: there was this incredible tenor named Enrico Caruso, who has the same surname as Alex Caruso, and the joke is –)
(That recording is from 1916! Just stop it!)
OK, OK. T.J. McConnell, the Pacers’ longtime provider of energy and crowd exhortation off the bench, outplayed Oklahoma City’s reserve sparkplug, Alex Caruso, whose impact on the Thunder’s games this postseason has been profound. In Oklahoma City, Caruso put his fingerprints all over both games, leading the Thunder with his suffocating defense and timely shotmaking.
However, it was McConnell and the Pacers’ bench that turned the tide in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, in a whirlwind second quarter, when Indiana scored 40 points, shot 61 percent from the floor, made all nine of its free throws and blocked four Thunder shots. Bennedict Mathurin made his case for a fat ol’ contract extension this summer with 27 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Obi Toppin was a plus-18 in almost 28 minutes of play.
And McConnell was the catalyst for Indy’s surge, in both the second and fourth quarters, when the Pacers pulled away from the Thunder and grabbed a 2-1 lead in these finals with a 116-107 victory.
McConnell finished with 10 points, five assists and five steals in 15 minutes. That was … historic.
Indiana still struggled from beyond the 3-point arc on Wednesday, making just 9 of 27. But, finally, the Pacers were able to consistently get into the paint, after being stymied and turned over during much of the 96 minutes of play in OKC. Tyrese Haliburton was finally able to turn the corner, getting separation and going 9 of 17 from the floor en route to 22 points. Indiana ran off of Thunder makes and got the ball up ahead to Pascal Siakam (21 points). And the Pacers had just 13 turnovers Wednesday, with none in the second quarter.
“It was a concerted effort by all of us to do what we can to get downhill, and don’t settle for jump shots,” McConnell said afterward. “And credit the coaching staff for putting that in our minds, and credit to us for going out there and executing it.”
McConnell has made playing hard his calling card throughout a decade in the NBA.
“I was on one team and we had the whole shootaround, all dedicated to T.J. McConnell,” Pacers reserve center Thomas Bryant said. “ ’Make sure he doesn’t get into the paint. Make sure he doesn’t spray (the ball, as a passer). Make sure he doesn’t get up into us, and we throw away an easy pass, and he gets a layup.’ T.J.’s on the top of the scouting reports, man.”
But McConnell’s play was especially edgy on Wednesday. Three times, he stole Thunder’s inbounds passes after Pacers’ field goals. Even though Indiana scored just once on those three extra possessions, the impact on OKC was clear. The Thunder are the ones whose swarming defense demoralized opponents all season.
“Their defense is elite,” McConnell said. “Just trying to get into the paint as best we can before they swarm and get all their steals is what we need to do. There’s still stuff we need to clean up, though.”
While Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault shortened his rotation in the second half, Indiana’s Rick Carlisle could continue to go nine or 10 deep in the second half, with his bench providing efficient production. That difference in playing time, in part, explained Indiana’s massive 49-18 edge in bench points, although not entirely.
The Pacers have prided themselves on grinding down opponents over 48 minutes in these playoffs, betting on their pace to wilt opponents down the stretch. Maybe it was a coincidence, but the Thunder went just 2 of 9 from the floor in the last six minutes.
And McConnell was everywhere.
“I think his energy is unbelievable,” Haliburton said. “You guys know he’s definitely a crowd favorite. I joke with him, I call him the Great White Hope. He does a great job of bringing energy in this building. And I think people feed off that. And he had a couple of unbelievable steals.”
McConnell’s third inbounds steal followed an Andrew Nembhard jumper that brought Indiana within two early in the fourth. McConnell jumped in front of Caruso, who was inbounding the ball, and came up with the steal; his layup tied the game at 95 with 8:33 left.
Soon after, Indiana took the lead for good, a problem that had plagued the Pacers throughout the first three games of the finals. Meanwhile, the 33-year-old guard kept insisting on more noise from the sellout crowd at Gainbridge, which responded in kind.
Even though we’re just three games into the championship series, this felt like a game Indiana had to have at home if it was to have any chance of winning the franchise’s first NBA title.
“I think in a series like this, what’s so important is the margins,” Haliburton said. “You have to win in the margins. It’s not necessarily who can make the most shots or anything. It’s taking care of the ball, rebounding, little things like that. I thought he does a great job of giving us energy plays consistently and getting downhill and operating.
“I mean, nobody operates on the baseline like that guy. I thought he did a great job of consistently getting there and making hustle play after hustle play, and sticking with it, and I thought we did a great job of just feeding off of what he was doing.”
Oklahoma City has been in this spot before. The Thunder were down 2-1 to Denver in the Western Conference semifinals before rallying to win in seven games. The Thunder got hit in the mouth in Game 3 of the conference finals by Minnesota before winning the key Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead over the Timberwolves. They will be the desperate team on Friday in Game 4, knowing what being down 3-1 to the Pacers would mean to their championship hopes.
But Carlisle isn’t falling for the okey-doke. He has his team Stepford Wifing just about every postgame availability. Always, the Pacers don’t want to talk about the good things they just did. They talk, over and over, about what they have to fix. So when you tell McConnell what is evident to anyone who’s watched the NBA the last few years — that he is a max-effort player — he thanks you for the compliment. But he’s already on to Game 4.
“It’s the NBA Finals,” he said. “We’ve got to bring that energy, all of us. Because if we don’t, it’s doing a disservice to these fans and this organization. We’ve got to continue to bring energy to the highest level.”
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David Aldridge is a senior columnist for The Athletic. He has worked for nearly 30 years covering the NBA and other sports for Turner, ESPN, and the Washington Post. In 2016, he received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. He lives in Washington, D.C. Follow David on Twitter @davidaldridgedc
