INDIANAPOLIS – Neither of Boston’s All-Star guards, 6-foot-10 Jaylen Brown, nor 6-foot-10 Jayston Tatum, could stop TJ McConnell on Saturday night. The Pacers’ pesky backup point guard dribbled along the baseline in the second quarter of Game 3 against the Celtics, getting around Brown and leveling Tatum, before faking the All-NBA first-team selection. McConnell buried that midrange jumper en route to an energizing 23 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists during Indiana’s 114-111 loss that gave Boston a stunning 3-0 series lead.
For the Pacers to avoid elimination on Monday, and perhaps without injured All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana will continue to rely on nine-year veteran McConnell, an undrafted Arizona product who has become something of a cult hero among the most loyal followers of Sam Hinkie’s Philadelphia Trial. It was those first four years with the Sixers that persuaded Indiana to give McConnell a two-year contract worth $7 million in 2019 — and another four-year contract worth $33 million after that. He’s been a constant presence for the Pacers ever since, before and after Haliburton’s seismic arrival, and seems so ingrained in the Indiana fabric that McConnell doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.
“We feel like he’s the head of the snake,” Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said.
“He’s one of the hearts of this team,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He just makes winning plays. He’s really good at the end of quarters, which is a way for teams to maintain momentum, start momentum and build momentum.”
McConnell may be the league’s craftiest at sliding down the baseline, as he did when he found Andrew Nembhard for the Pacers’ first 3-pointer late in the second quarter. At just 6 feet tall, this area of the court can be treacherous, a trap waiting to be set among the NBA’s giants. Steve Nash, even at his smaller stature, has always been able to probe opponents while operating from the tightrope, and McConnell has an uncanny ability to emulate the Hall of Fame point guard in that domain.
“We speak the same language when talking about trying to manipulate the defense and trying to take over real estate, so to speak,” Nash once told Yahoo Sports about McConnell, “distorting and putting pressure on the defense and keeping his dribble alive.”
Nash played college ball with Pacers assistant Lloyd Pierce, who was on Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia before Pierce took over as head coach of the Hawks. Through that connection and with the help of another Sixers staff member, Chris Babcock, McConnell once worked with Nash during an off-season training session in Los Angeles, and one of the game’s greatest players saw a worthy descendant of the Sixers offense. baseline that many coaches have now labeled “Nash dribbling.”
“What [McConnell’s] saying is, ‘Sometimes I can outsmart you, outthink you, sometimes I don’t need to challenge you with my athleticism because I might not win that battle,’” Nash said. “’But I can keep my dribble alive and put pressure on the defense because they’re chasing and trying to recover. While my guy is trying to get back to me, someone can take me until he can get back, and it’s a difficult part of court to do that.
It’s not just his dribbling. Once McConnell gets the rock in the paint, he keeps his pivot foot alive as if his very life depends on it. He can twist and hit an incredible variety of mid-range jumpers that have almost been eradicated by today’s modern offenses.
“TJ McConnell is a very good player,” Celtics center Al Hoford said.
“He’s been a burden on us,” Holiday said. “With our scouting and everything, we focus a lot on TJ.”
McConnell’s shaky mechanics aren’t the most effective from the outside, but he delivered his only triple on Saturday with just over three minutes left in the game off a charge from Andrew Nembhard. McConnell squared, fired and hit the right corner before slamming his left fist into his right bicep, thrusting the three fingers of his right hand up in a celebratory level and shouting, “Boom!” to the front rows of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“Our fans, I can’t speak for everyone, sometimes you feel invincible playing in front of them,” McConnell said Saturday.
He might be the easiest player for a home team to root for. McConnell is the first to arrive and maximizes every minute he sees. During his rookie training camp in Philadelphia, McConnell regularly called up his teammates, including Nik Stauskas and Richaun Holmes, and asked if he was fooling himself by trying out for an NBA team. “He’s always going to keep fighting like it’s day one,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “That’s what makes it special.”
After another loss in which Indiana held a lead late in the fourth quarter, McConnell said his team didn’t give up. “Obviously it hurts, but there’s not a guy in this locker room that’s packed.”
He still has one year left of this season on his current contract, an attractive salary given that league executives consider McConnell one of the league’s best backups. His value contract, in addition to his endless battery, drew mostly trade inquiries from the Phoenix Suns throughout last season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
And yet, when asked after the game whether McConnell thought he had already proven that he belongs, that he is far from that undrafted underdog merely invited to Philadelphia’s training camp, McConnell still hesitated.
“I don’t know. Maybe just the energy that I bring every day,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you know if I’m playing like I have nothing to prove, I think it would be time to retire.”
