Indianapolis – At the beginning of the second quarter of game 3 of the NBA finals, the local crowd of the Indiana Pacers was in a little pause.
After leading almost the entire first quarter, Oklahoma City Thunder began the second period with an eight -point advantage, an alerting continuation of game 2, which the Thunder led during the last 38 minutes of play.
Despite being the first final game in Indiana in 25 years, energy in the sand was fading.
But then TJ McConnell went to work.
In the first three and minutes and 52 seconds of the second, Indiana made a 15-4 race, taking its first advantage of the finals from the first quarter of game 2.
At that time, McConnell registered four assists, three robberies, two points and an offensive rebound, a stretch of twinkling play that gave life to a tense crowd at home.
“It is a guy who inspires many people,” said the Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, after the game. “He inspires our team a lot.”
“His energy is incredible,” said Guard Tyrese Haliburton. “You know that he is definitely a favorite of the crowd. Brome with him, I call him the ‘great white hope’. He does a great job by bringing energy in this building.”
“It is so dynamic in terms of running the floor for us,” added Easter Pascal Siakam. “And when you add those robberies and simply bring the crowd to the game as it does, it was special tonight.”
The Energy Game and the McConnell clutch game played a fundamental role in Indiana’s victory in 116-107, which also gave the team a 2-1 advantage in a series that very few expected the Pacers to win. McConnell finished the game with 10 points, five assists and five robberies, the first player in the NBA history to publish those numbers from the bank in a final game. It was also a plus-12 in just 15 minutes.
Three of McConnell’s five robberies occurred through what has become its characteristic play, stalking on the rear track and taking advantage of the unveiled and/or lazy entry passes for ball losses. Two of those thefts led to points for Indiana, including a game cube in the last quarter, and all caused great reactions of the crowd.
McConnell, who appears in 6’1 “, is the shortest player in any of the final teams. But despite taking little space on the court and playing the second most important minutes in the team, its impact was huge.
“In a series like this, what is so important are the margins,” said Haliburton. “You have to win on the margins. It is not necessarily who can do most of the shots or anything. He takes care of the ball, rebounds, small things like that …[McConnell] I did a great job when arriving constantly and making a hustle game after a hustle and bustle, and following it, and I thought we did a great job when feeding it with what I was doing. “
The entire Indiana bank, in particular, seemed to feed on McConnell.
Pacers backups made a big difference in game 3, surpassing Thunder 49-18 reserves. The Guard of the Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin, was the top scorer of the game, accumulating 27 points in just 22 minutes.
A 10 -year veteran in his sixth season with Indiana, McConnell has always been the type of player to make the most of his chance. It has not started more than eight games in a season since 2017, and has never averaged more than 26.3 minutes per night in his career.
However, Wednesday changed the course of the game, and maybe even the series.
“It has been like an older brother for me since I got here,” said Haliburton. “You look at TJ McConnell and its history is incredible. So I like to play with him and the energy he gives to his teammates in this building is, it is very fun.”