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INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers pest T.J. McConnell could walk into the Y for a pickup basketball game almost anywhere, and people might not realize he was an NBA player.
“Yeah, same,” Thunder agitator Alex Caruso said.
Neither Caruso nor McConnell looks like a guy who is drawing an NBA paycheck. Caruso stands 6-foot-5 but weighs only 185 pounds. McConnell tips the scales at around 190 pounds but is just 6-1.
They aren’t the prototype.
They are Everyman.
But in these NBA Finals, they are game-changers.
“They’re both self-made guys,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “They’ve overcome a lot. … Some of these guys that go under the radar have that level of grit and determination that is able to get them to the league and to get them some longevity and high impact.
“Both of these guys are examples of that.”
In a series headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams and Pascal Siakam, Caruso and McConnell have both made plays that have swung games. These thirtysomethings who went undrafted have left their fingerprints on the biggest games of their lives and their franchises’ histories.
We may look back in a week or so and realize that Indiana is hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy because of the way McConnell’s steals altered Game 3. Or that Oklahoma City has its first championship because of how Caruso’s intensity in Game 2 gave the Thunder a blueprint for future games.
How have a couple of guys who could easily be rec-league ringers been such high-impact players?
Is it just that both play harder than anyone else? Or is that too simplistic?
“I think it’s a mix of both,” Caruso said.
Caruso has first-hand knowledge of McConnell’s growth — and vice versa — because they were summer league teammates. Before Caruso’s well-documented stint with the Thunder’s G League team, he played summer league with the Sixers. They included McConnell, who had a promising rookie season in Philly; he led all NBA rookies with 95 steals (shocker, huh?) and was the only rookie in the league with at least 250 rebounds and 350 assists.
“Spent a lot of time with TJ,” Caruso said. “Still friends with him today, and I’ve gotten to see him grow his game, develop and figure out how to stay in the league.
“And I’ve done a little bit of that myself.”
Listen, this isn’t to suggest that their effort isn’t what separates Caruso and McConnell. Players talk all the time about playing every game like it’s their last, like it’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals, but these two actually do it.
“I try not to take for granted the job that I have or the position I’m in,” McConnell said. “I know how hard it is to get here for every player, and I just try to play with that chip on my shoulder and play like it’s my last every game.”
Ditto for Caruso.
His activity is so agitating that he was booed more often and more loudly than SGA was by Indiana fans during Game 3.
But what’s infuriating to one can be endearing to the other.
The cheers that Caruso draws every time he checks in at Paycom Center? McConnell gets the same ovation at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“Our fans have really taken to liking and are loving him,” Haliburton said. “Same with Caruso and OKC.
“Hard not to root for a guy like that that plays so hard.”
Just as Caruso may never have to pay for another meal or drink in Oklahoma City, McConnell solidified his hero status Wednesday night.
He came off the bench and had five steals, a career-high in the playoffs. What’s more, he had as many steals in Game 3 as he had in all of Indiana’s playoff games before the Finals this postseason.
The sheer volume of McConnell’s steals was big — he took away five Thunder possessions in a game ultimately decided by three possessions — but three came during defining stretches in the game.
Early in the second quarter, he had two that helped ignite a 40-point quarter for the Pacers, and both were on inbounds plays after Indiana baskets.
On the first, McConnell flashed on an unsuspecting Cason Wallace, who was throwing the ball to Chet Holmgren. Then to add insult to injury, McConnell rebounded Pascal Siakam’s miss that ensued and found Bennedict Mathurin for an easy putback.
Then a couple of minutes later, McConnell poked an inbounds pass away from Jalen Williams as he was catching the ball and making a turn. McConnell eventually secured the turnover by throwing the ball off Wallace out of bounds.
As unacceptable as those turnovers were for the Thunder, the worst was yet to come.
And in the process, McConnell terrorized his old buddy Caruso.
With the Thunder trying to fend off a Pacers’ rally at the start of the fourth quarter but leading by only two, Caruso snagged the ball after a Pacer basket and launched a quick lob out to Williams.
But McConnell spun even quicker on Caruso, leaped, snatched the ball and went right back up for a layup.
That was the early stages of a closing 25-12 run that the Pacers used for the Game 3 win.
“He just does the little things so well,” Haliburton said. “That’s his calling card, how hard he plays, the energy that he plays with. Obviously, he’s a very skilled player as well. He just does a great job of just playing harder than people.”
As far as I know, no one tracks stolen inbounds passes, but talk to folks who cover the NBA full-time, and they guestimate there might be 25 stolen inbounds passes a season across the entire league.
McConnell might have 10 of them, too.
That’s hustle, sure, but that’s skill as well. Don’t be blinded by the effort. McConnell can flat play.
Same for Caruso.
“The people in the league that are given this stigma of ‘Aw, they’re just a hustle player, and they play really hard,’ it’s like, to be in the NBA, you have to be great at something,” Caruso said. “You can’t be in the NBA if you’re not great at something, and if you’re great at one or two things, you probably have to great hustle and play hard and make up for whatever the other areas are. Him being a smaller guard that doesn’t shoot a lot of outside shots, he has great speed. He gets to the paint. Really is pesky on defense. He finds steals, and then, he’s an elite competitor.
“I have a different offensive game than him. At least I’ve transitioned into that in my career. But a lot of the other things that guys like us have had to do to get into the league, sometimes that stigma, that reputation sticks and people overlook the actual skill we have to stay in this league.”
Caruso clearly appreciates McConnell, and the admiration goes both ways.
“He’s obviously someone that I have great respect for,” McConnell said.
“My game doesn’t really jump out at you. A lot of it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. You just make winning plays. And he makes a lot of winning plays, too. He’s done that his whole career.”
Both Caruso and McConnell have done that in these NBA Finals.
Winning plays. Winning games.
And just maybe, winning it all.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
Game 4: Thunder at Pacer
TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (ABC)