Usually, it’d be sacrilege to root for the Pacers — particularly an Indiana group that eradicated the Knicks in consecutive years.
However these circumstances compelled treachery from New York to each metropolis exterior of a small pocket within the southwest. No one anticipated the Pacers to get to the NBA Finals, not to mention attain Recreation 7. They had been Cinderellas, after which they had been flirting with a brand new Disney film script after Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles exploded in Sunday night time’s first half.
However their magic ran out within the second half of the Thunder’s crowning victory, 103-91. The Pacers hung round longer than most thought doable, taking a one-point lead into the break and using, appropriately, their bulldog backup, TJ McConnell, in a spirited third quarter.
McConnell is the embodiment of an underdog. He’s small, he went undrafted, he has by no means even dunked within the NBA. And in Recreation 7 of the Finals, McConnell stepped into Haliburton’s spot and dropped all of his 16 factors within the third quarter.
