Indiana Pacers backup guard TJ McConnell has become a star in his own right in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, particularly in the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Tyrese Haliburton going down with a serious lower-body injury early in Game 7 of the series Sunday night, McConnell has been given a much bigger role to run the point guard position on the floor for Indiana in enemy territory.

Although the Thunder dominated Indiana in the third quarter, the Pacers would have entered the fourth period in a much deeper hole had it not been for the incredible performance of the former Arizona Wildcats star point guard. McConnell had 12 of the Pacers' 20 points in the third quarter, shooting 6-for-7 from the field in that window.

McConnell relentlessly attacked Oklahoma City's defense and it paid off for him and the Pacers. Despite lacking elite speed and athleticism, McConnell was able to make things happen over and over again by simply getting to his spots.

For his amazing showing in the third quarter, McConnell received lots of praise from fans on social media.

“TJ McConnell’s 2034 Senate campaign starts tonight,” one fan said.

“TJ McConnell been cooking Carson Wallace all series lowkey 😂💀I know he get annoyed when matchup with bro lol,” another noted.

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“Bouta buy a TJ McConnell jersey cause he’s the only one that showed up to play today,” posted an X (formerly Twitter) user.

Another post read: “It’s hard to win the NBA finals when only TJ McConnell scores for your team for the entire quarter.”

From a different take: “Pacers going a WHOLE QUARTER of time with only McConnell scoring is insane.”

That was echoed as well in this post: “TJ McConnell is the only one on the pacers with balls. Everyone else getting cardio.”

McConnell, who is in his sixth season with the Pacers,  entered Game 7 of the Thunder series having averaged 11.3 points on a 53.7 percent shooting from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc, 4.5 assists and 3,2 rebounds in the first six games. He has been a valuable asset of the bench for Indiana, which forced a Game 7 after demolishing Oklahoma City at home in Game 6, 108-91.