TJ McConnell had one of the best games of his life on Wednesday night as the Indiana Pacers took on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. McConnell logged an awe-inspiring nine steals against the Cavs — in just the first half of action!
That's clearly good enough to make its mark in the NBA history books:
For fantasy players out there with McConnell on their team, we're certain that you're smiling from ear-to-ear. It's exactly these types of out-of-nowhere performances that help team managers edge out their opponents. Thank you, TJ, and for the Pacers it helped them out a ton.
McConnell has been swiping the ball at will this season. The 6-foot-1 point guard has been averaging a career-best 1.7 steals this season, and this recent performance will definitely pull that number up a tad.
I mean, seriously, who comes up with nine steals in a game? It's hard enough to come up with these many swipes in the span of 48 minutes, but TJ did just that in a single half for the Pacers. If that's not enough to propel him as the frontrunner for this year's Defensive Player of the Year title then I no longer know what is. I exaggerate, of course. Maybe an All-Defense nod, then? Probably not.
This is exactly the type of spark Indiana requires at the moment, with McConnell's squad in the midst of a four-game losing skid. They've lost ground on the eighth seed in the East, as they enter Wednesday's matchup half a game behind the eighth-placed Charlotte Hornets.