Jalen Williams on T.J. McConnell's 2025 NBA Finals against Thunder: 'So annoying'
A month after they beat the Indiana Pacers in a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7, Williams discussed what it was like to deal with McConnell's mini-takeovers. The underdog squad was able to push the heavy title favorite to the distance because role players like him had randomly explosive performances.
McConnell averaged 12 points, 4.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds in the NBA Finals. He also had an eye-popping 2.1 steals. That was boosted with five steals in Game 3 and four steals in Game 6. Both were Indiana wins. Most of those steals came on simple inbound passes where the Thunder panicked and couldn't execute elementary basketball moves.
That's how the Pacers finished a win shy of their first NBA championship. They had a deep squad where nobody was a bona fide 25-plus point scorer. It was truly a group effort where somebody like Pascal Siakam or Obi Toppin could go off.
Williams talked about McConnell's surprise series against the Thunder. He joined PJ Washington in the club of role players who stepped up against them in a playoff series. The 24-year-old reflected on their championship run in his "The Young Man and The Three" podcast episode.
'Dude's so annoying,' Williams joked. 'Special player, though. What's cool is, looking back at it, and I was even able to share a couple of moments with him during the game, he was really cool to me when I got drafted.'
When Tyrese Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles early on in the Thunder's Game 7 win, McConnell stepped up as their top scorer. Sadly, that's not the ideal situation you want to find yourself in at that stage. While the 33-year-old was a huge plus for the Pacers, relying on him to create buckets isn't a sustainable full-game plan.
'We were thinking the same thing,' Williams said. 'He ran off a run, and we were going into the huddle like, 'Bro.' But yeah, he was annoying during that series, and annoying is obviously a good thing, just on the other end of that.'
Easy to look back at McConnell's superb series now, but at the time, each turnover he caused had Thunder fans pulling hair out of their head. That's what the playoffs are about. Sometimes, a random role player goes off and ends your season. For the Thunder, they were able to avoid being on the wrong side of an all-time upset.
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