T.J. McConnell’s Dad Crashes His Postgame Interview | 2025 NBA Finals

T.J. McConnell’s Dad Crashes His Postgame Interview | 2025 NBA Finals

you know Isaiah Smitty Brendan Jared um so just a couple moments ago uh Tyresese Hallebertton referred to you as the great white hope uh you certainly put it all out there tonight uh what has gotten into you here in these games and obviously uh when your team needs it the most yeah I mean honestly you know it sounds redundant when I say it but I’m just trying to do my job come in inject energy and get our team moving offensively and defensively um and get us out and do what we do best and run tj you you come from a basketball family uh your sister plays your dad was you know coaching you hard growing up and it seems like you’ve been playing this way really like your whole life and a lot of guys have to get into the NBA change their game change their style but your temperament your way of playing actually fits this Pacer team and Rick Carile talk about how convenient and good that’s been for you that you found a team that not only accepts your style but also a fan base that loves you yeah I mean you know I obviously got to give my dad credit um you know he told me I’m not obviously going to be the biggest i’m not the fastest but you can outwork people yes and that’s what I’ve tried to hang my hat on and um you know in terms of of coming here they value me so much the front office the coaching staff I I can’t put it into words how amazing it’s been to to play here in these fans i like I said I can’t put it into words i I I love it here i love these fans i love this organization you should have blamed your dad for why you’re not the biggest it’s his fault yeah i mean we won’t go there but yeah it’s definitely his fault tj the question for me is uh we’ve been watching you play throughout your entire career tonight you know the steals the assists the buckets the nine rebounds just walk me through the mindset for you going out and collecting nine rebounds yeah I mean you know our coaches do a good job of you know obviously telling us what we do well but also what we don’t do well and I feel like I get into trouble sometimes of not boxing out and I made a concerted effort to box out my man and and go get the 50/50 balls um that’s something that’s kind of hurt us so we got to continue to you know box out and um you know rebound you know you you won game six here at home now you got a game seven to win a championship what will you guys take from this game and try to apply to the next one you know it sounds super cliche but you got to flush this one obviously happy that we won and we’ll look at the film and see what we did well but game seven especially on the road is a whole different animal and we’ve got to be locked in on both ends and just be super together because we’re all we’re going to have on the road TJ your game is extremely unique in an era where everybody’s looking to shoot the three ball you were living in that mid-range talk about what has led to that the confidence that you have in that almost almost we talked about your game kind of resembles Andre Miller a lot so talk to us about your game and how effective it has been that’s a compliment so I appreciate it oh Andre Miller was cold for the for the young for the young for the young guys that don’t know who Andre Miller is he was cold um I think for me it’s coming down and just getting to my spots and knowing what I do well obviously if they leave me open I’m going to shoot it from three but just getting to my spots and shooting it and just getting my teammates involved um is something that I’ve tried to do since I’ve been in the league and and not step out outside that box i think that’s when players get in trouble i want to take you back to the beginning of this game your season is on the line you must win and the team comes out you miss your first eight shots at times it looked like Tyrese was being a bit hesitant giving up shots passing the ball and you find yourselves down early in the game 10 to2 timeout then you go on a 24-7 run what were you thinking in those early moments and what changed um I think all of us just said “Don’t flinch.” obviously that OKC was going to come out and throw a hellacious punch and they did but our our group did a good job of of hanging in there and uh kind of getting the lid off the rim and um we settled down our crowd got into it and uh we just did what we did best was there any thought that Tyrese wouldn’t play the way he did i mean you got to be careful with a with a calf injury like that but I think we all knew he was going to play the guy is is a warrior um and we all got his back all right so what’s the distance you need between you and your dad to yell at him for not being taller or not marrying somebody that was taller i mean I know he’s standing right there but um my man come on come on in here come on in here Fox unbelievable who’s more fired up come on in here i love Isaiah i love him that’s unbelievable good to see you man unreal he he finds a way to get in there congratulations DJ i thought you would I’ll tell you right now he’s a warrior you’re right it doesn’t matter how tall you are that’s right that’s your fault the heart of a champion yes no question what do you What do you think of his performance tonight excellent just disappointing missed two foul shots in the beginning i kept saying “Man I wish you’d have made those two foul shots.” But he recovered and we won the game so I can forget about the foul shots anything can happen in game seven we’re going to OKC to try to win a world championship and my son’s a part of it and I can’t believe that pops i I got one question for you yes sir why Why were you harder on him and softer on your daughter he says that it’s true it’s true daughter was undefeated state championship he lost in the state championship we lost two games so undefeated he didn’t play as well in the state championship he played great but we didn’t win it unbelievable gota love the truth hurts truth hurts gotta love it TJ got to love the truth now she’s with the Mercury so I can’t be more proud to say I have a son in the NBA and I have a daughter in the WNBA this is a dream come true and I’m going to OKC for my son to play in the championship game to win the world championship 25 years from yes does your dad does your dad have an agent i love this guy no he doesn’t need an agent i would love to represent him i’m sure he would love that tj congratulations thanks for lending us your dad great performance tj you can go get that was one of the grittier performances we’ve seen tj huge once again tonight man what a performance you’re awesome Mr mcconnell

T.J. McConnell joined the NBA TV GameTime crew to react to the Indiana Pacers win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 to force a Game 7, and had his dad join the set.

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