“I mean, I certainly wouldn’t be here without him.” You hear athletes thank their loved ones, especially dads all the time. It’s almost a cliché. But when T.J. McConnell says it, you can just feel it hits differently. And during a wild, must-win Game 6 of the NBA Finals—a game where the Pacers absolutely dismantled the Thunder to force a legendary Game 7—the ESPN broadcast crew gave us all a little story that explains everything about the Pacers’ gritty floor general.

The energy in Gainbridge Fieldhouse was insane. With their season on the line, down 3-2, the Pacers were fighting for their lives. And right in the middle of it all was T. J. McConnell, doing what he does best: creating absolute chaos. He was diving for loose balls, grabbing rebounds over guys a foot taller than him, and running the offense with the poise of a seasoned vet. His final stat line of 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists doesn’t even come close to capturing the energy he injected into the game.

And if you think that relentless motor is something he just picked up in the pros, you haven’t heard the stories. Jordan Greer of The Sporting News tells a classic one from his days playing against McConnell in high school. He remembers watching Tim McConnell, T.J.’s dad and coach, call a timeout just to, in Greer’s words, “absolutely rip into his son” in front of a packed gym. A tough, intense moment. But what happened next says it all: T.J. immediately flipped a switch, took over the game, and willed his team to a comeback. He learned early how to eat that kind of pressure for breakfast.

Then came the moment on the broadcast. As the camera panned to his dad, Tim, in the crowd, the announcers shared this incredible insight into their relationship. “There’s the dad,” one broadcaster began. “I love when he said that his dad was so hard on him when he played for him in high school. Soon as he went to college… he flipped the coach switch off and became his dad again. Everything was encouraging.” But next came the part that will really get you.

That story makes what the broadcasters said next hit even harder. The camera panned to his dad, Tim, in the crowd, and the crew shared this incredible insight. “There’s the dad,” one announcer said. “His dad was so hard on him when he played for him in high school. Soon as he went to college… he flipped the coach switch off and became his dad again. Everything was encouraging.” But here’s the kicker. “He [T.J.] was surprised,” the other added. “He would call his father thinking that he was going to be a coach—and he was just dad.”

Just imagine that for a second. You’re a D-1 athlete after a tough game, and you call home bracing for your hard-nosed coach to break down every mistake. Instead, you just get your dad, ready to listen. And if there was any doubt which switch is permanently on these days, it was erased after the game when Tim, beaming with pride, crashed his son’s live interview on NBA TV. After Isiah Thomas pulled him onto the set, Tim offered a classic dad critique. Of his son’s performance in a season-saving Finals game? “Excellent,” Tim said, before adding with a grin, “Just disappointed he missed two foul shots in the beginning.”

When Zeke then asked why he was always harder on T.J. than his daughter, Tim brought the house down with some light-hearted family trash talk. “The daughter” in question is Megan McConnell, who is a pro herself, playing for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. “He says that. But that’s a lie,” Tim shot back. “My daughter was undefeated state championship. He lost in the state championship.”

But the teasing quickly gave way to pure, unadulterated pride as he got emotional thinking about his kids’ journey. “I can’t be more proud to say, I have a son in the NBA and I have a daughter in the WNBA,” he said, his voice cracking. “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.”

And it’s pretty clear that T.J. plays with the steady confidence of a son who knows his dad has his back. His teammate Obi Toppin said it best: “Everyone knows what they’ve got to do when they’re on the floor with T.J… it makes our job easier.”

How McConnell keeps proving everyone wrong

That trust from his teammates is something T.J. McConnell has had to earn at every single level, because he’s spent his entire career being told he wasn’t good enough. His journey is what his old coach Brett Brown once called a pure “passion… to play the game.”

Think about it. This is a guy who went undrafted in 2015. He had to scrap his way onto a 76ers team that was in the middle of “The Process”—a team famous for trying to lose. He was a camp body, a non-guaranteed signing. But T.J. just did what he always does. He didn’t just make the team; he became a fan favorite, hitting game-winners and giving a young squad the steady hand it desperately needed.

And in these Finals, it’s been the same old story. Whenever the Pacers look lost, he’s the one providing the spark. In their Game 3 win, he came off the bench for 10 points and five steals. In their Game 5 loss, he was the only reason they even had a shot, scoring 13 of his 18 points in the third quarter alone. As Pascal Siakam said afterward, “He is going to be huge for us going forward too.”

He’s the guy who will hound you full court, dive on the floor for a loose ball, and if he happens to hit a rare three, you know he’s going to let you hear about it on the way back down the court. He’s the ultimate “annoying guy,” as he once called himself, who is “not going away.” Even his opponents have to respect it. After getting run off the floor in Game 6, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault just sounded defeated. “They play with a lot of energy,” he said of the Pacers. “We can expect them to bring that [in Game 7].” No doubt T.J. McConnell will be at the heart of it.

That’s the beauty of T.J. McConnell. He’s been counted out at every turn, but he just keeps showing up and proving people wrong. As he said after the Game 5 win, “We’ve been in this position before… we can’t flinch.” He’s the undrafted kid who’s never backed down, and now he’s just one win away from an NBA championship.