Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell might not be the face of the NBA Finals, but on a night when Tyrese Haliburton looked like he was playing through agony and Pascal Siakam was busy trying to do everything himself, it was McConnell who flipped Game 5 on its head with pure chaos energy. In the span of one quarter—yes, just one, he turned into a short, scrappy version of prime Manu Ginobili, and reminded everyone why you have to guard him. Literally. That’s what he yelled.

“YOU HAVE TO GUARD ME!” McConnell screamed after draining a wide-open three, one of his 13 points in the third quarter explosion that had the Thunder’s crowd stunned and ESPN’s Mike Breen reaching into his soundboard bag. Breen couldn’t contain himself: “This is FINALS McConnell,” he belted, as the ESPN broadcast momentarily transformed from a basketball game into a fever dream narrated by someone who’s seen it all—and still can’t believe what McConnell was doing.

Let’s be clear: McConnell didn’t just do damage on offense. He made Finals history in Game 3 with five assists and five steals off the bench—no one’s ever done that in the Finals before without starting the game. This wasn’t just a hustle; it was historical havoc. And for long stretches of the third quarter, it looked like McConnell alone might swing the momentum back toward Indiana.

It wasn’t looking good early. The Pacers fell into a double-digit hole as Chet Holmgren (who shot a frigid 4-of-15, by the way) and Jalen Williams punished Indiana for early turnovers. Pascal Siakam was trying to go full Terminator mode, but coughed up the ball too many times in the first five minutes. Jalen Williams dunked with such disrespect off a Siakam turnover that even Rick Carlisle had to hold himself back—literally—after being hit with a technical.

The Thunder capitalized on every Indiana mistake like they were playing against an AAU team. First quarter bench points? OKC: 16, Indiana: 0. Paint points? OKC: 16, Indiana: 8. Points off turnovers? OKC: 7, Indiana: 1. It was looking like another blowout waiting to happen. And with Tyrese Haliburton scoreless at the half and looking more like a facilitator at a YMCA open run than an All-Star, it really felt like this was going to be a long, sad night in Indianapolis.

But then came TJ Time.

While Jalen Williams was out here cooking—he dropped a career-high 40 points on 56% shooting—McConnell was the one who kept stealing momentum like a basketball burglar. After Williams hit an and-1 to extend OKC’s lead to 66-53, Indiana looked shaky. Then McConnell lit the stove.

He scored six straight points, intercepted two passes like he was channeling his prime 76ers Matisse Thybulle, and barked at the Thunder defense with a swagger you’d expect from, well… not TJ McConnell. When McConnell sank that three and yelled, “YOU HAVE TO GUARD ME!“, every Pacers fan watching at home probably jumped off their couch and spilled their beverage in disbelief.

By the end of the third, McConnell had racked up 13 points, helping the Pacers outscore the Thunder 20-0 in bench points in the quarter. Think about that for a second. Twenty to zero. It was as if Indiana’s second unit had read the halftime stat sheet, said “hell no,” and decided to rewrite the game narrative themselves.

Let’s talk about the bench battle real quick. Cason Wallace finally hit some shots, and Aaron Wiggins was surprisingly effective, like his Game 2 performance. But overall, the Thunder bench got absolutely McConnell’d. And to rub salt in the wound, TJ did it efficiently: 8-of-14 shooting, 1-of-2 from deep, perfect from the line, four assists, four boards, and five steals. His plus-minus? A team-high +4 in a game Indiana lost by 11.

That’s not to say Indiana had everything figured out. Haliburton looked like he had “right calf tightness” and possibly left his jumper in the locker room. He finished with just four points on 0-of-6 shooting. Meanwhile, Siakam did everything humanly possible—28 points, six boards, three steals, five assists—but he can’t beat OKC by himself.

On the Thunder side, Jalen Williams’ 40-point masterclass kept them afloat, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s stat line (31 points, 10 assists, 92.9% FT) was tidy as ever. Still, it took every ounce of their star power to hold off Indiana’s third-quarter charge, fueled by none other than Finals McConnell.

The Pacers trail the series 3-2 now. But if there’s one thing OKC’s learned from Game 5, it’s this: if you leave TJ McConnell open, even just once, he’ll bury that shot, steal your inbound pass, scream in your face, and have Mike Breen singing your name on national TV.

There’s hustle. Then there’s TJ McConnell. And when it’s Finals McConnell? You better guard him like your playoff life depends on it—because it absolutely does.