I\u2019m going to start this with something that\u2019s a little funny \u2014 just to lighten the mood.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not my mom.<\/p>\n
After Game 7, I guess this clip went viral, you\u2019ve probably seen it. I\u2019m crying my eyes out as I\u2019m walking off the court, and one of the TV camera guys is following me through the tunnel. And you can see this woman just kind of notice the camera guy \u2014 immediately block him from me \u2014 and then motion at him like, SIR. SIR, DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER STEP. LEAVE T.J. ALONE. I think it must have been the way she seemed so protective of me \u2026 but people assumed it was my mom. So then of course the clip got shared all over social media, with millions of views and these captions like, \u201cT.J. MCCONNELL\u2019S MOM DOES NOT PLAY.\u201d Yeah. Lol. Not my mom.<\/p>\n
Who it is, though, is Karen Atkeson \u2014 our VP of Player Relations with the Pacers. I\u2019ve developed a great relationship with Karen over the six seasons I\u2019ve been here. And I think she saw I was in tears, saw how raw my emotions were, so she gave me this big hug and tried talking me through it. And then when the TV camera started following me, she just reacted out of support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And all jokes aside \u2026 I actually think it says a lot that people figured it was my mom in the video. Because in a way it\u2019s what our mentality was as a team the whole season. I know it\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but I swear to God: We did this as a family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the players, it was the coaches, it was people like Karen throughout the organization, it was legends from past Pacers teams, it was everyone with the Fever, it was our amazing fans…… so many different people. That\u2019s how it felt anyway. It felt like we built this from the ground up \u2014 together, as a family. Then we grinded through the highs and lows of the season as a family. Then we won (and won, and won, and won) in the playoffs as a family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And in the end, unfortunately, yeah: We lost as a family.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s ironic is, I really did need some mom-type support, heading through the tunnel after Game 7. Your season ends the way ours did\u2026\u2026. you\u2019re pretty much feeling like a little kid in that moment. It\u2019s total helplessness, you know?? You go from walking onto the floor, pre-game, and you\u2019re believing in your heart you\u2019re about to win a championship \u2014 to then suddenly you\u2019re walking off and it\u2019s over. Just over, the end, time to go home. Plus our guy is on crutches and we all know what it is. I could tell you how that moment was bittersweet, or how there were mixed emotions, but I\u2019d be lying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was just f***ing devastating, man.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And if I told you that this past month has been any better\u2026\u2026. I\u2019d be lying, too. Every time I remember how close we came, it hurts all over again.<\/p>\n
But I decided to put some thoughts down for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n
One, to say thank you for \u2014 straight up \u2014 the best basketball season of my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How it ended was so awful, but the rest? It meant everything.<\/p>\n
And then the second reason is, I wanted to share something that\u2019s been on my mind since Game 7. I\u2019ve been thinking about how, part of why losing that game was so hard, was that we\u2019d gotten to a point where we believed in ourselves so strongly\u00a0\u2014 as a group that always finds a way. We were in all these situations, all playoffs, where people gave us no chance. But we kept finding ways to win. Even heading into Game 6, after OKC blew us out and Tyrese got hurt, people were pouring dirt on our chances and acting like it was a wrap. But we stayed alive. And it\u2019s like you do that enough times \u2026 it gets hard to believe there could be a time when you won\u2019t do it. You know what I mean? So then when Game 7 went how it did, I feel like it wasn\u2019t even just sadness we were experiencing. It was also shock. Like, Wait, no \u2014 what?? That\u2019s not how it goes for us, sorry. That\u2019s not how the story ends.<\/p>\n
And if there\u2019s a message I wanted to get across in here, other than thanking you guys, it\u2019s this: I still think that\u2019s not how the story ends. Honestly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know we\u2019re being written off now by everyone. I know they\u2019re thinking the Pacers are done, or that this run we just went on will be the peak for our group. And I understand why. But it\u2019s the same bulls*** we\u2019ve always dealt with in Indy \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s the same exact thing we\u2019ve had to hear so many times over the last year. Swept by the Celtics, they\u2019re done. Started out 10\u201315, they\u2019re done. Down 7 late to the Bucks, down 7 late to the Cavs, down 9 late to the Knicks, down 15 late to the Thunder, they\u2019re done. Down 3\u20132 in the Finals, they\u2019re done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lost Game 7 in the most brutal way possible \u2026 lost their franchise player for next season \u2026 lost their center in free agency \u2026 they\u2019re done.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think people would learn by now, but: We\u2019re actually not done.<\/p>\n
And I guess that\u2019s my message to any Pacers fans reading this. I have no idea what the future holds. Getting over Game 7 will be tough. Replacing Myles will be tough. Playing without Tyrese will be \u2026 whatever is tougher than tough. But you know that feeling we all started to have as the playoffs went on \u2014\u00a0how there\u2019s just something about this team? Man, I promise you: That feeling was real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we\u2019re going to work like hell to feel it again soon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll end this on another funny story \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s dumb, but whatever. I think it kind of speaks to what\u2019s cool about our group.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alright \u2026 so I\u2019m a 6’1″ white guy in his mid-30s. In other words, I\u2019m not exactly stopping traffic as this NBA player people recognize. And that\u2019s just me on a normal day. You can imagine, on a day when I\u2019m wearing a hat? I\u2019m almost definitely not getting recognized. And during COVID, when you added a mask to the mix \u2014\u00a0nah, forget it. I was pretty much fully anonymous.<\/p>\n
And all that is to say: It\u2019s not Tyrese\u2019s fault. But on his first day in Indy after he got traded, as he was walking through the facility, he and I crossed paths. And I\u2019ve got my hat on, my mask up \u2026 I\u2019m chilling. I\u2019m not even thinking about that, though. So of course I just go right up to him, real excited, and I\u2019m like, \u201cTyrese!!! What\u2019s up brother. How are you??? Bro, welcome to Indy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, Tyrese did not know who I was. He was very friendly, but 1000% thought I was some guy who works on the business side. Then a few awkward seconds passed, until eventually I realized what was going on. I took my hat off, pulled my mask down, and we started laughing so hard.<\/p>\n
We joke about that story with each other all the time\u2026\u2026. and honestly I can\u2019t help but think of it right now, as I kind of look back on the season we had. Like \u2014\u00a0I can\u2019t help but think of how so much of what we\u2019ve built here with the Pacers, it\u2019s based on this low-profile, no-ego, almost anonymous vibe: whether it\u2019s our Player Relations VP being mistaken for \u201cT.J.\u2019s mom,\u201d because she showed me so much support \u2026 or it\u2019s guys in our rotation being mistaken for \u201crole players,\u201d because so many of them are willing to sacrifice for team success \u2026 or it\u2019s our city being mistaken for \u201csmall-market,\u201d when it\u2019s louder and tougher to play in than any big-market arena \u2026 or it\u2019s Tyrese being mistaken for \u201coverrated,\u201d when he\u2019s an absolute killer, maybe the best point guard in the world, one of the best dudes in the league, and without a doubt a future NBA champion.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure if that vibe is why we\u2019ve been successful \u2014 but I do think it\u2019s part of it. And I hope there\u2019s some comfort in that,\u00a0especially as we look forward to next season, and have to hear about how our \u201cwindow is closed\u201d or whatever. I mean….. maybe it is?? I guess it could be. This is a tough f***ing league.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or maybe nobody knows what they\u2019re talking about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe everybody is just mistaken again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe they underestimated Indiana one more time.<\/p>\n
\u2014T.J.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m going to start this with something that\u2019s a little funny \u2014 just to lighten the mood. That\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-29347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}