On the elbow grease of T.J. McConnell

And how he can be both unsettling for opponents and a sign of what isn't settled for the Pacers 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

For the final 7:33 of Indiana's latest win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers played a lineup that had previously only logged four minutes of action together, with none coming during the fourth quarter. In this game, however, Bennedict Mathurin was decisive and engaged (on a night when neither Buddy Hield nor Aaron Nesmith was making shots), Obi Toppin was running through the tape of leak-outs and staying constantly active (on a night when the double-big lineups lasted all of three minutes in the second half), and T.J. McConnell, in rounding out the rest of the rotating cast between Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner, did what T.J. McConnell does, applying elbow grease to both the offense and, more literally, the defense (on a night when Andrew Nembhard was ruled out for the remainder of the game due to back soreness).

Here's what happened. Overall, in the wake of Giannis Antetokounmpo setting the franchise record for scoring with a career-high 64-point performance when last these two teams met, the defensive approach from the Pacers was the inverse of the prior match-up. Rather than staying home on shooters with Buddy Hield thrown to the wolf-like bucks as the dominant forward's primary assignment, Indiana was far more committed to committing extra bodies to the cause.

In December, the Pacers were picking Giannis up much higher, and if Hield was unable to stay square, Tyrese Haliburton was occasionally the last and only line of defense when he got picked on as the low-man -- as if he were about to get submerged by an overwhelming, crashing wave. 

On Monday, Indiana stayed back and loaded up at the elbows in an attempt to wall off the paint. 

For a team that allows the league's lowest percentage of shots from the three-point line, the Pacers surrendered their second-highest volume of three-point attempts in a game this season, with the Bucks going just 10-of-40 from deep. Notably, since making the change to the starting lineup, Indiana's last four opponents have shot 34.3 percent on wide open threes, which would rank last in the league if that number were to hold for a full season. In that regard, the defense has improved by the numbers during the current four-game winning streak, but NBA defenses have considerably more control over the volume and location of opponent threes than they do over the conversion rate. As such, the basketball gods seemed to have smiled upon the Pacers to a certain extent, and the Bucks also increased the width of that grin by being somewhat slow to attack closeouts and not cutting behind the more aggressive help. 

To that point, Damian Lillard probably isn't going to shoot 1-of-9 from three again, and if he does, it sure seems like he should be knifing into this chasm, right?

In the end, Giannis still finished with a 30-point triple-double, but he only scored four points over the final 7:33 of the game, when Indiana's makeshift closing lineup was on the floor. Again, as was the case for the game as a whole, there was a notable change. In addition to finding the soft spots of Milwaukee's defense, whether with blowby drives or pull-up twos, McConnell also revealed the soft spot he has for calling out the plays of his opponent.

Just as a refresher, during garbage time of the prior meeting, when Giannis was still looking to add to his massive tally of points and the starters eventually had to reenter for the Bucks, Milwaukee ran this play to screen him into a touch at the elbow. With the post feeder engaging in a two-man, off-ball screening action after making the pass, Jarace Walker ends up committing a foul out of single coverage with the help occupied. 

McConnell wasn't on the floor for that possession, but he was during the In-Season Tournament win in Las Vegas, when the Bucks ran the exact same play -- only with Nesmith being the player who got beat out of the single coverage and buried underneath the basket. 

Tellingly, look at how McConnell as his back turned to the ball as Giannis proceeds to bulldoze his way to the rim. Well, trailing 105-101 with 4:52 to play, the Bucks went to that as a go-to play yet again on Monday following a timeout. Except, spot the difference. This time, when Damian Lillard makes the pass to Giannis at the elbow, McConnell immediately smashes down to double on the catch with everyone else adjusting to keep the rotations in front. 

The fact that Middleton attempted to swing the ball to the corner at the same time as Lopez was cutting means that there's no telling what would've happened when Haliburton was forced to guard Lopez after rotating, but that outcome still seems preferable to what, quite literally, by the looks of the In-Season Tournament court, had been like rolling out the red carpet for Giannis to the rim.

Less than a minute later, Milwaukee attempted to make good on what had previously gone awry, but the Bucks weren't the only team calling out the action -- McConnell was too, pointing demonstrably at his elbow while looking at both his teammates and the bench in anticipation of what was about to develop. 

Providing a summary of the change in approach with his preparation, McConnell doesn't have to spot where the ball is going after the pass is made. He already knows, immediately sending the double with everyone rotating on the flight of the ball. 

It's possible that a higher percentage of those shots will go down for the Bucks in the next match-up, and the Pacers certainly didn't "stop" Giannis, but it was a start -- at least from the micro-perspective of this play, as well as the macro-perspective of what's necessary for them to cover up for the fact that they oftentimes lack in surefire (or even suitable) answers against bigger wings. 

Likewise, McConnell won't always be as effective at applying elbow grease, be it doubling down and calling out the action or getting to his spots, as there have been other match-ups where he, himself, has been relegated to operating out of the elbows in order to offset his limited range and force opposing centers (yes, centers) to guard him.

In part, that's why the double big lineup, featuring Turner and Smith, started out rocky and got swiftly shelved in the second half. Lopez was guarding Smith, but he wasn't really "guarding" Smith, and unlike Toppin, who has a better sense not only for moving the ball but also moving when the ball moves, he squandered some mismatches for Turner while also misfiring from deep. 

With Smith off the floor, the Bucks never went so far as to follow the Clippers model by stashing Lopez on McConnell, as they likely didn't want their guards defending up a position; so instead, the guards for the Pacers walked into shots from mid-range. 

All of which is to say that, the five-man grouping of Haliburton, McConnell, Mathurin, Toppin, and Turner isn't one that many would probably expect to be on the floor at the same time, let alone cobbled together as a closing lineup, but they outscored Milwaukee's usual starters 25-14 down the stretch, highlighting the team's adaptability with their depth in a win that was mainly powered by the bench while also continuing to spotlight that the spots between Haliburton and Turner remain mostly up for grabs -- for better or worse.