T.J. McConnell was purposely brief in his postgame comments following the Indiana Pacers 133-126 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
But it wasn’t for a bad reason. He just meant what he said.
With the hours passing after the damning Bleacher Report story on Nate Bjorkgren, the Blue and Gold put that aside. Whether the rumors are true or not.
“I don’t think this looks like a locker room that quit on their coach,” McConnell said. “We love playing for him.”
The Pacers cruised to a 72-point first half and led Atlanta by 14 at the break. Against their former head coach Nate McMillan, tonight just had the recipe for disaster when the day started.
Brutal locker room rumors, getting blown out the night before, McMillan revenge game, and injuries don’t usually add up.
But Indiana stayed together.
“We’ve had a lot of speculation surrounding the team,” Caris LeVert mentioned. “We just tried to have fun, play for each other and block out the noise. That’s what we did.”
LeVert was magical in the 4th quarter as Atlanta made a serious run.
The Hawks outscored the Pacers 30-23 in the final 12 minutes. But LeVert converted a key and-1 opportunity to ice it.
LeVert posted a 31 point and 12 assist double-double. Every Indiana starter was in double figures as well, including Domantas Sabonis with 30.
The Bjorkgren stuff still is pretty spooky. It’s just hard to figure out the legit stuff from the tabloid hits.
“It feels good and you have to enjoy moments like this,” Bjorkgren said. “It was fun to watch. And there’s so many highs and lows. This team wants to win and do well. The losses hurt. We want to keep playing hard for each other.”
McConnell, LeVert, and Doug McDermott all talked about the media noise surrounding the team in their post game press conferences. But McConnell was the most adamant on the fact that none of the Bleacher Report talk is accurate.
“We came out with a different mentality because of Coach,” McConnell added. “All credit to him.”
The true test will come on Saturday night when the Blue and Gold get another crack at Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards.
Washington is the club directly behind Indiana in the play-in tournament section of the Eastern Conference right now.
And don’t forget, the last time Westbrook saw Bjorkgren’s club, he posted the third ever 20-rebound and 20-assist game in NBA history.
To say the least, that cannot happen again.
