Indiana Pacers 108, Oklahoma City Thunder 91
Q. You guys clearly left everything on the floor to get this win.
T.J. McCONNELL: I think we played to exhaustion. But we have to do it again on Sunday.
Q. What did Tyrese, just being out there, do for you guys? Inspirational?
T.J. McCONNELL: That’s just who he is. Obviously you hear there’s a chance he’s not going to play, but in the back of your mind you know he’s going to do everything can to play. That’s just who Ty is. Blocks out all the external noise and not 100 percent, but went out there and played great.
Q. Did you feel like you had to carry a little extra weight yourself tonight?
T.J. McCONNELL: No. When I’m out there, I just really try to do what I do. And if I play a little bit of extra minutes, just continue to do that and get my teammates involved and do my job.
Q. Did tonight’s game feel any different being an elimination game?
T.J. McCONNELL: Well, we were going home if we didn’t come out and give everything we have and leave it all out on the floor. We have another opportunity to do that on Sunday.
Q. How proud are you of this team’s response tonight?
T.J. McCONNELL: Obviously very happy, very proud, but we’ve got to flush it because we have another one on Sunday. The biggest game of all of our careers.
Q. How do you wrap your head around that no matter the result on Sunday, the season is over?
T.J. McCONNELL: I mean, I don’t know. When you ask me on Sunday, I’ll probably have a better answer. To play to the last day possible of the season, Game 7, you dream about that as a kid. So I know we have to be ready for the challenge.
Q. What’s your definition of playing hard to your standard?
T.J. McCONNELL: Just going out there and trying to change the game in a positive way with the energy. Get the crowd into it and in turn that gets us going. So that’s really all I try to do when I’m out there.
Q. How great was the home crowd tonight and on Sunday going into a hostile environment, how different is the mindset there in trying to silence the crowd?
T.J. McCONNELL: Our crowd is amazing. I cannot say enough good things about our fans. I love them. We love them. They’re the best. Going into a Game 7 on the road, it’s just going to be us. So we have to try to block out the noise as best as we can and stick together.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports