McConnell’s NBA ride provides ‘bender’ for family

When Tim McConnell resigned from his job as the head coach of boys basketball at Bishop Canevin last May, he wasn’t sure how being away from coaching would go for him.

But he knew what he intended to do with his time: watch his kids play.

That meant going to see his son, T.J., suit up with the Indiana Pacers and his daughter, Megan, star with Duquesne Dukes.

Good timing. After 25 years coaching the Chartiers Valley boys team, four years leading the girls team, and a year at Bishop Canevin, McConnell hung up the whistle before a season in which his daughter was named All-Atlantic 10 and his son’s team advanced to the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals.

“I’ve been coaching high school basketball for 30 years,” McConnell said. “This is the best year I’ve had in basketball. By retiring, I was able to see all of Megan’s games, even on the road, except for two. Every year I went to see T.J. play, I’d see four or five games. I’m up to 24 or 25 times seeing him play. It’s exactly what the goal was.”

Not only has McConnell gotten to see his son’s team advance to the Eastern Conference championship round against the Boston Celtics, but he has witnessed T.J. enjoy the best season of his career. A 2010 alum of his dad’s program at Chartiers Valley, McConnell set career highs with 10.2 points per game, 772 total points and 330 made field goals.

“He’s really getting to the rim. Just getting by guys. Handling it,” McConnell said. “Before, everyone knew he was going to pass. Now, with him able to get to the rim and score, it has made him so much more valuable to his team.”

In the playoffs, McConnell has averaged 10.8 points and 5.3 assists per game in just over 19 minutes of action per contest. He was in double figures in five of the seven games against the New York Knicks during the Eastern Conference semifinals, including a 12-point, seven- assist effort in Game 7 in Manhattan.

“Bucket list. Can you imagine? I’m at Game 7 at Madison Square Garden,” Mc-Connell said. “The greatest arena in the world. And my son is out there helping his team advance to the Eastern Conference finals. I can’t write a better script.”

With her season at Duquesne over, Megan Mc-Connell has been able to make some trips with her father and second brother, Matty (Robert Morris 2015-19), to see T.J.’s playoff games.

“In the playoffs, he has been a star. A game changer. A lot of people are seeing that. He is getting the respect that he deserves. We are so happy for him,” Megan Mc-Connell said.

For her part, Megan has enjoyed seeing her father soak up the joy of seeing T.J. succeed.

“He’s been on a (basketball) bender,” McConnell said of her father’s road trips to see her brother. “I’m happy my dad was able to go and experience that… In Indiana’s arena, we see people in T.J.’s jersey. And we joke with my dad that he should just get a shirt that says, ‘I’m T.J. dad,’ because he’ll go up to them and say, ‘Is that your favorite player?’And they’ll say, ‘Oh, we love him!’ And he’ll say, ‘Well, I’m his father!’” It wasn’t supposed to go this way for McConnell with the Pacers this season. Head coach Rick Carlisle told him at the start of the year that he was unlikely to be a regular part of the rotation. But when Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton dealt with some injuries in December and January, Mc-Connell started to get more playing time and his season took off.

“He was told at the beginning of the year that wasn’t going to be in the rotation at all. He tried to keep a good mindset. T.J. is a competitor. Anytime he gets on the floor he is going to give it all he has,” Megan said. “And then more minutes kept getting added to his playing time … and now he is having one of his best years in the NBA.”

Matty says watching his brother play in the Pacers offense is reminiscent of how things ran under their father at CV.

“It’s such a good fit for him. He used to play that way in high school. It’s nothing new. Learning that fast pace, push the ball (tempo). Wanting to shoot with less than 10 seconds running off the shot clock.” Matty McConnell said. “He was built for this system that he is in. That’s another reason that he is excelling in this system.”

T.J. is going to be the best man at Matty’s wedding this summer, but he is going to miss his brother’s bachelor party this weekend in Nashville. Matty and his groomsmen are all planning to wear Pacers gear at a bar to watch Game 3 in Indiana.

“It’s a whirlwind. It’s fun to watch. It’s cool to see him out there. Not many people can say that their brother is in the Eastern Conference finals,” Matty said.

Tim McConnell says that, at this point, he can drive to Indianapolis and back in his sleep. Given the long stretches of straightaway between here and Indiana on I-70, that’s probably true.

Unless he’s flying back and forth from TD Garden in Boston, though, navigating his way through the mountains of Pennsylvania, New York and New England may be a bit more difficult.

But one way or another, McConnell sounds determined to make it out to Massachusetts as often as necessary once the series starts Tuesday night.

“I’m going from one Garden to the next. But I’m excited about it,” McConnell said.