https://youtu.be/DlbvfS0qyOU
DTB’S FUN FACT OF THE DAY: Before last night, T.J. McConnell had not scored twenty points in an NBA game.
Is that crazy or what? Twenty isn’t THAT many points, all things considered. Plenty of scrubs score twenty points in their careers. Every season there’s a few random scrublords who randomly drop twenty after being recalled from the G-League. So you would expect a longtime backup PG, especially one who is regarded as a passable scorer, to score twenty at least once. But McConnell had not done it. Until last night.
The funny thing is, both Malcolm Brogdon and Aaron Holiday were out for this game. The sole point guard on the roster was McConnell, and he played 45 minutes out of a possible 48. So now we’ve established that the only way to force McConnell to score twenty points in a game is to play him basically the entire game. In that sense, I don’t think this twenty-burger really counts as a twenty-burger, because most NBA players, even the scrubbiest scrubnuggets who inhabit the furthest end of the bench, could muster twenty points if you played them the whole game and had them do most of the ball handling. The only player I would not expect to be able to do this would be Keljin Blevins.
That said, we already know that McConnell is a winning player and one of the best backup PG’s in the league. He doesn’t need to be a scoring stud to provide value on the floor. His assists, steals, facial hair, and ability to once in a while hit a white-dude set-shot over taller defenders are what makes him valuable. Personally, I’m waiting for him to get a twenty assist game. Twenty points is lame.