Pacers coach Rick Carlisle’s handling of T.J. McConnell minutes will be under a Game 3 microscope

INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is drawing attention for critiquing the officials’ calls.

But it’s his own call to keep T.J. McConnell on the bench that should be getting attention — and critiqued.

The smallest player on Indiana’s roster has had an outsized impact for the Pacers in their second-round series against the Knicks, the only Pacer to even quasi-effectively guard red-hot Jalen Brunson.

But Carlisle’s decision to leave McConnell on the bench for the decisive minutes of Game 2 came back to haunt him.

“Well, T.J. had played a pretty good chunk of minutes. I considered it,” Carlisle said. “But our starters have earned the trust to finish games. And you know [Andrew] Nembhard is probably our best on-ball defender. And we were flying around trapping, too. We kind of had the kitchen sink going at them in the fourth, and they still came up with loose balls. They came up with the offensive rebounds. They made shots. So, look, their execution has been very good in those situations.

“But look, everything’s on the table going forward. It has to be at this point. And we’ll look closely at everything.”