INDIANAPOLIS — Obi Toppin scored 21 points, T.J. McConnell had 20 points and nine assists and the Indiana Pacers won a playoff series for the first time in a decade, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 120-98 in Game 6 on Thursday night.
The Pacers will face the winner of the Philadelphia–New York series in the Eastern Conference semifinals. New York took a 3-2 lead into Game 6.
“I’ve said for two years now, we’re a franchise with big dreams,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We don’t know exactly where this is going to go from here. We don’t know who the opponent is. You have to have big dreams and aspirations to continue to grow and to continue to push yourself.”
Toppin and McConnell are the first duo in Pacers playoff history to each score 20 or more points off the bench in the same game, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
It’s the third time since starters began being tracked in 1970-71 that a team had a series-clinching victory with their two highest scorers coming off the bench, according to ESPN research. (The last time it happened was in 2020, when Norman Powell and Serge Ibaka led the Raptors over the Nets in the first round.)
“Obi came in and played with unbelievable energy, T.J.’s energy was amazing, our benches’ energy, it was flowing the whole game,” two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton said.
Indiana’s milestone victory came exactly 30 years after it swept Orlando 3-0 to advance in the NBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history, and it came on a night the Bucks again were without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time league MVP never played after straining his left calf April 9.
Damian Lillard, meanwhile, returned from a right Achilles injury and played well but was not nearly as dominant as he was in the first two games when he scored 69 points. Lillard finished with 28 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
Bobby Portis Jr. added 20 points and 15 rebounds for Milwaukee. Brook Lopez also had 20 points, and Khris Middleton had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Haliburton had 17 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds for Indiana, and Pascal Siakam finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Toppin and McConnell each had playoff career-high scoring totals, and McConnell also had four steals.
Indiana went 8-3 against the Bucks this season and handed Milwaukee its second straight first-round exit.
Easy? Not a chance. Indiana turned the game with a 23-3 first-quarter spurt that made it 29-19 and the Pacers never trailed again.
But every time the Bucks charged back, the Pacers had an answer.
When Milwaukee cut it to 38-34 early in the second quarter, Indiana scored seven straight points. When the Bucks opened the second half on a 9-4 run to close to 63-56, Indiana responded with a 10-5 run to extend the margin to 12. When Milwaukee got to 85-78 with 6:05 left in the third, McConnell capped an 11-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 96-78 early in the fourth.
And the Bucks never recovered as the Pacers extended the lead to 104-84 with 8:07 to play. From that point, it was a festive atmosphere at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with Pacers players being serenaded off the court to a standing ovation.
“Obviously we had guys out and all that, and that’s hard, but just give them credit,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought they played terrific, a terrific city, a terrific franchise.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.