Bench players Obi Toppin, T.J. McConnell lead Pacers into semis - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin complemented one another's play perfectly Thursday night.

They were still trading fist bumps long after the Indiana Pacers celebrated a rare series-clinching victory.

Toppin scored 21 points, McConnell added 20 points and nine assists and they led the Pacers to a 120-98 rout over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6, sending them to their first Eastern Conference semifinal in a decade.

«It means a lot,» McConnell said. «Not getting into the playoffs since the bubble, not being able to advance since 2014, we take great pride in being able to advance and extend our season. Milwaukee has a great team and, if I can be honest with you, I think our bench has taken a couple steps back competitive wise and I think tonight all of us went out there with the mentality we're going to take it to another level.»

Did they ever.

Nobody was better than McConnell. He finished with a playoff career best scoring total while matching his playoff career high in assists and coming up four steals — all following a dismal Game 5 in Milwaukee.

But McConnell wasn't going to allow one bad game to derail this milestone moment for Indiana. The 4-2 series victory came exactly 30 years after Indiana won its first NBA playoff series, a 3-0 sweep over Orlando, and sets up a matchup against the winner of the Philadelphia-New York series.

New York took a 3-2 lead into Thursday's second Game 6.

«T.J. actually helped me today, told me to be aggressive, told me to be myself,» said Toppin, who also produced a playoff career high scoring total. «Everybody did their jobs today, from the starters to the bench, everybody had a good game.»

Toppin and McConnell are the first duo in Pacers playoff history to each score 20 or more