How TJ McConnell’s ‘best hustle play’ of the year epitomized the growing rivalry between the Pacers and Bucks

MILWAUKEE — A red-faced TJ McConnell screamed at his bench late on Monday night, and every single Indiana Pacers coach and player roared back in appreciation. The veteran point guard had just clinched a huge 122-113 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the latest entry in a budding rivalry between the Central division foes, in a way only he could: chasing down a loose ball that everyone else had given up on. 

“That’s one of the best hustle plays I’ve seen all year,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “Because that’s where the action was with the whistle, a lot of people missed the save that [Bennedict] Mathurin made on Tyrese’s outlet over a couple guys on a double team. Benn made an amazing save, and then TJ, I don’t know how he got to the ball. To save it and draw the foul, absolutely enormous play.”

With just over a minute to play, Khris Middleton missed a 3-pointer from the corner, and the rebound went to Tyrese Haliburton. There’s no one the Pacers would rather have the ball in that situation, but the sure-handed point guard made a rare mistake. “I made a bad pass,” Haliburton said. “I didn’t realize how many timeouts we had, I shoulda called one.”

As a double team approached, Haliburton threw the ball to Mathurin along the sideline, and it was sailing out of bounds until the second-year guard leaped into the air, caught it with his left hand, and in one motion flung it back across the court. It sailed over everyone’s head and, again, looked likely to be a turnover. 

That’s when McConnell came rushing in. “I saw Khris look back, so I didn’t think he was gonna save it, so I tried to make a play on it,” McConnell said. “Fortunately, got fouled.” He did so by sneaking around Middleton and diving towards the scorer’s table. With one hand he braced for impact, and with the other he tipped the ball back into play. 

Here’s a look at the full broadcast angle to see just how much ground McConnell covered:

The Pacers may still have won anyway, but McConnell, who finished with 16 points, four rebounds and nine assists off the bench, ensured a positive result. 

“TJ doing what TJ does,” Aaron Nesmith said. “Plays like that get our team hyped up, our bench up, everybody’s cheering… It’s inspiring. When one person does it, the next person does it because you can see how everybody reacts.”

McConnell’s game-saving play epitomized not only his style of play, but the Pacers’ approach entering their fourth meeting of the season with the Bucks. After the Pacers won the first two, including a showdown in the In-Season Tournament semifinals, the Bucks responded with a drama-filled 140-126 win in Milwaukee on Dec. 13.

“We kind of bullied them that game,” Bobby Portis, who was ejected from that Dec. 13 game, told ESPN earlier this month. “I think they felt that presence. When a team beats you twice, you don’t want to let them beat you three times because now they think they can play with you. We played with a sense of urgency. We were more physical, we were hitting them. I don’t think they liked that.”

McConnell was more succinct on Monday: “They punked us the last time we were here.”

The Pacers weren’t going to let that happen on Monday. They were the tougher team. They were the instigators. They were the ones giving all-out effort until the final buzzer. And they were the ones who came away with the win. 

“This is a game that everybody was prepared for and everybody was ready for,” Haliburton said. “Again, I think their words were ‘we weren’t ready for them physically.’ I think we were ready for them today.”

With the victory, the Pacers extended their winning streak to four games and improved to 3-1 against the Bucks this season and 18-14 overall. This young team, which has thus far exceeded expectations and has a real chance to end the franchise’s three-year playoff drought, will face another test on Wednesday when the Bucks come to town for the fifth and final regular season meeting in less than two months. 

“They’ll be very motivated coming out Wednesday,” Carlisle said. “That’s just how this is. We gotta be real motivated too. We’re gonna have a live building, a great crowd. We gotta be worthy of it from a competitive standpoint. 

“We’re fortunate that we’ve had so many of these games – it’s not even January. 2 yet – that have really been simulations of high-level playoff-type situations, atmospheres, etc. We gotta keep growing.”