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By John Denton
Jan. 6, 2016
ORLANDO – Desperate to see some form of fire and fight from his Orlando Magic once again, head coach Scott Skiles said on Wednesday that the result of the game wasn’t so much paramount right now as it is seeing his team being “energetic” once again.
Skiles’ words came on the heels of a dreadful road trip where the Magic didn’t just lose three straight games; they collapsed in the second half of each of those games and were throttled three times.
“We’re trying to convince them that if we’re just kind of three-quarters of the way turned on, we’re probably not going to win. That’s just not who we are right now,” Skiles said before the game, referring to Orlando’s need to play with more toughness and intensity.
Orlando played much harder and with infinitely more defensive grit on Wednesday night, but it still wasn’t enough because the short-handed Magic didn’t get enough contributions from enough players. Orlando shot just 40.5 percent and made only six of 31 3-point shots and fell 95-86 to Indiana for its first four-game losing streak of the season.
Already without starting point guard Elfrid Payton because of an ankle injury, the Magic (19-17) lost key reserve Jason Smith to a severely sprained ankle and then held their collective breath when standout center Nikola Vucevic went to the floor in the fourth quarter clutching his ankle. Evan Fournier started despite being questionable to play because of a toe injury.
Vucevic (17 points) stayed in the game and kept the Magic within striking distance. Neither team led by more than nine points until the midpoint of the fourth quarter when Indiana surged ahead by as much 11 points.
This time, however, Orlando showed no signs of quitting. They got 3-pointers from Fournier (13 points) and Victor Oladipo (20 points and four 3-pointers) and two more free throws by Oladipo to draw back within 89-86 of the Pacers.
However, Orlando couldn’t get the stop that it needed. Two free throws by Monta Ellis pushed the Pacers’ lead back up to 91-86 and Andrew Nicholson couldn’t convert on an open 3-point look from the corner with 26 seconds to play.
Indiana (20-15) beat the Magic for a second time this season and a sixth time in a row over the past two years. And the Pacers’ dominance against Orlando extends back even further as they have now won 10 of the last 11 games.
Paul George scored 20 points, but it was the 16 from George Hill and the 19 from Ellis who hurt the Magic most in the fourth quarter. In a game that featured lots of bad shooting, Indiana connected on just 41.1 percent of its shots and only six of 22 from 3-point range. However, Indiana (25 of 29) had a big advantage over Orlando (16 of 17) at the free throw line.
Orlando was trying to recover its mojo from December following a forgettable three-game road trip in which it was routed three times by Washington, Cleveland and Detroit. On the trip, the Magic combined their defensive problems with poor ball movement and a clearly noticeable lack of energy – elements they hoped would reappear with Wednesday’s return to the Amway Center.
The Magic were once again without point guard Elfrid Payton, who missed his second straight game because of a bone bruise in his left ankle. Payton, who played in the first 116 games of his NBA career, suffered the injury on Saturday in Cleveland. Orlando is hoping that with rest, Payton’s ankle will get stronger and his lateral quickness – especially on the defensive end of the floor – will return.
Evan Fournier was questionable for the game because of a toe injury, but the shooting guard pushed through the pain and was in the starting lineup.
Just off the road earlier in the week, the Magic will be leaving Central Florida again on Thursday in order to play the Nets on Friday night in Brooklyn. Following a Saturday home game against Washington, the Magic will fly to London on Monday. The Magic and Raptors will play in Global Games London 2016 on Jan. 14 at the O2 Arena in London.
Up at the half for the first time in a week, Orlando squandered what it had worked to build with a sloppy third quarter. Too often, Magic guards and forwards drove into traffic and turned the ball over six times in the period. Indiana turned those turnovers into eight points and led 66–59 after three quarters. That wasn’t the most encouraging of news for the Magic, which came into the game just 5-10 when heading into the fourth trailing.
Looking for a fast, energetic start to clear their minds of the recent poor play, the Magic got just the opposite at a start where they fell behind 7-0 and 9-2. However, Orlando wasn’t broken by the slow start and played well enough the rest of the first half to take a 38-37 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
The Magic missed all eight of its 3-point shots in the first quarter and it was 0-of-12 at one point of the second quarter before Shabazz Napier drilled a 26-footer that put Orlando into the lead for the first time all night at 30-28. The Magic had the lead at halftime despite misfiring on 13 of their first 14 3-point attempts.
Orlando suffered a potentially troublesome loss in the second quarter when power forward Jason Smith sprained his left ankle while contesting a jump shot by Indiana’s Jordan Hill. Smith, Orlando’s most consistent reserve all season, limped to the locker room and did not return to the game.
Before getting injured, Smith gave Orlando a tremendous boost in the second quarter to jar the team out of its early slumber. Over a four-minute stretch, Smith drilled two jumpers, scored on a nifty reverse-pivot layup and deflected a pass that resulted in Magic points off an Indiana turnover.
George had nine points in the first half, but he played just 16 minutes as Pacers head coach Frank Vogel rested the superstar small forward. George was coming off an overtime game in Miami on Monday when he was forced to hoist 29 shots and 13 3-pointers.
