The Good: The fourth-quarter defense and general recovery after it looked like they might piss this game away. The Magic scored just 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting as Indiana recorded 5 steals and forced 7 turnovers overall in the final period. This came after a lackluster third quarter in which they were getting badly outplayed before closing on a 6-0 run.
The Bad: Sloppiness and overall dusty play throughout. Paul George was incredible in the first quarter, scoring 19 of his team’s first 23 points, but he turned into a pumpkin for the rest of the game. He wasn’t the lone problem, but his 6 turnovers were mostly careless and set the tone for nonchalant nonsense all around. For the game, the Pacers coughed up 18 turnovers that led to an incredible 34 Magic points. Unacceptable.
MVP: George Hill. He scored 11 points in the second quarter and was solid from then on, throwing down a mighty dunk on the break in the fourth quarter then icing the game on a step-back 3-pointer after an absolutely disrespectful between-the-legs move that extinguished Elfrid Payton’s soul.
LVP: Monta Ellis. He shot 1-of-9 and scored just 2 points in 33 minutes. Frank Vogel had to be hoping better things were afoot for his scoring game after Monta scored a Pacers career high against the Cavs, but … not so much.
X-Factor: Chase Budinger. He hit two 3-pointers in the second half and recorded two excellent assists on back-to-back possessions — leading Ian Mahinmi perfectly for a layup then hitting PG off a screen for an open 3 — that helped Indiana pull away and step on Orlando’s throat box.