3 eye-popping stats which defined the Pacers’ win over the Magic

3 eye-popping stats which defined the Indiana Pacers’ win over the Orlando Magic

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The Pacers racked up 58 points in the paint In their victory over the Magic, which was 16 more points in the paint than the Magic were able to muster. Almost half (47 percent) of the Pacers’ points were scored in the paint, which is seven percent higher than their season average.

Beginning in the first quarter, the Pacers were able to easily bend the Orlando defense with purposeful drives to the lane, and excellent off-ball cutting for easy assisted buckets in the paint. Over and over again, the Pacers would manufacture situations where Orlando bigs would get switched onto Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, or Bennedict Mathurin, and the Pacers guards would take advantage by beating them with quick first steps and either finishing at the rim or dishing to whoever was open after the Magic had to scramble into help situations.

Haliburton himself was dominant in the paint, scoring two-thirds of his 18 points in the paint, 32 percent higher than his season average. The Magic were absolutely at a loss when trying to keep the Pacers out of the painted area, and it’s a major reason why the margin of victory was so large in this game.