The Indiana Pacers received important contributions from their whole roster in a dominant 123-102 team victory over the much-maligned Orlando Magic on Monday night.
The Pacers started strong in this one, racing out to an early eight-point lead in the first quarter. After a Magic surge in the late first and early second quarter, the Pacers retook the lead halfway through the second frame, and never gave it back to the Magic.
Indiana was particularly potent offensively, penetrating the lane and scoring with ease despite a rough three-point shooting night throughout. In the second half, the Pacers extended their lead, which ballooned to 25 in the fourth quarter, as the Magic never got a chance to push for a comeback victory.
Let’s take a look at the three stats that show how the Pacers beat the Magic.
3 eye-popping stats which defined the Indiana Pacers’ win over the Orlando Magic
+16
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.
3 eye-popping stats which defined the Indiana Pacers’ win over the Orlando Magic
73.9
The Pacers had one of their best defensive games this year against the Magic, and no quarter was better than the second in this game. The Pacers mustered up an impressive 73.9 Defensive rating in that quarter, which is a full 36 points better than their second-quarter season average (110.7).
How did the Pacers manage to dampen the Magic’s offensive output? They managed to close the lid on the bottle from which the Magic’s Saturday night offense flowed: Franz Wagner, Mo Bamba, and Bol Bol.
On Saturday, this trio scored a combined 72 of the Magic’s 113 points. Last night, this trio only gathered 44 of the Magic’s measly 102 points. The Magic had to search for contributions from the rest of their team, and outside of Gary Harris, weren’t able to get much.
3 eye-popping stats which defined the Indiana Pacers’ win over the Orlando Magic
46%
Tyrese Haliburton and TJ McConnell‘s playmaking abilities were on display in Gainbrige Fieldhouse on Monday night. With 24 combined assists, the Pacers’ point guard duo accounted for 75% of the Pacers’ assists and 46% of the total assists in last night’s game.
Both players were getting dribble penetration at will and it caused all sorts of issues for the Magic defense. In addition to his 10 assists in the game (season-high), TJ McConnell also scored 19 points (season-high) and made 3 threes (season-high and tied for career-high).
Pacers fans know how special Haliburton already is and can be, but add TJ McConnell, and it’s no wonder why this Pacers team ranks 2nd in the NBA in assists, and 7th in offensive rating.
This was another surprising and fun, dominant victory for a Pacers team that has had a remarkable November run and continues to improve every night.