ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – The Orlando Magic showed promise against the Indiana Pacers in their post-All-Star break rematch at home, but plummeted in the second half, starting in the third quarter.
Overall, Myles Turner scored 24 points for the Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin followed with 19 points and Jordan Nwora netted 18. Tyrese Haliburton had 15 points and a solid 14 assists. Jalen Smith contributed seven rebounds and five blocks.
Both teams shot below 40 percent in the first half, but in the third quarter Andrew Nembhard, Buddy Hield and Haliburton nailed 3-pointers in a 17-2 run to give Indiana a 68-54 lead. Indiana shot 59 percent in the second half.
”That was one of the better games we’ve played in a while, on the road,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. ”We’ve played some good home games, but it’s been a while since we’ve won on the road.”
For Orlando, Franz Wagner led with 21 points, while Paolo Banchero followed with 19 points and Markelle Fultz with 18. The Magic’s shots weren’t landing; they went 6 for 29 from 3-point range and finished the game at 38.9 percent.
”I think something happened that we can’t let happen,” Wagner said during the postgame press conference. ”After a couple of shots being missed or us not getting what we wanted, we let it affect how we played on the other end. That’s when they made that run.”
Additionally, while Wendell Carter Jr. got a game high 11 rebounds in 18 minutes early in the game, he got into foul trouble, getting four overall (the first three in the first quarter, after which he was benched, then the fourth in third quarter) and struggled to shoot, making only one of his 11 field goals, no 3-pointers, and scoring three of his six free throws.
On the plus side, Carter’s absence from the court brought the introduction of Goga Bitadze, who scored six points and had four rebounds against his old team in his first few minutes with the Orlando Magic during the first quarter.
Postgame Press Conference
Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero talk with the press after their loss to the Pacers.
<iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFloridaNationalNews%2Fvideos%2F1209339779686396%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0″ width=”560″ height=”314″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true” allow=”autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowFullScreen=”true”></iframe>
