Magic win fifth straight at home, defeat Pacers 93-92

Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinel / MCT

Magic guard Victor Oladipo was one rebound shy of a triple-double in Friday’s double-overtime win over the Knicks.

The Orlando Magic won their fifth game in a row at home on Sunday after beating the Indiana Pacers 93-92 in front of 16,366. The win against the Pacers makes it back-to-back wins over the two best teams in the league after beating the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.

Victor Oladipo led the way in scoring for the Magic with 23 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.

The Magic had just three players score in double figures, but relied on strong bench play to ultimately put the game away. Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn said the bench play was huge for the team, as they outscored the Pacers’ bench 37-19.

“It’s great to see that second unit get into the game; they don’t want to let each other down,” said Vaughn. “Every guy brings a certain amount of accountability to each other, that’s what this thing is about. I’ll try to guide them but they’re the ones out there playing. They have a great feel for each other; they play for each other and that has been fun to watch.”

Vaughn said prior to the game that center Nikola Vucevic would have a good test against Pacers All-Star center Roy Hibbert. Vucevic appeared to pass that test as he scored 19 points and held Hibbert to just six points.

“I’m just trying to do my job; protect the paint and help my team,” said Vucevic. “Roy is a great player; he’s an All-Star for a reason. I just tried to keep him off of the glass, keep him out of the paint and do the best I can to limit him. My teammates did a great job of helping me with that.”

Hibbert said after the game that this loss was on them. “We messed around too much, [we] didn’t close the game out and we let them hang around,” said Hibbert.

All-Star Paul George led the way with 27 points for the Pacers and echoed the same thing as Hibbert. “We should have taken care of the ball and executed late in the game where we were not playing catch up,” said George.

“I felt that there were spurts in the game where we just didn’t put our foot down all the way and finish and close this game out. We allowed them to creep back and get some confidence.”

The Magic face the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Wednesday before heading into the All-Star break.