Magic at Pacers: What Went Right

The Magic won their second road game in as many nights as they outran the run-and-gun Indiana Pacers, 121-115. In this segment, we are going to examine what went right for Orlando in the victory.

1. They fed Dwight Howard- Indiana had no one to match up with the Orlando big man, and the Magic were smart enough to run their offense through Dwight for much of the 44 minutes that he was on the court. Howard finished with 24 points, the most he’s scored in over two weeks, 12 rebounds, and a blocked shot.

2. Offensive execution- Orlando looked like the Orlando team in November, as they hit on 55.7% of their field goals (39/70) en route to scoring 121 points against the lackluster defense of the Pacers.

3. Strokin’ from outside- The Magic were hitting their three’s Saturday night, and when they make the three point shot, it erases a lot of bad plays. Orlando hit on 14 of 25 three’s (56%), led by Keith Bogans who hit 4 of his 6 attempts.

4. Point guard play- The Orlando point guards were finally better than their opponents point guards. Carlos Arroyo and Keyon Dooling combined for 23 points on 6-8 shooting, adding 6 rebounds and four assists. Indiana’s combo of former Magician Travis Diener and Jamaal Tinsley scored just 10 points on 4-12 shooting, and finished with 15 assists and 7 rebounds.

5. Hedo Turkoglu- Turkoglu is playing so well that he must be mentioned every night. Turkoglu filled up the stat sheet again as he scored 23 points on 10-16 shooting, dished out 8 assists, and grabbed 5 rebounds.