By Peyton Wesner
The Orlando Magic are in year 3 of a rebuilding process that was prompted by Dwight Howard's desire to leave the Entertainment Capital of the United States. The deal that sent Dwight Howard from Disney World to Disneyland (the Lakers) was a four team trade that gave the Orlando Magic future starters Aaron Affalo and Nikola Vucevic in addition to Rookie Maurice Harkless. With the change of scenery from Philadelphia to Orlando, Nikola Vucevic improved as he was given significant minutes in Florida. Since he has been in Orlando, he has averaged a double-double every season. Aaron Affalo continued his great numbers after the trade as his points per game and rebounds per game improved in Orlando. For Maurice Harkless, he was just drafted as a Freshman from St. John's by the Philadelphia 76ers prior to the big switch. The trade to Orlando benefited him immediately as he played meaningful minutes but today Harkless gets barely any playing time because of Tobias Harris' emergence as a solid starter. The core three would stay together until this past offseason when the Magic made the stupidest trade of this century. Orlando shipped sharp shooter and scorer Aaron Affalo to Denver for a young gun named Evan Fournier. Affalo averaged 18.2 points per game...18.2! And the Magic traded him for a kid that averaged only 8.4 points per game? I was devastated for the longest time after the trade as Affalo was one of my favorite players. In addition to the Affalo trade, the Magic waived Jameer Nelson, the last player that was still in Orlando from the Magic's 2009 Finals team. I was confused beyond belief as a non waivering Magic fan that the team would just get rid of 40% of their starting lineup. When the season started and the team was 1-4 with the only win coming to the 76ers, I had the feeling this could be a step back in the progression of the rebuilding process. After the Philly win, the Magic went on a run of 5 wins in their next 9 games (which is really good for the Magic) putting them in the thick of the hunt for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Since their last win the Magic have been defeated by the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers in Cleveland, and the Golden State Warriors. Tonight was Orlando's next game. Despite many negatives, there are some positives in Orlando so far this season. Number one, Nikola Vucevic has continued to get better and is haviing his best season yet. Two, Tobias Harris has shown that he is a real game changing player but the injury bug has continued to lower his games played. Three, Evan Fournier has fit in perfectly for Aaron Affalo as he is averaging 16.1 points per game this season, only two less than Affalo's average last year. Of course Victor Oladipo is being Victor and has put together another solid season.
The Indiana Pacers are coming back to the Hooiser State from a Texas road trip where they upset the Dallas Mavericks 111-100, leaving Mark Cuban stupefied, and contended with the Spurs for 44 minutes but were eventually put away in the last four. Indiana was actually leading the Spurs 91-86 at one point in the fourth quarter, that was when the "Big Three with Kawhi" turned up their intensity ultimatly leading their team to victory. Both of these well-played games by Indiana was played without their All-Star Center Roy Hibbert who was out with an ankle injury. Tonight two key players return from injury for the Pacers as starter David West (ankle) and key bench player C.J. Watson (foot) make their season debuts. The addition of these two players to the mix will definatly give Indiana a boost going foward and help in their pursuit of a playoff birth.
To begin the game, the Pacers went immediately to David West as on the first possession of the game he made a layup and on the next a jump shot to move his team to an early 4-3 lead. The referees played a role tonight as the Pacers' David West picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game causing him to go to the bench. Later after he scored four consecutive points for his team, Orlando's Tobias Harris was called for his second foul causing him to take a seat with 5:20 left in the first quarter. After Harris' exit, Indiana's starting shooting guard Rodney Stuckey continued his hot start to the game by nailing a jumper and a layup to give him nine points for the quarter. At the end of one, the Pacers were leading 26-20.
The second quarter was a period of runs. To start the game, Orlando received a big boost from two veteran bench players, Kyle O'Quinn and Ben Gordon to keep the deficit close. The two would score the first 10 of 12 points for the Magic in making the score, Pacers 37, Magic 34. Then the Pacers went on a run of their own as they scored the next eight points unanswered increasing their lead to 45-34 while provoking Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn to call a timeout. Whatever Coach Vaughn said in his huddle worked as Orlando crawled back into the game and made it 47-45 at halftime. The Magic were led by Nikola Vucevic who scored 6 of his team high 16 in the final five minutes of the second.
The third quarter would prove to be the deciding quarter. Indiana outscored the Magic 25-14 increasing the lead to 15 points at the start of the fourth quarter. The Magic would put up a fight in the fourth led by (Ben) Gordon and O'Quinn that narrowed the deficit to eight. The run for Orlando would stop there as Indiana regained control and raised the lead to 17 points. The final score tonight from Bankers Life Fieldhouse was Pacers 98, Magic 83.
Unlikely Scorers
David West would end up with 18 points and 6 rebounds as he dominated any Magic defender that guarded him in his first game of the season. Orlando power forward Channing Frye couldn't handle the 6'9", 250 lbs power foward from Xavier. Rodney Stuckey scored a season high tonight 24 points, which added onto his 22-point performance last Wednesday in San Antonio.
No Magic in the Building
Foul trouble ended up hurting the Magic since it took Tobias Harris out of the game. It seemed like he was always on the bench during momentum swings in the Pacers favor. Sophomore guard Victor Oladipo had another good performance in a return to the state of Indiana, where he played three seasons of college basketball for the Hooisers. Oladipo scored 14 points on 5-7 shooting while also stuffing the stat sheet with five rebounds and four assists.
What's Next
6-12 Orlando starts a West coast road trip Sunday in Phoenix where they face a good Suns team. It then heads to Golden State Tuesday, Los Angeles to face the Clippers Wednesday, Utah Friday, and wraps up after next Saturday's game in Sacramento. It will be a tough road stretch for a struggling Magic team that has lost their last four games.
7-9 Indiana plays tonight at "The Q" to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back. Good news for the Pacers is that Roy Hibbert has a chance of returning tonight to face the Cavs. Tonight's game starts a four game
road trip that heads West next week. On Tuesday, the Pacers have a rematch with the Phoenix Suns team who defeated Indiana at home, 106-83 last Saturday. Then the Pacers play another back-to-back against Portland and Sacramento before returning home to play the Atlanta Hawks on the eighth of December.
Player of the Game:
Orlando: Nikola Vucevic 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Indiana: Rodney Stuckey 24 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 rebound.
Next Game:
Orlando: Sunday at 10-7 Phoenix.
Indiana: Tonight at 7-7 Cleveland.
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