The Orlando Magic’s losing streak
is at nine after falling 121-109 to the host Indiana Pacers, who got 26 points from ex-Magic guard Victor Oladipo.
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo dribbled to his left, with Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic marking him step-for-step and Magic swingman Terrence Ross trailing close by.
Oladipo stopped along the left wing, elevated and released a shot over Vucevic’s outstretched left hand.
It banked off the backboard, rattled off the rim and hit the backboard again before it fell through the hoop.
That 3-pointer came at a critical juncture Monday night — with the Pacers clinging to a 95-91 lead with 8:14 remaining in the game — and it illustrated the obstacle the Magic faced all night long. Oladipo, once discarded by the Magic in a disastrous trade, played one of the best games of his career and sent the Magic to their ninth straight defeat, a 121-109 loss at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
“This was his night,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said.
Oladipo made his first 11 shots and scored a game-high 26 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
His shot over Vucevic started a 13-0 Pacers run, and the Magic never recovered.
“I feel like I played as good of defense as I can,” Vucevic said. “You know, make him shoot over me. He made those, but he’s been playing great all year. He had a great game again against us. You’ve got to give him credit.”
As tipoff approached, the Pacers weren’t sure if Oladipo would even play. He bruised his right knee in a game Friday night, sat out a game Saturday and still felt lingering discomfort on Monday morning.
But on Monday night, he looked as good, if not better, than he ever did during his three-year Magic tenure.
In June 2016, a month after the Magic hired Vogel, the team traded Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka. In retrospect, the deal devastated the Magic. Ibaka never fit in in Orlando, and with Ibaka’s free agency approaching, the team traded him to Toronto just before the All-Star break.
The player the Magic received from Toronto in that trade, Ross, has struggled almost the entire season.
Before the game, Vogel altered the Magic’s starting lineup, replacing Ross with Jonathon Simmons. Ross has struggled most of the season and typically fails to assert himself when he plays alongside the Magic’s starters. Vogel hopes Simmons will improve the starting five’s defense and toughness and will help Ross contribute more offensively.
Ross scored seven points on 3-of-11 shooting on Monday while Simmons scored a team-high 21 points.
“We put ourselves in a couple of positions to take the lead and really stretch it,” Ross said. “But they made some tough shots. Vic had a hot night. So it was just tough all around.”
Orlando went ahead 86-85 on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, but Sabonis countered immediately, scoring from short range as Marreese Speights fouled him.
Sabonis tallied 19 points, eight boards and five assists.
The Magic played with more grit than they did in dismal losses Friday and Saturday, but they couldn’t slow Oladipo. After Oladipo’s circus shot over Vucevic, the Magic (8-13) never threatened the Pacers (12-9) again. When the ball went through the hoop, Oladipo shrugged his shoulders as he ran back on defense.
“When you start making stuff like that, you don’t know where it comes from,” Oladipo said. “It was pretty cool.”
Vogel served as the Pacers’ head coach from the midway point of the 2010-11 season through the 2015-16 season. Now 103 games into his tenure as the Magic’s coach, he’s 0-6 against his former team.
The Magic allowed the Pacers to make 53 percent of their shot attempts, but the Magic still looked a bit better on defense than they have recently. But now, the losing streak has developed a momentum of its own.
Vucevic said the Magic are doing a “so-so” job of blocking it out.
“It’s not easy, obviously,” Vucevic said. “I think it’s not as much what other people are saying or anything. It’s just us. We know it’s nine in a row. We know how hard it is to get out of it. Each game, it gets harder.”
On Monday, Oladipo provided the primary obstacle — an obstacle his former team couldn’t overcome.