No escaping Pacers’ hex
Overmatched Magic fall to Indiana 8th time in row
The Indiana Pacers sure like playing at Amway Center.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored a game-high 26 points as the Indiana Pacers extended their winning streak against the Orlando Magic to eight games with a 112-90 win Friday night at Amway Center.
The Pacers also won at Amway for the eighth straight time.
Center Nikola Vucevic played through a sprained ankle he sustained late in the first quarter and finished with 22 points to lead the Magic, who were playing their third game in four days.
Aaron Gordon finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds for Orlando, which absorbed its worst loss of the season since falling 112-87 to the Nuggets on Nov. 23.
After a fast start, the Magic struggled to find offensive rhythm and trailed nearly the entire game.
A third-quarter burst gave the Magic some life as D.J. Augustin hit a 3, Vucevic scored on a putback and Gordon sank a 3 before gathering a loose ball under the basket and throwing down a two-handed dunk. The sequence cut the Pacers’ lead to 63-59.
But the offense dried up again as the Pacers pulled away. A 3-pointer by Tyreke Evans put the Pacers up 78-61 — the biggest lead of the game to that point.
Bogdanovic scored 21 points as the Pacers built a 57-45 halftime lead. After a Mohamed Bamba jump hook got the Magic within 30-27, the Pacers scored 19 of the next 27 points. Bogdanovic was in the middle of much of that, and his 3-pointer out of a timeout pushed the Pacers ahead 49-35.