Danny Granger shines as Indiana Pacers humiliate Orlando Magic 106-85 - NBA Recap
Playing on away courts is always tough but Indiana Pacers have made it look easy this season. So far they have played most of their games of the shortened season on road and their success rate is exquisite to say the least.
On Sunday night, they augmented their road record further by bulldozing Orlando Magic 106-85 at Amway Centre, Florida, to improve their overall record to 13-6.
They are also one of the very few teams this season who have not lost consecutive games so far.
"We do react well to adversity," Forward Danny Granger said. "I think that's a sign of a really good team. We've said after every loss we've had, `We don't want to lose two in a row.' And we haven't yet."
Danny had other reason to be overjoyed with the win as well. His own performance was phenomenal as he led the team with 24 points on 10-for-20 from the floor including 3-for-7 from downtown.
"It is a lot of fun to win and be one of the top teams right now," Granger said. "We are playing together and that is the biggest thing. We have so much talent now. We are in position to really contend for the East."
David West and George Hill both bundled 16 while Darren Collison had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
The Pacers shot 51.1% from the floor and outrebounded the Magic 43-33, who again slumped in the second half.
Dwight Howard was once again the most outstanding player for Magic. He finished with 24 points on 10 for 13 from the floor and 13 boards. Chris Duhon, who started in place of Jameer Nelson, had 14 points while Jason Richardson
(5 for 11 from the floor), accumulated 13 points.
Ryan Anderson (11) was the only other player who managed to produce a double digit tally for the Magic.
Orlando started off strongly with a 9-4 run but they failed to push the accelerator further. On the other hand, Pacers, slowly but surely, picked up the pace and finished the first frame with a 7 point lead 29-22.
A 12-4 run at the start of second quarter boosted Pacers lead to 15 points 44-29 but this time it was Magic’s turn to make a comeback. They finished the frame by reeling off a 22-4 burst to announce their revival in the game, shutting
the first half with a 3 point lead 51-48.
The Magic however ran out of gas in the third quarter as they only managed to score 17 points, in contrast to 32 points by the Pacers, which again turned the game in Indiana’s favour.
Things got only worse for Magic in the deciding frame as the deficit soon mounted to 20 points 99-79. Magic failed to make any inroads and lost the game by a massive margin.
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