NBA Playoffs 2012: Orlando Magic strike late to surprise Indiana Pacers 81-77 in game-1
On Saturday night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana, Orlando Magic gutted out a splendid performance to sneak out an 81-77 win over the number three seeded Indiana Pacers in game 1 of the first round playoff series.
Jason Richardson`s impressive tally of 5-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc, finishing with 17 points, lend a helping hand to the surging Magic. Jameer Nelson also came up with 17 points while also dishing out 9 assists in the
game.
Glen ‘Big Baby ‘Davis was not far behind, notching up a double-double performance of 16 points and 13 rebounds. Hedo Turkoglu, who was returning back from injury also played well for 9 points in the game. Orlando, who after losing
their All-Star, Dwight Howard due to back surgery came out gunning in the contest to stun the Pacers.
David West was the leading scorer for the Pacers with 19 points and Danny Granger racked up 17 points in the game. George Hill played well for his 11 points, however the disappointing factor for the Indiana side would have been
that Paul George failed to make much of an impact only managing 8 points.
Roy Hibbert had a very important say in the matchup as he set a franchise high of 9 blocked shots in the match along with grabbing 13 boards.
In the first quarter, Pacers got off to a great start as they raced to an 11-4 advantage. Indiana went on to extend the lead to double figures till the 5:02 mark. However in the last 3:31 minutes of the opening period, Indiana
rallied back courtesy of a 12-3 run to make the score 21-22.
The action remained end to end from then on with both sides not willing to give up and by the 6:04 mark; the scores were all square at 33. In the next several minutes, the lead changed hands twice, however by the 3:08 mark, Magic
led by 1. From then on, Orlando scored 6 unanswered points which enable them to close out the half with a score of 51-44.
In the second half both sides were back at it, trying their best to get the better of the other teams defence. The scores remained close throughout with no side getting the all important spark to pull away. By the 1:53 mark of
the quarter, the scores were level again at 61. In the final minute of the quarter, the lead changed hands twice as the score was 64-63 in Magics favour before the start of the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, by the 9:23 mark, Orlando`s lead remained at 1. Till the 5:05 mark in the final period, Pacers scored 8 unanswered points to make the score 75-68. In that span, Magic went on a scoring drought by missing
on their 4 attempts at the basket.
However in the final minutes of the game, Magic literally turned things around in their favour, putting together an 11-2 to close out the contest, coming out with a sneaky win in this first matchup of the series. Indiana`s final
basket came at the 4:05 mark in the fourth and after that, they had nothing to show for themselves.
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