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Season Series: Magic 119, Pacers 115 in Orlando on Oct. 28; Pacers 118, Magic 111 in Indianapolis on Nov. 6; Tonight in Orlando
Pace | Off. Rtg. | Def. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indiana | 99.7 | 113.7 | 117.2 | 56.6 | 25.2 | 13.9 | 26.5 |
Orlando | 99.4 | 109.4 | 105.2 | 51.2 | 28.2 | 14.7 | 28.9 |
OMD Prediction
Our Record: 9-3/5-7 ATS
The Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers will play each other for the third time in three weeks when the Pacers return to Orlando on Wednesday.
The two teams already had a lot in common and a lot to compete for. They are both expected to compete for playoff seeding after tying last year. The winner Wednesday gets an edge for the penultimate game of the season in Indianapolis and a chance to win the season series. That could be vital for the playoffs.
There has been precious little to separate the two teams too.
Paolo Banchero scored 50 points in the first meeting and the Magic got a pair of crucial threes from Anthony Black to win that game. The Magic rallied from an early deficit to make it a game in Indianapolis before the Pacers made the plays lat to secure the win.
What will be the difference this time around? We should expect another competitive game that will come down to the same margins—whoever wins the paint, controls the pace and makes shots likely wins.
The Magic right now seem to be finding their groove and they are very strong at home—even on the second night of home-home back-to-back. The Pacers have been more up and down. They defeated the New York Knicks in their last game Sunday. But they dropped a game to the Charlotte Hornets before that.
And Orlando's defense is dialed in right now. Enough perhaps to slow down the Pacers.
3 Things to Watch
3. Franz Wagner, superstar
Franz Wagner is on a tear right now. It is more than just his 32-point, eight-rebound, five-assist effort in Tuesday's win over the Charlotte Hornets. It is that it followed a 23-point, seven-assist game against the Washington Wizards and a 27-point, six-assist effort against the New Orleans Pelicans. He had 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists against the Indiana Pacers last week.
Since Paolo Banchero's injury, Franz Wagner is averaging 21.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game and 5.5 assists per game. He is shooting 46.7 percent from the floor overall even on increased usage. That includes four straight games of scoring 20 or more points.
And that does not even get into the fact Wagner doubled his mid-range field goal attempts in Tuesday's win.
Wagner is acting more and more like a star. He is playing more aggressively and trying to set a tone to lead his team. They are being made better for it.
And Wagner is looking more and more like a serious candidate to make his first All-Star game. Especially if the Magic continue to maintain a place among the Eastern Conference's elite.
2. Winning in transition
The league is going through a pace revolution. Teams are trying to play much faster and that includes going after more fast-break points.
The Indiana Pacers did not exactly lead this, but they are probably the most high-profile and successful team looking to push the pace. That is almost required with Tyrese Haliburton manning the point (Andrew Nembhard is out for Wednesday's game with left knee inflammation). Haliburton is a natural supercharger.
The Pacers are eighth in the league in fast break points with 17.3 points per game. They will face a Magic team that is one of the best at defending transition opportunities.
Orlando is ranked fourth in the league giving up 12.8 fast-break points per game. The Orlando Magic held the Charlotte Hornets to just eight in Tuesday's win and held the Washington Wizards to seven in Sunday's win.
The Magic themselves are trying to get out in transition more too. They found a lot of success with that against the Hornets with 17 fast break points. They rank 23rd in the league with 13.8 fast-break points per game.
1. The shooting trouble
The highlight for the Orlando Magic in the last two weeks has been the team's sudden and frustrating downturn in shooting. Overall for the season, the Magic rank 29th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage shooting 30.4 percent from deep. Orlando has often struggled to shoot better than 30 percent from three consistently.
That has not stopped the Magic from shooting threes. They took 44 in the win over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday. They know they need to take more threes. They need to make them too.
Orlando is stepping away from the shooting depths they were in a few weeks ago. But they need threes to compete.
The Magic are 5-3 when they make at least 10 3-pointers and 5-1 when they make 13 or more 3-pointers. They made 13 in the win over the Charlotte Hornets.
That is not some magic number. It is really about the Magic not giving up too much ground on 3-point shooting. They broke even at 13 apiece with the Hornets, a team that is second in the league in 3-point attempts per game.
Orlando is going to get its shots up, but it is probably not hitting a high percentage at the moment. The Magic cannot give up a ton of threes back.
Orlando is seventh in the league giving up only 12.2 3-pointers per game (21st giving up 36.8 percent shooting from deep). The Magic do well to limit attempts and total threes. That is the trick right now for Orlando. The team cannot give away too much of a difference.
The Magic still need to make shots.