Magic at Pacers
The Orlando Magic are fighting for a spot in the top eight of the Eastern Conference and are playing like a contender while knocking off some of the top teams in both conferences recently. The Magic will try to earn another win over a top team when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
Orlando seems to get up to play against the better teams and is 2-2 since the All-Star break, with the wins coming over Toronto and Golden State and the losses coming to lowly Chicago and New York. The Magic fought their way back from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit to knock off the Warriors 103-96 on Thursday. The Pacers occupy the No. 3 spot in the East and began a three-game homestand with a 122-115 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday after dropping two straight. "Win by any means necessary," Indiana point guard Darren Collison told reporters. "Right now, our backs are against the wall. We haven't been playing well, but tonight was an opportunity for us to get back on track. (We) understand that every game from here on out is important to us and, regardless of what the score was in the fourth, we were going to come out on top."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Orlando), FS Indiana
ABOUT THE MAGIC (29-34): Orlando's stretch of nine wins in 12 games began with a 107-100 home victory over Indiana on Jan. 31, and the team felt Thursday's comeback against the Warriors marked another step forward. "It's moments like these that we grow," guard Terrence Ross told reporters. "In those close games, when we're up by a few points and we get that crucial rebound or make a good defensive play, those are the things that help to mature a team and I think we're doing it more and more. We're taking steps in the right direction." Ross scored 16 points off the bench in the win and recorded 15 or more in eight of the last 10 contests.
ABOUT THE PACERS (41-22): Indiana handed out 35 assists on 40 made field goals in Thursday's win and watched shooting guard Bojan Bogdanovic go off for a season-high 37 points in the victory. Collison and backup point guard Cory Joseph combined for 21 assists and two turnovers and the Pacers shot 59.3 percent from 3-point range in the bounce-back win. "Effort, flying around, getting loose balls," Collison told reporters. "I thought we got a lot of 50/50 balls today despite the previous two games where we were not getting the 50/50 balls. But tonight, we were making the hustle plays, and those plays came back to us and gave us a good look."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Magic All-Star C Nikola Vucevic recorded a double-double in each of the four games since the break.
2. Pacers PF Domantas Sabonis (ankle) and SG Tyreke Evans (illness) each missed the last two games and are questionable for Saturday.
3. Indiana took eight straight in the series before falling at Orlando on Jan. 31.