Magic rally past Pacers, remain unbeaten at home
Franz Wagner scored 29 points and the Orlando Magic benefited from a fourth-quarter surge to post a 94-90 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
Orlando's Goga Bitadze collected 12 points and 12 rebounds to record his third double-double of the season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Moritz Wagner each had 10 points.
The Magic outscored the Pacers by a 26-18 margin in the fourth quarter to improve to 6-0 at home.
Indiana's Pascal Siakam sank four 3-pointers to highlight his 25-point performance, and Bennedict Mathurin added 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Myles Turner contributed 11 points while Tyrese Haliburton logged nine points and 12 assists, but the Pacers fell to 2-5 on the road this season.
Indiana secured a 72-68 lead after scoring nine of the final 11 points of the third quarter. Undaunted, Orlando scored the first 13 points of the fourth, highlighted by two 3-pointers from Jonathan Isaac and one from Moritz Wagner.
Siakam answered with a 3-pointer, but the Magic pulled away by scoring nine of the next 12 points. Caldwell-Pope converted from beyond the arc and added a bucket in the interior to stake Orlando a 90-78 lead with 3:42 remaining.
Mathurin scored 10 of the game's next 12 points, and Haliburton's dunk trimmed the Magic's lead to 92-90 with 11.2 seconds to play. Suggs, however, sank a pair of free throws and Haliburton misfired on a 3-point attempt to end the game.
Tempers flared midway through the third quarter as Siakam and Bitadze exchanged shoves and words underneath the basket, leading to a double technical foul being issued.
Haliburton answered a 0-for-6 performance from the floor in the first half by sinking a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to stake Indiana to a 54-51 lead early in the third quarter.
Indiana saw its 12-point edge trimmed to 38-36 after Cole Anthony sank a floating jumper with 4:37 remaining in the second quarter. The Pacers responded with seven straight points, highlighted by Siakam converting a three-point play and Ben Sheppard draining a 3-pointer.
