THIRD QUARTER
– A Turkoglu turnover is immediately followed by a Mike Dunleavy pull-up trey, 
but Jason Richardson fired right back at the other end.
– Turkoglu lob to Dwight Howard, who rose up and dunked in slow-mo dunk, creates a 69-53 lead.
– Jameer Nelson drives through the paint effortlessly, gives Hansbrough a slight fake, and scores as the shot clock winds down, prompting one fan to get out of his seat and scream “STOP THE BALL!” I’m on your side, bro.
– Brandon Bass slices through the D in the same manner as Jameer but finishes with an easy slam, extending the margin to 21, the greatest yet. Magic 78, Pacers 57.
– Jameer Nelson imitates the Pace Mates (Pacers dancers) during a timeout. Fun and games when your up 21…
– The Pacers have struggled to maintain any type of consistency on the offensive end, but a Collison pull-up followed by a nice penetrate-and-dish to Jeff Foster gets them within 15 with 2:45 left in the third.
– Despite shooting (and making) free-throws during halftime, Dwight Howard missed all four attempts in the third.
– After cutting the lead to 82-70, the Pacers got a few stops but nothing materialized. 86-72 score going into the fourth. If the Pacers want to cut into this lead they better come out with intensity.
FOURTH QUARTER
– Granger must have heard me, as he hit a a three right out of the gate to give the Pacers and their fans something to build on.
– Paul George with a jumper on the right side and a Granger foul shot cuts the deficit to 86-78, the closest its been since the first.
– The Magic are in complete disarray to start the period. They haven’t scored, rebounded or defended and have allowed the building to retain hope in the process.
– A Mike Dunleavy triple rolls in and out. The crowd would have erupted had it gone, but a timeout with 8:55 left and an 8 point deficit is possible. Coach Ron Jeremy cannot be happy with his team’s effort in closing this one out.
– Turkoglu jumper and-1 followed by a Richardson jumper from the left corner and Jameer’s trey pushes the lead to 94-79 in the blink of an eye. Back to the bottom of the hill…
– Indiana has been taking threes like they’re layups… and they’re not gonna stop. Granger pull-up on the break makes it 97-86.
– Indiana had every chance in the world to climb back into the game in the fourth quarter but they didn’t make open shots when they had to and made the wrong pass at the wrong time with regularity.
– Coach Jim O’Brien paced the sideline, head down, as a timeout was called with 2:03 to play. This is a tough one to swallow because the Pacers outplayed themselves.
POSTGAME
Final three-point numbers and percentages from this barrage:
– Orlando: 16-34 (47.1 percent)
– Indiana: 8-30 (26.7 percent)
– Coach Jim O’Brien discussed the main reasons for the loss: ” We played very poorly from the standpoint of challenging shots and being active with our hands. They absolutely had our way with the three-point line in the second quarter, which was a disaster for us.”
– Coach Jim O’Brien about Ryan Anderson’s stellar play and the Magic style overall: “He’s been playing great. Shooting the basketball, great from the perimeter, and when they put four three-point shooters on the court with Dwight Howard that makes it very difficult. He was huge for them in the second quarter and our rotations were sloppy and there is no excuse for that.”
– Coach Stan Van Gundy on Ryan Anderson and the option that opposing defenses have of staying home on shooters: “He hit four threes, so you have a choice. You can say ‘Ah shit, we gotta stay home on that guy,’ and that’s fine. That gives us more space to drive the ball and more space inside for Dwight. You have to make a choice but it’s not that easy. If you wanna stay home on him, stay home on him but it’s gonna open other people up.”
