Pacers win over Orlando Magic shows hope on the defensive end

After a demoralizing loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Indiana Pacers returned to action on Sunday to face Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic. Usually, Indiana can be counted on to bounce back strongly from a loss like Thursday’s, but it looked like that wouldn’t be the case early on.

While both teams didn’t shoot particularly well in the first half, Indiana particularly struggled, starting the game with a 2-12 deficit against Orlando and trailing just 1/11 at – beyond the arc. Orlando’s lead ballooned to as many as 15 points in the second quarter, after which the Pacers took control and went into halftime trailing just three points. At first it looked like it would be another typical Pacers loss, where they fall behind early and spend the rest of the night catching up, but that wouldn’t be the case.

For lack of a better mandate, the Pacers wiped the floor with the Magic in the second half. Although they were strong on the offensive end, scoring 64 points in the final 24 minutes and shooting 56% from the field and 58% from beyond the arc to make up for their 9% in the first half, it was their defense that took control. of the game and I never returned it.

Although the Magic didn’t really shoot well to start the game, shooting 45% from the field and 33% from deep in the first half, they were at least useful enough to maintain the lead as Indiana faltered in attack. In the second half, however, that quickly disappeared, as Indiana’s otherwise lackluster defense held the Magic to a putrid 33 percent from the field and 20 percent from deep.

Overall, no one on Orlando’s side was able to get going, with rising star Paolo Banchero recording one of his worst shooting performances of the year, leading the team with 19 goals but doing so with 6 /20 on the ground and 1/8. from afar.

Aaron Nesmith has been a big help to the Pacers on that front. and TJ McConnell. Nesmith finished the night with two blocks, a steal and some incredible defensive plays down the stretch, including drawing a few illegal screens on Orlando to give Indiana some much-needed extra possessions.

Of course, Indiana’s best defender, Myles Turner, also did his part by holding opponents to 21% True Shooting while defending 22 shots. Overall, the Magic players shot 4/22 from the field and 1/7 from deep with Turner on them and only managed to score 10 points. This trio of Nesmith, McConnell and Turner held their own on the defensive end, with help from Obi Toppin’s steal and blocking.

Overall, Indiana’s win against Orlando came down to their defense. Orlando’s offense looked rather stagnant throughout the game and was downright difficult to guard at times in the second half, thanks in part to the Pacers playing some of the best defense in the entire game. year.

This is a good sign for Indiana just after losing Bennedict Mathurin for the rest of the season. If the Pacers can play with anything close to that level of defensive intensity, the sky’s the limit for this team, with or without Mathurin.