Game Rewind: Pacers 120, Magic 118 (OT)

There is a new president in the offices of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

In a wild overtime that featured a voided 3-pointer and a near miss from Orlando’s go-to sharpshooter, Indiana got the last laugh. With 3.6 seconds left, Doug McDermott found Malcolm Brogdon on the right wing for a 27-foot, 3-point dagger to secure a 120-118 Pacers (9-6) victory against the Orlando Magic (7-9). Brogdon finished with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting, with his final three points being the most important. The thrilling win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Blue & Gold.

“I like to take big shots,” he said postgame. “My teammates, this coaching staff trusts me to take big shots at the end of the game. And I trust myself.”

Aiding Brogdon in his efforts were two key players that recently returned from injury. In his first action since being diagnosed with a right-hand avulsion fracture, Myles Turner tallied 22 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-6 from deep. He fell one board shy from earning his fourth double-double of the season.

“First of all, very impressive tonight, on the way he played,” coach Nate Bjorkgren said of Turner. “Second of all – I said this pregame – on just how tough he was saying that he was going to play tonight.” Bjorkgren then let media members know that Turner also fought through cramps late in the game.

In his second game back from his ACL injury, Jeremy Lamb also tallied 22 and seven rebounds off the bench in 28 minutes of playing time.

Indiana fended off a barrage of early Magic threes and shot a blistering 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the floor to grab a 38-27 lead after one. After Orlando knocked in five of its six first 3-point attempts, the Blue & Gold rattled off a 20-2 run, including 13 unanswered, to take control of the frame. McDermott contributed eight points of the 13-point spree to put the Pacers back on top 22-17 with 6:10 remaining in the frame.

The Pacers’ bench then managed to push the lead to double digits as part of the run. Sparkplug T.J. McConnell quickly found Turner for a spot-up trey, then followed that with a swipe of the lazy Orlando inbounds pass to find Justin Holiday for a quick layup. The back-to-back buckets put Indiana ahead 29-19 with 4:30 to go.

The Blue & Gold then kept the Magic at a distance for the remainder of the frame.

However, Indiana’s lead quickly evaporated in the early moments of the second. The visitors eventually knotted things up at 45 apiece after Evan Fournier connected on a technical free throw and a pull-up 3-pointer in an eight-second span to force the tie at the 7:10 mark of the frame. Fournier finished with a team-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Orlando soon snagged a slim 51-47 lead on a 14-foot jump shot from former All-Star Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic, the potent scorer, finished with 24 points. However, he went just 10-of-29 from the field. In the postgame press conference, Domantas Sabonis described how the squad limited his effectiveness.

Later, consecutive treys from Turner and McDermott put the Pacers ahead 53-51 with 3:56 left in the frame.

Trailing 60-57 with 46.5 seconds to go, Brogdon rattled off five straight, including a 26-foot pull-up 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining, to give Indiana the two-point edge at halftime. It was the first of two clutch threes he would have.

A 10-3 Magic run to start the third put Indiana into a 70-65 deficit. But the Pacers responded with seven unanswered, including five straight from Turner, to grab a 72-70 lead with 7:21 to play in the third. The game remained tight as both teams then piled on the points down the final moments of the frame. With 2:38 to play, neither team missed a shot on their next four offensive possessions. Turner and Lamb found the buckets for Indiana, while Orlando leaned primarily on the efforts of Aaron Gordon. Gordon’s turnaround jumper with 46.5 seconds left cut the Indiana deficit to 88-87.

A desperation heave from Dwayne Bacon seemingly put the Magic ahead before the end of the third. But the basket was waved off during the break, allowing Indiana to take the one-point edge into the final frame.

Indiana tried its best to pull away early in the fourth. Turner and Lamb continued their impressive efforts from the third to earn a 98-93 lead with 7:59 to go. However, just over two minutes later, back-to-back threes from Vucevic put Orlando ahead 101-100 with 5:30 to play.

With 4:24 showing, Lamb once again grabbed a 104-101 Indiana lead. However, the Magic retaliated before the end.

Eight-year NBA veteran Terrence Ross notched five consecutive points, including a 25-foot 3-pointer, to put Orlando ahead 108-106 with just 57.9 seconds to go.

With the score stagnant and 16.7 to go seconds to go, Justin Holiday forced an errant inbounds pass to earn an Indiana possession. Sabonis then faked a kick-out pass, and easily drove the lane for a left-handed layup to tie the score at 108-all with just 10.6 seconds to go. Sabonis then picked the pocket of Gordon on the defensive end to force overtime.

Things got hairy for Indiana in the early moments of overtime. Fournier notched the first seven Magic points of the frame to give the Magic a 115-110 lead with 3:43 to play. But the Pacers were not done.

Indiana appeared to grab a two-point lead after scoring seven straight points. Brogdon appeared to anchor the spree with a 3-pointer from the left wing, and Lamb followed with a cutting layup along the baseline. However, after a video review, it was determined that Brogdon stepped out of bounds before his trey, thus nullifying the shot. Because Lamb’s bucket came before the review, his still counted. What was a 117-115 Pacers lead turned into a 115-114 lead for Orlando.

After Lamb misfired, Indiana appeared to clamp down on defense. Two Pacers defenders closed down on Vucevic in the paint forcing a loose ball. After the scramble, the ball fumbled back to Vucevic’s mitts, and the big man spun around for an easy layup. Indiana now trailed 117-114 with 54.3 seconds to go. But Indiana never lost composure

After trading one free throw each, Sabonis tallied a layup to cut the lead to 118-117. Fournier had an attempt to ice the game with a trey from the right wing. It looked clean, but the ball popped out after a rattle.

Then, the president took command and iced the game on the other end, ending a night of thrills on the positive side.

Domantas Sabonis posted his 15th double-double to open the season, and narrowly missed his second triple-double of the year as he finished with 18 points and team highs with 11 rebounds and nine assists in a career-high 45 minutes.

Malcolm Brogdon was just 1-for-5 from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime before he sank the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds remaining.

Indiana finished the game on 45-of-93 (49.5 percent) shooting from the field. It’s the fourth time this season they’ve shot 49.0 percent or better in a game.

“I’m not even sure if anybody was really tripping on that. I was a little bit irritated about it. But, I don’t think anybody on the team – it wasn’t even brought up. Guys didn’t bring it up. We moved on, and fought back and got the lead.” –Malcolm Brogdon on his overturned 3-point shot

“He was playing with a lot of confidence. We were drawing plays up for him – to handle, to shoot. He made some nice plays around the rim again. Defensively, he was – his length out there...he was steady. He was good. (He) stays poised.” –Coach Nate Bjorkgren on Jeremy Lamb’s performance

“It was a mix of things. We threw different looks at him. Just tried to make him as uncomfortable as possible. He’s one of the better bigs in this league, very talented. He’s someone I’ve been matching up with for years now. So, (I) just tried to make him uncomfortable, make him have to make plays. He made a couple, he missed a couple. It’s just the way the game goes. I feel like we particularly did a good job on him, as a team.” –Myles Turner on limiting Vucevic’s effectiveness tonight

The Pacers held the Magic to just 3-for-8 shooting from the field and 1-for-5 from 3-point range in overtime. Orlando missed four of its last five shots from the floor.

The Pacers host the Toronto Raptors for the first of back-to-back games on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 1:00 PM ET.

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