A Cold Night in Orlando as Magic Lose Four Straight

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Magic suffered their fourth straight loss on Wednesday, this time at the hands of the Indiana Pacers. In the 86-95 home defeat, the Magic struggled mightily from beyond the arc, going 6-of-31 from three-point range.

Paul George (13) drives on Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris (12). George lead the Pacers with 20 points and 7 rebounds. (photo Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports)

When Magic guard Shabazz Napier connected from deep midway through the second quarter, the arena erupted into a frenzy. The feeling was more of relief than celebration, as Orlando opened the game 0-for-12 from beyond the arc, and Napier had just ended the possibility of seeing the Magic go without a three for the first time since March of 2007.

It was just one of those nights for Orlando, who started off the game by making one of their first 10 shots, and struggling on defense.

Magic coach Scott Skiles responded to the stagnant play of his starters by making a platoon substitution late in the first quarter; it would be four minutes before halftime before all of the starters returned to the game.

The absence of starting point guard Elfrid Payton was felt by the Magic, who started Victor Oladipo in his place. “It’s big because we have two point guards out,” said shooting guard Evan Fournier, “we have Shabazz and Vic, who is more of a [shooting guard] so it’s pretty hard for us.”

Fournier, a 37% three-point shooter this season, was held without a trey until the final minutes of the game.

Payton’s status is day-to-day following a series of leg injuries he sustained in the month of December. The second-year point guard suffered sprains to both of his ankles, just over a week apart. He also suffered an additional injury to his left ankle during Saturday’s loss to the Cavaliers when an opposing player kicked him.

Despite the cold shooting night, the Magic found a way to keep it close until the end. “We were shooting the ball so poorly and hanging in there,” said Skiles, “I thought we tried to play harder on the defensive end tonight and that kept us in the game.”

Though the Magic cut Indiana’s lead to just five in the final minutes of the game, Skiles says that he hasn’t seen much progress following the team’s winless road trip. “I didn’t feel like Indiana played that well and they were still able to beat us,“ said Skiles, summing up a frustrating night for the Magic.

AT 19-17, this loss puts the Magic outside of the playoff picture for the first time since mid-December. With a half game separating the Magic and 8^th seeded Boston, the margin for error has shrunk significantly. The tightly contested Eastern conference has quickly made up most of the ground Orlando covered in their East-best 10-5 month to end 2015.

The Magic will face an interesting road in the upcoming games as they look to get back to the winning ways of December. First, they will travel to Brooklyn on Friday to face a Nets team that has yet to beat them this season. They will then return home on Saturday to host the Wizards, who have swept Orlando in three meetings so far.

 Flagrant Fouls: None
 Technical Fouls: PLAYERS:None -TEAMS: INDIANA (1) -COACHES:None
 Officials: Ed Malloy, Haywoode Workman, Sean Corbin
 Attendance: 18,846
 Time of Game: 2:10