Field Level Media
Dec 7, 2018
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 26 points, and the visiting Indiana Pacers cruised to an easy 112-90 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.
Cory Joseph scored 15 points off the bench, and Thaddeus Young added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who have won back-to-back games after dropping two in a row last week.
The win was Indiana's eighth straight against Orlando and the 15th in the past 16 meetings.
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Aaron Gordon added 20 points and 14 rebounds for Orlando. The Magic have lost four of their past six games.
Indiana took an early lead when it scored 12 straight in the first quarter and never trailed in the game again.
Orlando trimmed the deficit to 63-59 early in the third quarter, but the Pacers responded with a 15-2 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Tyreke Evans. Indiana led 86-70 after three quarters and led by as much as 27 in the fourth.
Bogdanovic had 21 points in the first half to lead the Pacers to a 57-45 lead at halftime. Bogdanovic scored eight during a 12-0 Indiana run in the first quarter.
Orlando received a scare in the first quarter when Vucevic sprained his right ankle, coming down on the foot of Myles Turner with 2:44 left. X-rays came back negative, and Vucevic returned to the game in second quarter with tape on the ankle.
Indiana played without two of its top scorers. Domantas Sabonis wasn't fit to play after experiencing food poisoning, and Victor Oladipo missed his ninth consecutive game with a knee injury. Kyle O'Quinn recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds filling in for Sabonis.
The Pacers are 5-4 without Oladipo, who leads the team with 21.4 points per game. He did participate in an optional shootaround early Friday, but there is no timetable for his return.
--Field Level Media