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Magic host Pacers on Monday
By: Sam Chase - StatFox
Published: 11/19/2017  at  7:26:00 AM
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INDIANA PACERS

at ORLANDO MAGIC

Tip-off: Monday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: NA, Total: NA

The Magic and Pacers could both be fighting for playoff spots come spring.

The Orlando Magic were one of the big surprises in the earliest days of the NBA season, getting off to a 6-2 start that included blowout wins over Cleveland and San Antonio. They have since come back to earth somewhat, losing to Chicago and Boston at home in early November and going 1-3 on a Western Conference road trip a week later. After a Saturday night home game against the Jazz, the Magic will stay in Orlando for a Monday night matchup with the Pacers. Like Orlando, Indiana is hovering around .500 without giving a clear indication of exactly where it might be headed in the Eastern Conference standings. Indy has a full weekend with games on Friday (vs. Detroit) and Sunday (at Miami), and will be on the tail end of a back-to-back for Monday's showdown.

Indiana PG Darren Collison made franchise history on Wednesday night, becoming the first Pacer to ever score 30 points, shoot 12-of-12 from the line, rack up eight assists, and commit no more than one turnover. It was the best game of the season for the starting point guard, and his team came away with a 116-113 win in Memphis. It was a rare scoring outburst, as he hadn't hit double figures in any of his previous three games. Acquired in the offseason, SG Victor Oladipo has become a far better shooter and scorer than anyone expected. His 21 points against Memphis marked his fourth straight game with 20+ points, and he added six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Also a talented perimeter defender, Oladipo has shown that he's a well-rounded player now that he's out of Russell Westbrook's orbit. Still only 25, Oladipo and 21-year-old C Domantas Sabonis (13.3 PPG, 9.5 RPG) have both quickly become essential parts of Indiana's young core. Also 21, C Myles Turner has to be happy to have the help. He's only played about half of the team's games thus far this year due to a fairly minor injury in October, but his 2.6 blocks per game would lead the league if he had logged enough time to qualify. SF Bojan Bogdanovic and PF Thaddeus Young have started every game this year in the frontcourt. Collison, Young, Sabonis, Bogdanovic and Turner were all averaging between 12.8 and 13.8 PPG going into their Friday night game against Detroit.

Entering the weekend, the Orlando trio of SF Evan Fournier, PF Aaron Gordon and C Nikola Vucevic each had a PER of 20.0 or higher. Both Vucevic and Gordon are attempting far more three-pointers than ever before and shooting them well. Gordon, in particular, has been shooting ridiculously well from the perimeter. While the 50% rate won't sustain, if he can finish the season north of even just 37% it will represent an incredible development in his game. He was also averaging slightly more rebounds per game than Vucevic, largely a byproduct of the center's migration to the three-point line. Fournier started off the season with 20+ points in eight of his first nine games, and while he's cooled off a bit since, he remains the team's most frequent high-scorer. Starting PG Elfrid Payton has been in an out of the lineup—mostly out—with injury, and one can't help but wonder if the team isn't better off without him. He still hasn't developed much of an ability to score, and his assist numbers approach the high single digits only infrequently. Free agent addition SF Jonathon Simmons has been a revelation in a bigger role than he had in San Antonio, as he was averaging 15.1 PPG in 25.3 MPG entering the weekend. Rookie PF Jonathan Isaac looks raw, which was expected.


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