INDIANAPOLIS – Two teams on different ends of the NBA statistical spectrum will go head-to-head on Sunday night.
The Magic, owner’s of the league’s top rated defense (106.5), visit Indiana to take on the Pacers, who possess the association’s top ranked offense (122.0), at 5 p.m. ET.
Orlando is fresh off a road series sweep of the Chicago Bulls. In two straight games, the Magic held the Bulls to just 33 first-half points – the lowest total scored by any team in the first half in the NBA this season.
“I feel like we’re all on a string,” said Magic guard Gary Harris. “We’re all playing for each other. We’re all talking (and) we’re communicating. Thirty-three points, that’s tough to hold an NBA team to that. I know we get greedy sometimes (and) want to hold them to 33 in the second half, but that’s an NBA team … We just have to continue to hang our hats on the defensive end. We’re a defensive team and we take pride in that. We know we can bring our defense every night.”
Now, Orlando’s staunch defense will be put to the test against an Indiana squad that’s putting up a whopping 126.5 points per game – by far the most in the league.
Perhaps most impressive is that the Pacers are doing it by committee. Indiana has eight players with scoring averages in double figures this season. That unit is led by Tyrese Haliburton, who’s pouring in a team-high 24.7 points per game to go along with a league-leading 12.5 assists per contest.
The Magic also have a by-committee approach to their offensive attack. Just one game after Paolo Banchero hit a game-winner against the Bulls, Franz Wagner converted a clutch go-ahead AND-1 down the stretch to lift Orlando to its second straight win in Chicago.
“These guys trust the guy next to them to make the right play,” said Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley, whose team will play their final matchup of a four-game road trip on Sunday.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “It’s special -- the stuff he does on that court. And it's in limited minutes too. It’s amazing. He’s active, he’s all over the place, he’s getting steals, blocks, rebounds, tip dunks, (and) he’s hitting threes. He’s a tremendous player and he’s definitely huge for us and we’re happy to have him back healthy. With him on the court, I’m very confident in our defense. He’s our defensive anchor. And we still have guys out right now. We can be a very scary team defensively, especially when everybody gets healthy.” – Harris on Jonathan Isaac
IN AND OUT: Jalen Suggs (left knee soreness) is available and will start. Wendell Carter Jr. (left hand; fractured third metacarpal), Markelle Fultz (left knee tendinitis), and Trevelin Queen (G League – Two-Way) are out for Orlando.
For Indiana, Kendall Brown (G League – Two-Way), Oscar Tshiebwe (G League – Two-Way), and Isaiah Wong (G League – Two-Way) are questionable, while Andrew Nembhard (lower back; soreness) is out.
KEY STATS: With their 103-97 win over the Bulls on Friday, the Magic improved to 7-5 on the season. That marks Orlando’s best record after 12 games since the 2017-18 season (8-4).