Magic Left Red-Faced As Pacers Even Series Indiana Hits With Shots, Taunts; Sends Nba East Final To Game 7
Embarrassing was an often-heard word in the Orlando Magic locker room Friday night after the Indiana Pacers evened the NBA Eastern Conference finals with a 123-96 victory.
Riding the outside shooting of Reggie Miller, who scored 36 points while shooting 13 for 19, the Pacers humbled the Magic to set up a Game 7 in Orlando on Sunday night with the winner meeting Houston in the NBA Finals and the loser going home for the summer.
“Tonight was definitely embarrassing, but it may have been the best thing that could have happened to us,” Brian Shaw said after Orlando shot less than 50 percent for the first time in the series. “We knew that they weren’t going to lay down. They came at us with everything they had. They just took it to us. We were just flat tonight. We really didn’t play that bad, but they played with a lot of intensity. We missed some easy shots.”
“It was a butt-kicking and we got embarrassed,” Orlando’s Jeff Turner said. “There’s no other way to look at it. They played great and just kicked us in every category… . We weren’t able to match their intensity.”
The game was tied twice, the last time at 10, before Miller’s 3-pointer put the Pacers ahead to stay. Indiana never looked back as it shot 56 percent and went on to lead by as many as 35 points in the third quarter.
“Everything went their way. They made some big shots and we didn’t,” said Orlando’s Dennis Scott, who has been delivering crucial 3-pointers for most of the series.
Miller had 20 points in the first quarter, matching Orlando’s total, and the Magic never mounted a serious charge after falling behind 31-20 as it lost at Market Square Arena for the ninth straight game.
“He had it going. Reggie’s an all-star. He’s been here before and he carried his team in the first half, and did all the right things, hit his shots and kept the crowd in the game,” Scott said.
“Indiana was better in every phase of the game,” Orlando coach Brian Hill said. “They were better in transition, they hit the boards better, they shot the heck out of the ball… . We were outrebounded by 22 tonight, which is an extremely significant number.”
“We’ve just got to put this behind us. It’s only one game,” Orlando’s Donald Royal said. “There’s no doubt we were embarrassed.”
Shaquille O’Neal topped the Magic with 26 points, but was never a factor in the game and sat out the final 6:47 with the outcome decided.
“We weren’t intense enough and the result was embarrassing,” said O’Neal, who also accused the Pacers of taunting his team in the fourth quarter. “We’ll remember that Sunday.”