Orlando Magic 109, Indiana Pacers 98: The Morning After

• The Magic returned home from their 1-3 road trip and beat the Indiana Pacers.
  Brian Schmitz elaborates on the Orlando Magic's victory against the Indiana Pacers, including this tidbit that's worth pointing out.

  [Vince] Carter's offensive struggles continued as he scored just six points on 2-of-8 shooting in just 25 minutes. He was acquired to be the go-to guy and has shot 23 percent (17-of-75) his last eight games. "It'll happen," Carter said. "It'll come."

• Orlando Magic notes: Vince Carter says he won't dwell on his recent shooting slump
  Josh Robbins shares these quotes.

  Dwight Howard thinks the Magic's recent slide could help in the long run.
  
  "I like this little phase that we're going through," Howard said following Orlando's shootaround. "It may not look pretty. People from the outside may say, 'What's wrong with these guys? They don't seem to have it.' But I like this. It's going to show toughness at the end, because instead of us whining and complaining to each other about us losing, we're striving every day that we get in practice to become better players."

• Matt Barnes helps spark the Orlando Magic's 109-98 victory over the Indiana Pacers
  Robbins takes a closer look at Matt Barnes' performance last night.

• Stan Van Gundy on Vince Carter: It’s too much scrutiny on one guy
  Matt Humphrey argues that head coach Stan Van Gundy is misguided in saying that Vince Carter has faced "too much scrutiny" this season.

  Vince Carter is your "Mr. 4th quarter" … your replacement for Hedo Turkoglu … your high-priced, off-season acquisition who was supposed to make the Orlando Magic BETTER.

  When Vince Carter takes a nosedive into the Slumpsville Community Swimming Pool, it’s news — big news! At least try to answer this $64,000-a-miss question, Stan.

More after the jump.

• Denton: Magic-Pacers Postgame Analysis
  John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com breaks down the Magic's win against the Pacers.

• Denton: Magic-Pacers Notes
  Van Gundy says that Barnes isn't to blame for Orlando's recent slump after he was inserted into the starting lineup a few weeks ago.

  Orlando’s recent slump has corresponded with Matt Barnes moving into the starting lineup for Mickael Pietrus 12 games ago, but head coach Stan Van Gundy said the two shouldn’t be linked in any way. In Barnes’ 11 starts before Wednesday, he had averaged 13.9 points while shooting 55.9 percent from the floor (57 of 102) and 50 percent from 3-point range (16 of 32). Said Van Gundy: ``Matt’s played great, but the team has not. I just have a hard time equating (the struggles) to Matt’s performance because he’s been really good. He’s shooting 57 percent the last nine games and he’s been our second-leading rebounder. He’s really helping us out, but we’re just not getting enough from other guys.’’

• Journeyman Matt Barnes an Unlikely Leader for Magic
  Tim Povtak of NBA FanHouse profiles Magic role-player Matt Barnes, whom one could fairly argue is the Magic's second-most valuable player this year. He's the lone Magic starter to never make an All-Star appearance, and has averaged 12.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in his 19 starts this season.

  "This easily is the most talented team I've ever played for,'' he said. "But the energy level hasn't always been there. I expected our record to be better, but you get what you put out there. You put out a lackluster effort, you'll get beat. And we did.''

• Game #42 Recap: Math Lessons, Fouling, Mike’s "Defense," Guokas & Faux Comebacks
  Jared Wade of Eight Points, Nine Seconds says Indiana's struggles have allowed him to brush up on his math skills.

  They have trailed by at least 23 points in four of their last six games, and I have spent the bulk of that time trying to calculate things like 52 minus 28 or the difference between 33 and 17. And for this, I must thank you, Pacers. Because aside from the division it takes to split checks six ways or the occasional time zone change, my mathematical abilities are seldom-used and decaying by the day.

• Magic 109, Pacers 98: Pacers Rally Too Late To Overcome Early Deficit
  Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows takes a closer look at how the Pacers lost to the Magic.

• Early hole proves too deep for Pacers
  Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star reveals that head coach Jim O'Brien wasn't pleased with his team's performance against Orlando.

  Not even coach Jim O'Brien's expletive-filled halftime talk could fix that trend in the Pacers' 109-98 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night at Amway Arena. [...]
  
  The season long frustration caught up with O'Brien with his team trailing by 22 points at halftime.
  
  He gave his team an earful of expletives before exiting the locker room.

• Magic's Howard gets back at Hibbert, leads win over Pacers
  Roy Hibbert praises Dwight Howard after the game was over.

  Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert knew Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard would be pumped up to face him Wednesday after what happened in the previous meeting between them.
  
  Howard exacted a measure of revenge by dominating the Pacers' second-year center in the Magic's 109-98 victory.
  
  Howard had 32 points and 11 rebounds in 37 minutes. He went 16-of-24 from the free throw line. He is shooting only 59 percent from the line this season.
  
  "That was probably one of my worst games in my two years," Hibbert said. "I have to take my hat off to Dwight, who played very aggressively from the start. I knew from the start they were going to go to him."

• Behind the Box Score, where we like Orlando when it's angry
  

  Kelly Dwyer was more pleased with Orlando's performance last night than he had been in a while, although Indiana--which "might be the worst first quarter team" Dwyer's ever seen--didn't do itself any favors.