Indiana Pacers 105, Orlando Magic 97: Magic commit 22 turnovers in fifth-straight loss

The Magic followed their worst game of the season with their sloppiest.

With Orlando coming off a 40-point loss to the Jazz, Frank Vogel wanted to see how his team would respond to such a humiliation. The Magic responded with 22 turnovers, which included seven steals by Victor Oladipo, as the Pacers won 105-97 to hand Orlando its fifth straight loss.

The Magic were able to compensate for their turnovers in the first half when their shots were falling. That changed in the second half when they continued to turn the ball over and shot just over 30 percent.

Opening the game, the Magic's ball movement was vastly improved from the start compared to their performance against the Jazz. Orlando, which against Utah didn't register its first assist until more than seven minutes had passed, assisted on its first eight baskets and shot 58 percent in the quarter. The Pacers still built a lead though thanks to the Magic committing six turnovers on their first nine possessions, and seven overall in the first quarter. Thaddeus Young seemed to pick up where the Jazz's Rodney Hood left off, scoring 10 points in the first on 5-for-5 shooting as the Pacers took a 34-31 lead after the first.

Mo Speights provided a spark to start the second, connecting on two threes to give the Magic a 37-34 lead. Indy missed nine of its first 10 shots in the second as Orlando pulled ahead. On one pretty sequence Bismack Biyombo contest a shot and then rejected the put-back to start a fast break for the Magic. Jonathon Simmons received the outlet and fed D.J. Augustin, who gave it back to Simmons for the alley-opp to give the Magic a 42-37 lead.

The Magic's turnover problems continued to plague them. Victor Oladipo stripped a lazy handoff from Aaron Gordon and charged down court for the dunk to open a 50-44 lead. On the next possession, Elfrid Payton threw a pass into traffic in the lane, leading to a deflection and fast break by Darren Collison for two of the Pacers' 15 first-half fastbreak points and a six-point advantage.

The Magic closed the quarter on a 11-0 run to take a 55-50 lead into the break. Vucevic had 14 points in the first half to lead the Magic, who shot 51.2 percent from the field and connected on 8 of 18 three-point attempts. Despite 14 first half turnovers, the Magic tallied 14 assists after recording just 13 all game against the Jazz.

After Vucevic hit a three to give the Magic a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third, the Magic went cold and the Pacers responded with an 18-3 run. The Magic scored just 17 points in the quarter, committing five more turnovers in the process, and trailed 78-72 entering the fourth quarter.

The Magic pulled to within 85-81 after Augustin hit a three with 8:18 remaining. But Young answered with a three of his own and Cory Joseph followed with a layup in transition to open a 90-81 lead. Bojan Bogdanovic later hit his fourth three of the half to give the Pacers a 93-82 lead.

Threes by Gordon and Evan Fournier later pulled the Magic within 95-90 with just under two minutes remaining. After Oladipo hit a pull-up jumper plus the foul after a reach-in by Vucevic for a three-point play that gave Indiana a 98-90 lead, Fournier responded with another three.

With the shot clock winding down, Gordon banked in a turnaround to make it a one-possession game at 98-95 with 49 seconds left.

Out of a timeout, Oladipo drove baseline and kicked it out to Bogdanovic, who drained a three to open a 101-95 lead and seal the win.

Oladipo finished with 29 points and nine rebounds. Bogdanovic added 26 points, hitting 5 of 7 three-point attempts, and Young had 17 points.

Vucevic finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Fournier had 16 points and Gordon added 13 points and 12 rebounds but went just 2-for-9 from three.

The Magic fell below .500 for the first time all season and will now head out on another road trip, making stops in Minnesota, Boston, Philadelphia and Indiana. It doesn't get much easier when they return to Orlando with games against Oklahoma City and Golden State.