INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Pacers two-way player Trevelin Queen scored 25 points to lead the Magic to a 129-115 win over the Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday night with both teams resting their starters in preparation for the postseason.
The Pacers snapped a six-game winning streak and fell to 49-32. With the loss, they are locked in to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Magic improved to 41-40 and are locked into the No. 7 seed. They must begin their postseason in the play-in round.
Magic guard Anthony Black added 21 points and forward Jett Howard scored 17. Guard Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 20 points. Rookie forward Johnny Furphy scored 17 points including a thunderous second-quarter dunk. Forward Jarace Walker had 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Two-way contract guard Quenton Jackson had 13 points and point guard T.J. McConnell had 12.
Here are three observations.
The Magic went berserk in the second quarter
Both teams were sitting out their starters and for a quarter they were clearly operating on a level playing field. It was 29-29 after one and the stats were fairly even across the board. Each team hit three 3-pointers. The Pacers were 10 of 17 from the floor while the Magic were 11 of 21. Each team had eight rebounds and the Magic were up 14-12 on points in the paint.
But for most of the second quarter, the Magic couldn't miss and the game was effectively over by halftime.
The Magic made 10 of their first 11 field goals in the quarter and 15 of their first 18. They made six 3-pointers before they finally missed one. As of the 4:33 mark in the period they were averaging more than 2.19 points per possession and had outscored the Pacers 37-10 in the quarter.
The Magic actually cooled off a little to win the period 43-20, but they still finished the period 18 of 25 from the floor and 6 of 9 from 3-point range for 1.63 points per possession while the Pacers were 8 of 20 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range for 0.78 points per possession. Guards Trevelin Queen, Anthony Black and forward Jett Howard all scored in double figures for the period, going a combined 14 of 17 from the floor and 5 of 6 from 3-point range for 34 points among the three of them. The Magic led 72-49 at halftime and the Pacers never mounted a serious second-half comeback.
Trevelin Queen was nearly perfect
There were several connections to the Pacers and/or Indiana among the Magic's available players. Guard Corey Joseph and center Goga Bitadze are both former Pacers and, of course, Gary Harris was a star at Hamilton Southeastern High School. They all tend to be motivated in their trips to Indiana and Bitadze and Harris were in particular. Bitadze finished with xx points and x rebounds and Harris scored xx.
However, the player with the most juice was Trevelin Queen, who played with the Pacers on a two-way contract in 2022-23 and appeared seven NBA games before being let go late in the season.
Queen spearheaded the Magic's dominant second quarter with 13 points on 5 of 5 shooting including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. He scored five more points in the third and hit a 3 and finished with a career-high 25 points on 9 of 11 shooting including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
Johnny Furphy might have had the Pacers' dunk of the year
The Pacers' lone real highlight of the night might have also been one of the highlights of the year.
Johnny Furphy, the Pacers' baby-faced 20-year-old forward from Australia by way of Kansas, got extended action with the starters out. He caught the ball in the left corner with 10:39 to play ...
