Magic show no signs of hangover in win

Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Pacers fall to Dwight Howard and the Magic. VIEW GALLERY»

Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

BOOM: Pacers' mascot 'Boomer' brings down the house with a backboard-shattering dunk

INDIANAPOLIS — As his team prepared for Tuesday night's game at Indiana, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy pondered the possibility of a hangover lingering from his team's epic ineptitude the previous night in Boston, where the Magic scored a franchise record-low 56 points and lost by 31 to a Celtics team missing two starters.

However, the only pounding headache this night was the one Orlando administered. Ryan Anderson scored 24 and Dwight Howard became the franchise's all-time leading scorer as the Magic showed resilience in routing the Pacers 102-83. It was the first home loss for Indiana (11-5) and allowed Orlando (12-5) to move into third place in the Eastern Conference.

"When you take a loss like last night, people get focused a little bit," Van Gundy said. "You quit taking winning for granted. Sometimes when you win a lot you start thinking about other things. I thought we played well defensively and our effort was lot better."

Howard surpassed Nick Anderson (10,650) atop Orlando's career scoring list, appropriately, with a dunk early in the third quarter and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, just missing his 13th double-double of the season.

"For anybody else that would be a career-defining accomplishment. On Dwight's list of accomplishments it might not even rank that high, I don't know," Van Gundy said. "When you're first team All-NBA and starting in All-Star Games and Defensive Player of the Year three times in a row, I don't know where that ranks. But it's still a great accomplishment."

How long Howard remains in Orlando is a subject of much discussion and debate. To be sure, the Magic have the look of a contender in a wide-open Eastern Conference as long as he anchors the middle. For now, however, he was humbled by the accomplishment.

"It does mean a lot," he said. "Not too many players in this league can say that they were their franchise’s leading scorer. It’s a humbling experience."

The oddity, and perhaps the most encouraging sign for the Magic, was Orlando's level of performance with Howard on the bench. He played less than seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but the Magic began their turnaround with a 17-6 second-quarter run that was keyed by forward Earl Clark. The little-used reserve blocked three shots in the period and prevented the Pacers from establishing any semblance of a post offense.

Pacers players thought there was too much emphasis on the post offense and not enough on the normal assortment of pick-and-rolls. Indiana managed just eight assists, tying a franchise low for a home game (previously set against the Magic in 2004).

Coming off a rare 2-1 record on a Western Conference road trip that included Sunday’s 98-96 victory over the Lakers, the Pacers were surprisingly flat, shooting 39.7 percent and committing 19 turnovers.

"Maybe the worst thing that happened to us was Dwight Howard getting in foul trouble," said Danny Granger (16 points). "We went post, post, post, pound, pound, pound, and that led to eight assists and 19 turnovers."

Orlando had lost two of three coming in, with the Boston blowout a particularly troubling performance. The bounce-back victory will help soothe Van Gundy, but it won't erase his memory.

"From my standpoint, when you go to a game like that and as a coach you can't find any answers, yeah, it's going to eat at you for a long time," he said. "… Even after tonight's game that one will eat at me. Probably July, August, September, year 2013, '14, '15, that one's going to eat at me. That's just the way it is."