Pacers and Magic deliver memorable Sunday wins

Tyrese Haliburton (Google Images)

In the National Basketball Association on Sunday, the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic came through with two notable victories. The Pacers were a 12.5 point underdog against the Boston Celtics, but won 123-114. Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic came back from a 21 point deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-101.

In the Pacers win over the Celtics, it was the third time this month that Boston lost as a double digit favourite. They previously lost 117-108 to the Chicago Bulls on December 19 as a 14.5 point favourite, and then 108-104 to the Orlando Magic on December 23 as a 10 point favourite.

Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton of Oshkosh, Wisconsin led Indiana in scoring with 31 points. In fact, six Pacers reached double digits in scoring as power forward Pascal Siakam of Douala, Cameroon and Canadian shooing guard Andrew Nembhard of Aurora, Ontario each had 17 points, Canadian shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin of Montreal, Quebec had 14 points, center Myles Turner of Bedford, Texas had 13 points and power forward Jarace Walker of New Freedom, Pennsylvania had 12 points. Indiana’s biggest quarter was the second as they outscored Boston 38-29 to take a halftime lead of 65-58.

In the Magic win, Orlando was trailing Brooklyn 71-50 with four minutes and five seconds into the second half, before the Magic outscored the Nets 52-30 the rest of the way. The Magic game-winning shot was a four-foot two-point jump shot from point guard Cole Anthony of Portland, Oregon with one second remaining.

Five Magic players reached double digits in scoring. Small forward Tristan Da Silva of Munich, Germany led the Magic with 21 points. Center Goga Bitadze of Sagarejo, Georgia (the country) had 19 points, center Wendell Carter Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia (the state) had 13 points, Canadian small forward Caleb Houstan of Mississauga, Ontario had 12 points, and Anthony finished with 10 points.

The Magic are fourth in the Eastern Conference at 20 wins and 14 losses. The Pacers are eighth in the Eastern Conference at 16 wins and 17 losses.