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(Tuesday, May 8th) Final Score: Indiana 105, Orlando 87 Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Darren Collison scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday and the Indiana Pacers pulled away for a 105-87 victory over the Orlando Magic to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Indiana will play the winner of the series between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. "We feel like this is just the beginning of a big run. We're excited about where we're at as a basketball team," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said. Danny Granger added 25 points for Indiana, while George Hill had 15, David West contributed 12 with eight rebounds and Roy Hibbert finished with 11 points and seven boards in Game 5. Jameer Nelson connected on 5-of-8 three-pointers en route to a game-high 27 points to go along with five assists for the Magic, who won the first game of the series before dropping the next four. It was the first time in Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy's career that a team he coached lost a playoff series after winning the first game. "That team fought extremely hard the entire series and really made it a challenging series with their style of play, their energy and their effort," Vogel said about the Magic. "My hat is off to them." The Magic trailed, 50-47, at halftime but opened the third with a Jason Richardson jumper and a Ryan Anderson tip-in to take their first lead of the game. Indiana, though, scored the next six points for a 57-51 advantage. Orlando stayed within striking distance over the next six-plus minutes and was able to tie the score twice over that span before Nelson's three-pointer put the Magic on top, 66-64, with a little more than two minutes left in the third. The Pacers answered with five straight points to take a three-point lead before a Quentin Richardson jumper was followed by Nelson's third trey of the quarter to give the Magic a 71-69 edge heading into the fourth quarter. J.J. Redick was fouled on the opening possession of the fourth and made the front end of two free throws to give the Magic their largest lead of the contest. But the Pacers scored nine of the next 10 points to regain a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. A Redick three-pointer brought Orlando within 80-78 about a minute later, but Indiana pulled away for good as Granger's three-pointer sparked a 25-9 run to end the game. "We just didn't play well in the fourth. I squeezed it hard in the third to play a good third quarter and I probably didn't position us to play as well as we could have in the fourth and that's on me. I thought they gave a great effort tonight. We just got outplayed by a better team," said Van Gundy. The teams traded buckets over the opening three minutes of the game until Indiana reeled off a 9-0 run to jump out to a 16-7 lead near the midway point. Glen Davis put an end the spurt with a mid-range jumper, but the Pacers answered with a 10-2 push as Orlando missed its next seven shots from the floor to stretch their lead up to 26-11. The Magic cut their deficit to 28-19 entering the second quarter and after a Leandro Barbosa three-point play gave the Pacers a 35-24 advantage, Orlando netted seven straight points to get within 35-31. Indiana quickly regained its double-digit lead with a pair of three-pointers by Granger before Hill also connected on a shot from beyond the arc, but Orlando closed out the half with a 10-2 run. Game Notes Indiana shot 52.4 percent from the floor, including a 9-for-17 mark from three-point range...The Magic shot 42.1 percent and connected on 11-of-30 shots from beyond the arc...The Pacers held a 46-22 advantage in points in the paint, a 22-12 edge in second-chance points and outscored Orlando 18-0 on the fast break. 05/08 22:33:37 ET Powered by The Sports Network. |