The Orlando Magic managed to bounce back to .500 heading into Wednesday night before hosting the Indiana Pacers. With franchise forward Paolo Banchero still missing, star forward Franz Wagner has scored 20+ points in the past five games including 32 points Tuesday night in the Magic’s first Emirates Cup victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the Kia Center. On the second night of a back-to-back and no Banchero facing an explosive Pacers offense, the stage was set for Orlando’s first home loss. However, the Magic’s relentless defense held the Pacers to 18 points in the 4th quarter for Orlando to come back and stay undefeated in their house with a 7-6 overall record.

Wagner started hot with 11 points in the opening quarter where the Magic fell behind 27-18. Orlando looked sluggish at times on defense early where center Miles Turner was key to the Pacers attack early with eight in the game’s first 15 minutes. Turner closed the night with 11. Franz would finish with 29 points for his 6th straight consecutive 20+ point performance as well as six assists.

The Magic managed to close the gap to 45-41 at the half despite the fact they were shooting only 36.6% missing 26 of their first 41 shots from the field. Part of that was holding the Pacers to four threes in 16 attempts after they hit three of their first eight.

Orlando’s signature defense was certainly a factor throughout the contest. As a team, the Magic recorded 10 blocks for the night. Two of them were by center Goga Bitadze who is starting in place of the injured Wendell Carter Jr. Bitadze poured in a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. He scored on six of his seven shot attempts.

As a result of the Magic’s intensity and physical play, the Pacers scored only 18 points in the final quarter of play matching the total they accrued in the 2nd quarter. Indiana forwards Pascal Siakam and Bennedict Mathurin were the only other Pacers with double digits scoring with 25 and 23 respectively.

“It wasn’t a pretty one”, said Orlando head coach Jamahl Mosley. “But that’s the way you have to try and get it done in this league and these guys embraced it. [They] could have easily given in, but we talk about how much grit this team has. . . they fought through the shooting lulls at times, the turnovers early and they found a way.”

The Magic return to action Friday hosting the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday for their second Emirates Cup before heading to Phoenix to kick off a three-game road trip out west on Monday. The Sixers’ star center Joel Embid is expected to be active in that contest.