For the third time this season, the Magic scored 130-plus points during Sunday’s game at Kia Center against the Pacers.
It’s a scoring mark Orlando only accomplished twice in 82 regular-season games last year.
Jamahl Mosley‘s squad improved to 9-1 when scoring 125-or-more points (something it did just three times last season) and 7-2 when recording 30-plus assists (also matching last year’s total).
The offensive output was needed, however, from Orlando when, on the other end of the court, the Magic allowed 120-plus points for the 15th time, gave up a season-high 38 assists and let Indiana shoot 44.1% from beyond the arc.
Although the Magic found a way to win 135-127, Sunday’s defensive showing was far from the type of performance typical of a Mosley-coached team.
“Our defense was not what it needed to be,” he said after the eight-point win. “And there’s games like that in the league. But our ability to sit down and get stops is what we’ve got to continue to hang our hat on.”
He later added: “What broke down is us being in a stance and not being able to keep anybody in front of us.”
The Magic were previously 2-5 in game this season when allowing 29-or-more assists to opponents and 1-5 when giving up 127-or-more points.
Sunday’s game was the 21st time Orlando allowed 110-plus points when the team improved to 8-13 in that scenario.
“We played really well tonight offensively,” rookie Jase Richardson said. “Everybody was sharing the ball. But defensively, pretty sloppy from us. That’s not a characteristic of how we play defense.
“That was kind of frustrating in a lot of the huddles, just letting up easy buckets,” he added.
There was one quarter of play Sunday when the Magic looked more like themselves.
That came in the second frame, when Orlando outscored Indiana 41-22 while it shot 72.2% from the floor, held the Pacers to 30.4% and scored five points off four takeaways.
Mosley was blunt in his assessment of what changed from the first quarter to the second after the Pacers led 36-28 after the opening 12 minutes of action.
“We stopped BSing and stopped trying to make it a rat-race game,” the Magic coach said. “We weren’t guarding, we were letting guys go by us, we were a step slow in a lot of ways. And then guys got a little pissed off.
“We changed a little bit of the rotation, guys stepped in and decided to guard,” he added. “Then our defense started to create our offense, which is what we’ve talked about doing all year long.”
One of those changes included Mosley putting Richardson on the court alongside veteran guard Tyus Jones.
Although neither are the tallest guards (Richardson is listed at 6-foot-1, Jones one inch shorter), the pair provided an offensive spark and allowed Orlando to match the speed of Indiana’s up-tempo offense.
Before Sunday, the pair had only played 21 total minutes together across two games and were only a plus-four in plus-minus rating, according to NBA.com.
But after Sunday? Those totals increased to 35 minutes and plus-17 on the floor together, according to league-tracking data.
“It was good,” Jones said in the locker room. “Just trying to change the tempo of the game, just give us a little life and energy off the bench. (The Pacers) were playing fast, so just trying to match that a little bit, and we did a good job of that.”
The lineup of Jones, Richards, Desmond Bane, Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr. scored 27 points in just nine minutes together, finishing with a plus-minus rating of plus-eight which was a team-best among the 12 five-man lineups used against Indiana, according to NBA.com.
“I like playing small,” Jones said. “You’re able to play fast, kind of move the ball, touch the paint (and) spread the floor with shooting.”
Mosley will continue to have to get creative with his lineups until Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain), Jalen Suggs (right knee Grade 1 MCL bruise) and Moe Wagner (left knee injury recovery) return to the court.
Orlando, which has alternated wins and losses the past 10 games, is still searching for consecutive victories for the first time in more than a month (last done Nov. 28-Dec. 1).
The Magic head to Washington, which is 5-5 in its past 10 games, on Tuesday and then travel to Brooklyn the next night looking to end that streak.
“We’re going in there and playing a good team,” Bane said about the Wizards, who’ve won four of their last six. “They’re playing good basketball playing with a lot of confidence, especially as of late. So, it’s not going to be easy.
“We’re going to have to do it together (and) continue to share the ball,” he added. “We had 34 assists (Sunday), seven turnovers — that’s got to travel. Then, be better on the defensive end and it’ll give us a chance.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic at Wizards
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Capital One Arena
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida