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Pacers top Magic in West's return

Nov 29, 2014 - 6:49 AM Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Rodney Stuckey scored 24 points and the Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic 98-83 on Friday.

Indiana's fourth win in its last six games overshadowed the return of two key pieces from last year's 56-win team.

David West (ankle) and C.J. Watson (foot) both made their season debuts and had an immediate impact. West started and scored 18 points and Watson shot 4- of-4 off the bench for nine points.

"I've come to expect a lot from David West. He certainly played a great game, a great floor game" Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "He orchestrates a lot of stuff on both ends."

Lavoy Allen posted 10 points and 14 boards for the Pacers, who dominated the glass from start to finish and ended with a plus-21 edge in the rebounding department.

The Pacers entered the game leading the NBA with a plus-5.3 rebounding margin.

Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and seven rebounds to pace Orlando, which lost its fourth straight game. Victor Oladipo, who played collegiately at Indiana and shot a combined 6-for-22 in his two games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last season as a rookie, shot an efficient 5-for-7 for 14 points and handed out a team-high six assists.

"They played better defense, that's the bottom line. They killed us on the boards from the time the game started. We need to stick to our game plan. We need to play defense, play defense then offense," Orlando's Tobias Harris said.

The Pacers turned a two-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage after a dominant third quarter. They shot 10-of-19 and forced seven turnovers, winning the period 25-14 to take a 72-59 spread into the fourth.

Orlando scored five straight to open the fourth, with Kyle O'Quinn's three- point play cutting it to eight.

But Allen got a hook shot to go at the other end to jumpstart a 9-0 run, which Watson capped with a deep jumper.

Indiana led 26-20 after one and 47-45 at halftime.

Game Notes

Orlando had been 3-0 on Fridays this season ... Donald Sloan had six points, nine rebounds and six assists for Indiana ... The Pacers outscored Orlando 48-28 in the paint and 18-2 on second chance points.