Trevelin Queen scored a career-high 25 points and Anthony Black had 21 as the visiting Orlando Magic beat the Indiana Pacers 129-115 on Friday night in Indianapolis for their fifth straight win.
With their postseason spots nearly set before the game, both teams opted to sit all their starters. The Magic (41-40) led by as many as 35 and won the season series against Indiana 3-1.
Jett Howard finished with 17 points for Orlando, which clinched the No. 7 seed in the East and the top spot in the play-in tournament with a victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The Magic will host the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana (49-32) with 20 points. Johnny Furphy scored a career-high 17, Jarace Walker added 15 and Quenton Jackson scored 13 to lead eight Pacers in double figures
The No. 4 seed Pacers will have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Indiana entered Friday’s contest trailing the No. 3 New York Knicks by one game but leading the No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks by three with two games remaining.
Tristan da Silva finished with 14 points and Jonathan Isaac had 12 for Orlando, which snapped the Pacers’ six-game winning streak.
The Magic won despite missing several key players, including Paolo Banchero (right ankle soreness), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (left knee strain), Wendell Carter Jr. (right hip contusion) and Franz Wagner (right knee soreness).
Orlando shot 57.6 percent from the field and 40.6 percent (13 of 32) from 3-point range.
The Pacers shot 44.9 percent from the field and 41.4 percent (12 of 29) from beyond the arc while resting Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner.
The teams were tied 29-29 at the end of the opening period before Orlando took control with a dominant second quarter.
Orlando began the second period on a 22-6 run and led 51-35 with 7:24 left in the half.
The Magic outscored Indiana 43-20 in the second period and took a 72-49 lead into halftime. Orlando shot 63 percent from the field for the half.
Queen scored 16 points in the first half for Orlando, which carried the momentum into the third quarter. The Magic led 89-54 after Gary Harris’ 3-pointer capped a 17-5 run to open the period.
Orlando held a 109-76 advantage at the end of the third quarter and maintained a double-digit lead throughout the final period.
