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NBA Game Summary - Orlando At Indiana

POSTED: 10:42 pm EST November 20, 2004

Grant Hill scored 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists to lead Orlando to an 86-83 win over the depleted Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points and Steve Francis contributed 13 points and seven assists for the Magic, who have won two straight games.

Fred Jones poured in a career-high 31 points for the Pacers, who dressed the league minimum eight players, but played only six due to injuries to Jamaal Tinsley and Scot Pollard.

David Harrison had 19 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Earlier in the day, the NBA suspended Indiana's Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal indefinitely for their parts in Friday night's fight between the Pacers and Pistons. Indiana won the game 97-82 before it was called. Detroit's Ben Wallace was also suspended indefinitely by the league.

The suspensions stemmed from an incident that occurred with 45 seconds left as Wallace was fouled by Artest and the Pistons center took exception to what he deemed a hard foul and gave Artest a two-handed push to the face.

After that, the fighting continued by the scorer's table as players came off both benches to continue the melee on the court. The Detroit fans then lost control and began throwing cups filled with liquid and ice at Artest, who was surprisingly staying out of harm's way on top of the table. Artest was hit in the head with a flying cup and immediately raced into the stands where he started punching whom he thought was the culprit.

Jackson and O'Neal were also involved in fights, both on the court and in the stands, before finally being escorted to the locker room. O'Neal apparently knocked an onrushing fan out cold and charges could be pressed against the All-Star.

Jones also got into an altercation in the stands as a fan was punching the back of his head while he was in the middle of a scuffle.

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied, but Orlando took a four-point lead at 75-71 on Hill's basket with around seven minutes left. The Magic increased the edge to five points moments later, but Jones' basket with around 2 1/2 minutes remaining cut the deficit to 78-75.

After a field goal by Hill, James Jones was fouled on a three-point shot and made all three to make it 80-78 with just 37.5 seconds left. Kelvin Cato was then fouled at the other end and knocked down a pair to give Orlando an 82-78 lead with 23 seconds left.

Harrison kept his team in the game with a putback with 13.3 seconds to play, but Hill was quickly fouled and the veteran made both shots for a four-point lead. However, the Pacers would not go away as Fred Jones drilled a three- pointer from the top of the arc to cut the deficit to 84-83 with only seven seconds left.

Indiana again quickly fouled Hill and the Duke product made both to widen the lead to 86-83 with 5.7 seconds remaining.

Jones' three-point try just before the buzzer sounded fell short and the game came to an to end.

The Magic led 26-20 after the first quarter and carried a narrow 46-44 edge into the locker room. Hill had 15 points and five rebounds for Orlando, which hit 20-of-43 shots in the first half (47 percent). Jones had 14 points for the Pacers, who connected on 43 percent of their attempts in the opening 24 minutes (16-of-37).

The teams stayed close and headed into the fourth quarter deadlocked at 65-65.

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