The Indiana Pacers delivered a knockout punch in their first-round series against the Orlando Magic on Saturday afternoon, taking Game 4 on the road 101-99 to move one win away from advancing to the second round.

They landed a sequence of jabs over a stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters, giving them an 82-63 advantage with 8:14 left in regulation. The Pacers even endured an ankle tweak by Danny Granger at the two-minute mark of the third, after which they scored eleven of the next twelve points.

Stan Van Gundy, resilient as ever, wouldn’t allow his club to fold and the Magic rallied to force overtime at the Amway Center. In the final eight-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, Orlando outscored Indiana 26-7. The Magic went 11-for-18 from the field and won the rebounding battle by six, including three offensive rebounds leading to four second-chance points.

Over that same stretch, with a chance to ice the game, the Pacers were just 3-for-13. At one point they missed seven straight shots. The scoring issues weren’t surprising, as they have struggled on that end in the series, but their drought couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Scoring seven points over the last eight minutes when you have a 19-point lead might be feasible in some NBA games, but the Magic were playing at home with nothing to lose and it is the playoffs. They are precisely the type of team built to mount a serious comeback. Jason Richardson and J.J. Redick each hit a three-pointer in the final 2:30 to help Orlando extend the game.

The overtime period was comprised of runs as well. The Pacers scored the first six points to take a 95-89 lead with 2:51 left before the Magic countered with a Richardson trey and an old-fashioned three-point play from Jameer Nelson to tie the game one minute later.

George Hill would score the final six points for Indiana, including the game-winning free throws earned through penetration with two seconds left. The Pacers are now one win away from their first semifinal appearance since 2005. It’s been even longer since they had a point guard that can consistently penetrate and finish near the basket as Hill can.

The Pacers played poor defense, by their standards, for a majority of the game but clamped down during the final possession of regulation and in overtime. Leandro Barbosa, acquired from Toronto to provide scoring off the bench, stayed with Nelson on his game-winning attempt at the regulation buzzer and the Pacers defended Orlando’s last possession of the game brilliantly with crisp defensive switches.

In Game 3, Indiana defended the pick-and-pop well, Hibbert dominated the paint and they stayed home on shooters en route to a 97-74 win. Less than three days later, Glen Davis had 24 points and 11 rebounds in a relatively quiet effort. There was no high-stepping back on defense as Van Gundy employed his most diverse offensive attack of the series. Orlando had six players in double-figures and two with at least 24 points.

The Magic committed just 11 turnovers, attempted 29 three-pointers (after getting just 15 up in Game 3) and went 22-for-28 from the foul line.

Their Game 1 collapse notwithstanding, this was the worst the Pacers have looked even if it was primarily the final 13 minutes that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. They looked lackadaisical after building a lead that everyone but Van Gundy and his charges felt was insurmountable. David West and Hill were the heroes of the game, but they weren’t infallible. Both committed a brain fart in crunch time. Indiana might have had two extra offensive possessions had they called for a time out falling out of bounds.

You can lament endlessly over how a win was attained during the regular season, but there is no time for that in the playoffs. Every victory gets you one step closer to advancing. In reality, there are no immoral wins. 

But the internet was made for criticizing and the Pacers certainly didn’t display the killer instinct they did on Wednesday night. Had they lost this game, the Magic would be going back on the road with momentum and the Pacers with damaged psyches.

Even though the Pacers owned a 12-minute stretch in the second half, they weren’t truly dominating the game. After three quarters, they were shooting 50.9% from the field against 34% for the Magic. You should be up double-digits with that type of differential. They won the rebounding battle in the third quarter, but didn’t over the course of 53 minutes like a team with such a huge size advantage should.

Frank Vogel also didn’t get what he expected from some of his regular contributors. Paul George played an invisible 35 minutes, going 1-for-7 with nine rebounds, three turnovers and four fouls. He was on the bench, in favor of Barbosa, to begin the overtime period as Orlando went small and the second-year man overplayed Redick on a key three-pointer. George’s only field goal came on a dunk less than two minutes after the opening tip.

Roy Hibbert had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, but ten of those points came in the first half and he wasn’t able to limit Orlando’s penetration in the fourth quarter. He didn’t anchor Indiana’s defense as effectively as he did in Games 1 and 3.

The Pacers and Magic are headed for their third NBAtv outing on Tuesday night, with Indiana undoubtedly having one eye on a second-round matchup with Miami. It has been made abundantly clear that they can’t overlook Orlando, however, invoking the sports cliché of treating the potential close-out game as an elimination bout.

The Magic are wobbling as the Pacers stand alert with a lone gash under their right eye. The final punch can be made at home, giving the crowd in downtown Indianapolis a chance to celebrate their first playoff triumph since May of 2000 when they closed out the Milwaukee Bucks on their home floor to advance to the NBA Finals.