Read More: Dwight Howard (C – ORL), Ryan Anderson (F – ORL), Mike Dunleavy (G – IND), Hedo Turkoglu (F – ORL), Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic

Orlando, FL (Sports Network) – Dwight Howard scored 13 points with 13 rebounds as the Orlando Magic capped their regular season schedule with a 92-74 drubbing of the Indiana Pacers at Amway Arena.

Howard recorded his double-double while playing just over 26 minutes in the win, Orlando’s fourth in five games. Hedo Turkoglu scored 13 while Ryan Anderson posted 14 points and seven boards in a reserve role.

The Magic capped their regular season with a 52-30 record and will enter the playoffs with the Eastern Conference’s fourth-seed.

“You tend to have room to make mistakes in the regular season,” said Howard. “But in the playoffs, if you make a mistake it can cost you a game which can then cost you a series.”

Orlando will face the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs for the third time in club history starting on Saturday in Orlando. The Magic handled the Hawks in the conference semifinals last season, sweeping the series 4-0. Orlando continued its success in 2010-11, winning 50- plus games for the fourth straight season.

Brandon Rush and Mike Dunleavy both scored 16 points in reserve roles for the Pacers, who dropped their final two games of the regular season. Indiana will head into the playoffs finishing the season with a 37-45 record.

“It’s a tall task but our guys are playing their best basketball of the season right now,” said Indiana head coach Frank Vogel. “We look forward to the task that we have ahead of us.”

The Pacers will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06, earning the Eastern Conference’s eighth-seed and garnering the dubious honor of taking on one of the hottest teams, the Chicago Bulls beginning on Saturday in the Windy City. The only time these teams have met in the playoffs was in the Eastern Conference finals in 1997-98, as the Bulls topped the Pacers 4-3, moving on to win their final NBA Championship in the Michael Jordan-era and their sixth in eight years.

Orlando took the lead from the opening tip. Anderson scored 11 of his points on 4-of-4 from the field as the Magic held a 28-14 lead after one. Orlando held the Pacers to only 15 points in the second, taking a 53-29 lead into the break.

Dunleavy scored 13 in the third quarter as the Pacers cut their deficit to 71-55 entering the fourth. However, the Orlando lead was too much to overcome as its lead never fell below 13 throughout the duration of the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

Brandon Bass posted 12 points and six boards for the victors…Tyler Hansbrough scored nine with six caroms for Indiana, which saw Dahntay Jones, Josh McRoberts and A.J. Price all donate seven points in the loss.

Read More: Dwight Howard (C – ORL), Ryan Anderson (F – ORL), Mike Dunleavy (G – IND), Hedo Turkoglu (F – ORL), Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic

Orlando, FL (Sports Network) – Dwight Howard scored 13 points with 13 rebounds as the Orlando Magic capped their regular season schedule with a 92-74 drubbing of the Indiana Pacers at Amway Arena.

Howard recorded his double-double while playing just over 26 minutes in the win, Orlando’s fourth in five games. Hedo Turkoglu scored 13 while Ryan Anderson posted 14 points and seven boards in a reserve role.

The Magic capped their regular season with a 52-30 record and will enter the playoffs with the Eastern Conference’s fourth-seed.

“You tend to have room to make mistakes in the regular season,” said Howard. “But in the playoffs, if you make a mistake it can cost you a game which can then cost you a series.”

Orlando will face the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs for the third time in club history starting on Saturday in Orlando. The Magic handled the Hawks in the conference semifinals last season, sweeping the series 4-0. Orlando continued its success in 2010-11, winning 50- plus games for the fourth straight season.

Brandon Rush and Mike Dunleavy both scored 16 points in reserve roles for the Pacers, who dropped their final two games of the regular season. Indiana will head into the playoffs finishing the season with a 37-45 record.

“It’s a tall task but our guys are playing their best basketball of the season right now,” said Indiana head coach Frank Vogel. “We look forward to the task that we have ahead of us.”

The Pacers will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06, earning the Eastern Conference’s eighth-seed and garnering the dubious honor of taking on one of the hottest teams, the Chicago Bulls beginning on Saturday in the Windy City. The only time these teams have met in the playoffs was in the Eastern Conference finals in 1997-98, as the Bulls topped the Pacers 4-3, moving on to win their final NBA Championship in the Michael Jordan-era and their sixth in eight years.

Orlando took the lead from the opening tip. Anderson scored 11 of his points on 4-of-4 from the field as the Magic held a 28-14 lead after one. Orlando held the Pacers to only 15 points in the second, taking a 53-29 lead into the break.

Dunleavy scored 13 in the third quarter as the Pacers cut their deficit to 71-55 entering the fourth. However, the Orlando lead was too much to overcome as its lead never fell below 13 throughout the duration of the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

Brandon Bass posted 12 points and six boards for the victors…Tyler Hansbrough scored nine with six caroms for Indiana, which saw Dahntay Jones, Josh McRoberts and A.J. Price all donate seven points in the loss.

Read More: Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls will open their NBA playoff schedule by hosting the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their series on Saturday, April 16, at 1 p.m. ET at the United Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and local cable partners of the teams. It will be the first game of the 2011 NBA Playoffs; two other East series kick off on Saturday, and at least one West series should as well. (None of the West’s four playoff series are yet set.)

The rest of the series schedule has yet to be announced, but expect 1-2 days of rest between games. Because it begins on Saturday and the Bulls are such heavy favorites, the Chicago-Indiana series has the greatest likelihood of ending earlier than any other first-round series.

The Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks also tip off on Saturday, and Orlando is expected to handle Atlanta quickly. The winner of that series will meet the winner of Bulls-Pacers.

The Orlando Magic weren’t nearly as dominant in 2010-11 as they were in the past two seasons, but their star center may have never been better.

Before MVP candidate Dwight Howard(notes) leads them into the playoffs, the Magic conclude their fourth straight season of 50-plus wins when they host the playoff-bound Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.

Howard is averaging a career-high 23.0 points per game and his 14.1 rebounds a contest are his second-best mark, behind the 14.2 he averaged in 2007-08.

He returned from his second one-game suspension for accumulation of technical fouls and powered Orlando (51-30) past Philadelphia 95-85 on Monday. Howard had 19 points, 13 boards and a pair of highlight-reel dunks as the Magic won for the third time in four games.

Howard is second in the NBA in rebounding, pacing an Orlando team that’s sixth with 43.1 a contest. The Magic held a 56-31 advantage on the glass against the 76ers and were up 25-2 on the boards at one point in the second quarter.

“It was good to see us rebound the ball as well as we did. The guys did a good job on the glass,” Howard told NBA.com.

The Magic, who will be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will face Atlanta in the first round, finished with 59 wins in each of the last two seasons.

Ryan Anderson(notes) added 18 points and 14 rebounds Monday as the Magic overcame the absences of the injured Gilbert Arenas(notes) and J.J. Redick(notes), and the suspended Quentin Richardson(notes). Arenas and Redick appear doubtful for Wednesday, while Richardson will return after sitting out two games for shoving Charlotte’s Gerald Henderson(notes) last week.

The Magic have won both meetings with the Pacers this season, taking the most recent one 111-96 on Jan. 26 behind Howard’s 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Orlando has won four straight overall in the series and seven of eight home meetings, including five in a row.

The Pacers (37-44), headed toward a playoff matchup with top-seeded Chicago, had won four of five going into Sunday’s game against New York. Indiana, though, fell 110-109 after allowing the Knicks to score the final nine points, culminating with Carmelo Anthony’s(notes) jumper with 4.9 seconds remaining.

Anthony then blocked Danny Granger’s(notes) last-second shot.

“We had the game, let it get away,” said Granger, who scored 20 points. “I have no comments on the final play of the game.”

Roy Hibbert(notes) added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Darren Collison(notes) scored 16.

If the Pacers lose to Orlando, they’ll have the lowest win total for a playoff team since Atlanta qualified with 37 in 2007-08. Indiana is making its first postseason appearance since 2005-06.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Frank Vogel never doubted his Indiana Pacers.

In his early weeks as interim coach, he often talked as though Indiana’s presence in the postseason would be a foregone conclusion, even though he took over a team that was 10 games under .500.

His team backed up his confidence.

Danny Granger scored 25 points, and the Indiana Pacers clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2006 with a 136-112 victory against the Washington Wizards last night.

Indiana improved to 19-16 under Vogel, who turned the team’s fortunes despite going with a younger lineup that won while experiencing growing pains.

“It’s a credit to Frank and his staff,” Granger said. “Granted, we still have some problems, and we had some problems along the way, but with the time they had to rehaul the team and do things differently, I think they did a great job.”

The Pacers needed a win and a Charlotte loss to Orlando last night to clinch a playoff berth. As the Pacers’ game ended, the Orlando-Charlotte game was in overtime, and the Conseco Fieldhouse staff put the game on the Jumbotron. Many fans stayed to cheer to the Magic on to a 111-102 win.

Paul George scored a career-high 23 points and Darren Collison added 15 points and 11 assists for the Pacers, who posted their second-highest point total of the season.

Jordan Crawford scored 29 points and Andray Blatche added 23 for Washington. John Wall had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Indiana shot 60 percent from the field and the Wizards allowed the most points they have in a game this season.

“Energy caught up to us,” Washington coach Flip Saunders said. “I was worried before the game. Guys just didn’t seem to have that pep in their step. We almost really lost the game in the first seven minutes.”

Granger, who was averaging 20.4 points coming in, ended a streak of five straight games under 20 points.