Indiana is the kind of team that can get under any opponent's skin. Even the typically cool and even-handed Jacque Vaughn.

The physical play and the lack of whistles finally got to the mild-mannered Vaughn. After referees called a double technical foul on Kyle O'Quinn and Roy Hibbert while they battled for a post-free throw rebound, Vaughn asked for an explanation. He did not get one and kept pressing. And so was Vaughn's first technical foul as a head coach.

It clearly riled the coach up as he hoped to find some spark for a Magic team stuck in the mud offensively. He picked up his second technical foul and was ejected from the game.

It was that kind of odd, frustrating game.

The Pacers were simply a better team in many, many ways. Tyler Hansbrough's boundless energy helped Indiana overcome its own shooting woes. The Pacers made their shots first and were better at executing their offense than the Magic.

In other words, Indiana looked like the second best team in the East and Orlando looked like the 14th as Indiana defeated Orlando 95-73 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

There really may not be more to say. The Pacers defense was crisp and in strong form going up against a Magic team struggling to get anything going offensively. Orlando shot 31.8 percent and 3 for 15 from beyond the arc. Shots were not going in.

The Magic had the right mindset though. They looked to attack the basket and challenge Roy Hibbert. Hibbert though was up to the challenge and changed numerous shots at the rim, even though he had just one block. Orlando were missing a variety of floaters and lay ins trying to get around the size inside.

As the shots did not fall, the frustration offensively grew it seemed. Indiana turned Orlando into a largely 1 on 1 team and Orlando could not crack the safe with any dribble penetration. The Magic had only 12 assists on 28 made field goals.

The Magic's signing of E'Twaun Moore this summer signaled a desire to add a little more versatility to the roster. Moore had never really played point guard before this year and he was always more of a scorer than a distributor. There were questions about how he could lead the team. With Ish Smith behind him, the Magic had a backstop of sorts.

Moore though is a shooting guard and perhaps some of the plan might have been to groom Moore into a point guard capable of playing alongside Jameer Nelson.

Nelson too came into the league much like Moore, although with much more point guard experience. Nelson played at St. Joseph's next to Delonte West. The two, more or less, split time at point guard and were both capable ball handlers. Nelson though was destined to be more of a point guard thanks to his height. But the lingering criticism of Nelson is that he is not much of a passer.

The acquisition of Beno Udrih and the flexibility Moore provides the Magic changed a lot of that. Really for the first time in Nelson's career, the Magic can use him the same way that St. Joseph's did nearly a decade ago. And Nelson can become more of a scorer.

"It takes the pressure off us," Beno Udrih said following Orlando's win over Philadelphia two weeks ago, the first game the teams used Udrih and Nelson together. "Usually teams deny one guard. It's the point guard that is supposed to get the team in sets.

"When they were denying me, so [Jameer] was playing the point guard. When they were denying him, I was playing the point guard. We can both shoot the ball. We can both cut to the basket, get our teammates open. It worked well today so hopefully we can keep it going."

Yes, Orlando is experimenting with Nelson off the ball with Udrih or Moore as the primary point guard. Late in several games since the trade, Jacque Vaughn has used a lineup that features Jameer Nelson and Beno Udrih together. This enables Nelson to get the ball while still having his dribble alive. That makes him a much more dangerous offensive weapon.

With Sunday's loss to the Bucks, the Magic were officially eliminated from Playoff contention. The NBA Draft Lottery will be the first major event of the offseason for the Magic.

As things stand right now, Orlando has the second worst record in the league and therefore the second best chance at gaining the top pick. It does not seem likely Orlando will move up or down, so the team should have about a 20 percent chance to get the top pick.

The 2013 NBA Draft Lottery takes place on May 21, if you want to mark your calendars now.

The NCAA Tournament kicks off this week and, rightly or wrongly, it is the first time many NBA fans get a close look at the top prospects entering the NBA Draft.

Seeing as there are the most games during the first week of the Tournament -- and no guarantee the top picks make it past the opening weekend -- this is the time to do your NBA Draft cramming, Magic fans.

Throughout the week, there will be several Draft-focused posts on this site in addition to game posts and Magic posts. I have a Q&A planned with Ed Isaacson of NBA Draft Blog and I highly suggest you visit his site to get a very detailed look at the NBA Draft prospects. He should be doing profiles of some of the bigger draft prospects in the coming days.

Also I have set up an official Orlando Magic Daily NCAA Tournament pool on ESPN.com. Visit ESPN.com and search for "Orlando Magic Daily". The password is "dwightcoward". If enough people enter, I may dig into my old basketball card collection and offer a team set of Magic basketball cards (probably like 10 cards from a specific year or something like that). We will see how it goes.

For now, set your DVRs and calendars for these games as they feature the top prospects for the NBA Draft:

The Magic were cruising to a victory. For the majority of the game, they did everything right. They responded to runs and found a way to extend their lead back to double digits after giving up some quick points. Orlando was not able to put Milwaukee away. But the Magic were not able to run away.

When Monta Ellis decided to chase coming down the back stretch, the Magic, despite going and clicking on just about every cylinder, were unable to keep up.

Ellis just decimated a confident Magic team that had a win in their sights and left their heads spinning, wondering what happened? The avalanche that was Monta Ellis in the fourth quarter derailed an otherwise great game for the struggling Magic.

Ellis scored 25 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter, leading Milwaukee to a 45-point fourth quarter and a 115-109 win at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Sunday afternoon. Orlando is likely still trying to figure out what happened with the team holding a 12-point lead when Ellis really let his run get going and seeing a lead slip away in a quarter in which the team still scored 28 points.

It was hard to figure out what more the Magic could do to ge tthe win Sunday night.

The Bucks were making shots. Rather, it was Ellis making shots. The defense could not adjust because many of those shots from Ellis were contested. He scores and when he gets on a role, these kind of nights can happen.

Ellis got himself going and the Magic's interior defense seemed to break down a bit as they tried to adjust. Ellis and Jennings were able to get in the paint with renewed confidence and they found bigs like Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders for easy baskets or for fouls.

Orlando had seven turnovers entering the final quarter and ended up with 13 for the game. This gave the Bucks more opportunity.

The NBA season is here. With that in mind, it is time to flip through the book on the 2012-13 season and to take a look at what the season might have in store -- especially when it comes to the Magic. Be sure to look out for more of these team capsules and to check out all the blogs taking part in this year's NBA Blog Preview (don't worry, I will be linking to all of them in the next few weeks ... months ... this preview IS never-ending, afterall).

Milwaukee Bucks
Last Year/This Year: 31-35/32-32

Last Year vs. Magic: Bucks Lost 99-94 in Milwaukee on Feb. 11; Bucks Lost 94-85 in Orlando on Feb. 17; Bucks Lost 93-90 in Milwaukee on Feb. 20; Bucks Lost 114-98 in Orlando on March 3
This Year vs. Magic: Bucks Won 107-98 in Milwaukee on Feb. 2; March 17 in Milwaukee; April 10 in Orlando

Magic Connection: Gustavo Ayon (Player, 2012-13); Drew Gooden (Player, 2003-04); J.J. Redick (2006-13); Ish Smith (Player, 2012-13); Assistant Coach Joe Wolf (Player, 1995-96)

The Previews: Frank Madden/Brewhoop

The NBA dropped a humorous advertisement earlier this year, cutting highlights of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis to the theme song of the Milwaukee-based comedy Laverne and Shirley. The dream for the Bucks was for the team they had built featuring the two shoot-first, undersized guards to work as well together as those two roommates did.

The results have been . . . well.

They have not been bad. The Bucks are comfortably sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and appear set to make the Playoffs for the first time since 2010. But the future for Milwaukee is extremely precarious.

With the acquisition of J.J. Redick, Milwaukee could potentially lose all three guards and be left with a roster full of tough-minded tweeners in the frontcourt. The Bucks went all in on this season -- even if that means just barely making the Playoffs.

Of course, that could mean they get them all back for another run next year. Brandon Jennings is a restricted free agent this summer, and there are rumors that he may sign the qualifying offer so he can become an unrestricted free agent in 2014. There are also rumors that Monta Ellis could opt in to the final year of his deal. That would be a bonus for Milwaukee.

This year though, Milwaukee should accomplish its goal and make the postseason. It is a small one, for sure, but one the franchise is determined to accomplish -- thus the Redick deal and giving up Tobias Harris to get him.

The jury is still out it would seem on the Jennings/Ellis pairing. It is not so hunky dory.

The Magic never led in the second half against the Thunder on Friday night. You would be hard pressed to find a player hanging their head too low or a fan that was not excited about the effort the Magic put forth against the defending Western Conference champions.

That is what happens when a 27-point first-half deficit is cut to four with about four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Yes, the lowly Orlando Magic made the might Oklahoma City Thunder sweat.

That was about all the Magic could do however. The Thunder are still the Thunder. Kevin Durant is still Kevin Durant. And Russell Westbrook is still Russell Westbrook.

Oklahoma City snapped into action down the stretch. Defensively, the Thunder clamped down on a hot Arron Afflalo. And Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each hit some big 3-pointers to help Oklahoma City stave off Orlando's rally for a 117-103 win at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday night.

Late game execution has been a theme all season for the Magic. The team with the more talented players who were able to create for themselves and for others won. It was no coincidence that the team with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was able to get good shots and make difficult shots and the team with Jameer Nelson and Arron Afflalo was unable to do so.

No knock on Nelson and Afflalo for that statement.

Gilbert Arenas flamed out in Orlando.

One of Stan Van Gundy's greatest failures in his extremely successful tenures as Orlando's head coach was his attempt to reign in Gilbert Arenas and make him a backup point guard. It was extremely frustrating for Arenas, the organization and Dwight Howard.

In the end, Arenas played only 8.0 points per game in 49 games, shooting 34.4 percent from the floor. He was cut using the NBA's amnesty clause after the lockout ended in a move Arenas even acknowledged was a good one. The Magic are paying Arenas $20 million this year and next as part of that deal.

Arenas was cast off into the netherworld, boucning around the NBA and trying to find a job before ultimately becoming an NBA castoff.

Arenas played this season in China where nagging injuries kept him from having the season he wanted. But, Arenas at the end of the season, began looking like Agent Zero again. He averaged 20.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, shooting 50.0 percent in 27.3 minutes per game.

He had some big games at the end of the season and was his old self, interacting with fans in and around Shanghai. In other words, Agent Zero was back.

He will be on the cover of SLAM magazine this month and spoke with Karan Madhok about his time in China:

SLAM: But it does seem like the joy in your game is back. Being back on the court, back with teammates…

GA: You know, that’s all basketball is. If someone loves something, and you take it away, it’s like, what does he do now? What does someone do? That’s what happened with me in the last couple of years in the NBA when I went to Orlando, and then I got benched. And I was in Memphis and I wasn’t playing. It was just like, why do I wanna keep doing this? So then when I got the chance to come to China to play…OK! As long as I get to play.

SLAM: You’ve sort of had a mini-resurrection of your career over here in China. Even though you missed games with injury, just to see you on the court and playing big minutes, it’s a great thing for the fans.

GA: Yeah, you know, that’s all that it was about. Even this year, in the beginning, I was thinking when I got hurt that this has been going on for the last three years of my career. Some little ticky-tack injuries been keeping me out for long periods of time and I’m getting benched. So when Yao decided that he wasn’t going to cut me, he was going to keep me, I was like, Thank you Lord! I can’t wait ’til I get on the court to show that I can actually play at a high level. So I’m just happy that he gave me the opportunity.

Hopefully Gilbert Arenas is doing well in China. Wish him all the best. He always a fun guy to talk to.

On opening night, the Magic sported a veteran-looking lineup with Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis and Nikola Vucevic. Only Vucevic could be considered "young" and the team was establishing the base for its future growth by bringing rookies along slowly.

That experiment lasted all of one game. Hedo Turkoglu broke his hand and the Magic had two starting lineups in two games.

It did not take long for other injuries to take their toll on this roster and the plan to bring several rookies along slowly was pretty much stopped. The Magic now have had 20 starting lineups in 65 games, the most in the league. Now the Magic are using a lineup that indeed has a lot of young players -- second-year player Nikola Vucevic is joined with rookies Maurice Harkless and Andrew Nicholson and there were a few calls for second-year forward Tobias Harris to make an appearance at the beginning of the games before he started his first game in a Magic uniform a week ago.

For first year coach Jacque Vaughn, the shifts in the starting lineup have been something he has had to adjust to on the fly. There have been plenty of growing pains as Vaughn has had to throw young players into the fold sooner than anticipated just to field his best team.

"I don’t think we can expect to see any lineup the way this year has gone," Jacque Vaughn said before Sunday's loss to the Grizzlies. "We lead the league in most lineups and that is by circumstance. We’ll deal with whatever circumstance comes about.

"If the first game of the year w edon’t have a player hurt, I would love to have the same five guys that I started at the beginning of the year playing right now. Injuries and other things don’t always cooperate. Just like the opponents don’t always cooperate. I’d like to box them out but they don’t cooperate all the time. They don’t allow that."

The year has been about the improvement and Vaughn has continually said he would put players in a position where they could succeed. That has meant inconsistent minutes at times for rookies like Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson and DeQuan Jones -- each have started more than 15 games this season.

Vaughn has taken a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the starting lineup each night. Andrew Nicholson, Maurice Harkless and DeQuan Jones have gone from starting one game to out of the rotation the next. Lately it has been Nicholson sitting out, having started 14 conseecutive games before last week when Harris entered the lineup.

Let me get this out of the way first: Dwight Howard deserved to be booed.

For a season and a half, he waffled and played with Magic fans' emotions. He kept the whole organization in limbo because of his indecision and forced the team to cater to his ever-changing whims before ultimately frustrating everything by either having a true change of heart or fearing a trade to a destination he did not want.

What Howard did in opting in to the final year of his contract without agreeing to an extension in Orlando was one of the dumbest business moves in both Magic history and free agency history. The talk of "loyalty" at that press conference -- no matter what may or may not have happened after Howard's injury -- turned out to be a straw man and Howard was gone five months later.

It says more that Howard never made it back to Orlando until Tuesday night as he rehabbed his back in far off Los Angeles.

The question now though is not how we react to Howard, but how we move on. Howard has made his return to Orlando. He likely will return to his Lake Mary home this summer and spend some time around the city he grew up in as a player. Howard's presence will forever be part of Orlando just like Shaquille O'Neal's was (at least until Tracy McGrady arrived at the earliest or until Dwight Howard led the Magic out of the first round for the first time at the latest).

Dealing with this loss is going to take time and the wound is still fresh for many Magic fans. It may not completely pass until the Magic return to the Playoffs and reach a level of contention again. Until then, it probably is not worth talking about all the good Howard did in a Magic uniform for many fans.

At some point though, as Howard said, we all have to move on. Feelings might have been hurt, but what happened happened, no matter how poorly and insultingly the departure was handled.

It has been about 24 hours and Dwight Howard has come and gone. The atmosphere was electric while the game disappointed.

The game was not what was important to a lot of fans. A win would have made the entire season for many as karmic justice. For others it was just cathartic to have the scapegoat of Dwight Howard in person to direct ire and anger at. Yes, the Magic are second worst in the NBA right now and the future feels bright, but Dwight Howard is the kind of player that makes your team relevant no matter what.

It also makes it a good one.

Magic fans missed that and you could tell by the energy in Amway Center last night. The more than 19,000 in attendance set an arena record and was the eighth sellout of the season. It was an electric atmosphere that was missing for much of the season. That is to be expected when you have a losing team.

For one night, the Magic did not feel like a losing team. They felt like a team with something to play for. They got their Playoff atmosphere at the beginning.

The win over the Lakers in December and the game last night in Orlando are going to be two of the more memorable games from this season. Amway Center was wild last night so let's revisit it a bit this evening.