During a timeout in the middle of the third quarter last night, Frank Vogel told his team that they need to go for the kill. They need to embrace their kill instinct. Step on throats. Show no mercy.

That is exactly what they did, destroying all hopes the Magic had as 7’2″ center Roy Hibbert finally looked like the biggest player in the series on both ends of the floor. Hibbert was swatting away shots, getting deep post position and punishing Orlando’s “big men.” He scored 12 points, grabbed 5 rebounds (4 on offense) and blocked 2 shots while changing several others in the third quarter. Of which he played every minute. As did every other Indiana starter other than Paul George.

When Vogel said he wanted to go for the kill, he wasn’t playing around. He kept his best players on the floor and they showed how much better they can be than Orlando’s best playing, starting off the third quarter with a 6-0 run and going on a13-2 stretch near the end that put the Pacers up by 23. The Magic were as good as dead.

Really, this wasn’t a shock. It’s the same thing they have been doing all series long after half time. The Pacers out-scored the Magic 32-17 last night and that gives them  a 80-43 edge so far in third quarters. And the trend goes back much further than the postseason. This mimics their success after the break all year, during which the third quarter was by far their best.

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy is clearly frustrated. In his post-game press conference, he subtly threw his hands up regarding his starters, bemoaning their inability to get anything positive going both after half-time or to start the game. At the beginning of every half, he said, his starting lineup is putting the team in a hole that has been, a 4-minute end-of-game scoring drought for Indiana notwithstanding, too great to overcome. He sounded fed up enough that we might see a change to the starting lineup for Game Four.

If I was in his shoes, I would be saying the same thing. Because the Pacers starters are absolutely annihilating the Magic whenever they’re on the floor.

In 63 minutes, the Pacers starters have out-scored whoever Orlando has on the floor by 37.5 points per 100 possessions. They have scored 121.2 points per 100 on the strength of 49.0% shooting from the field and 42.1% from behind the arc. Perhaps more impressively, they have only given up 87.6 per 100. For those unfamiliar with the context of these numbers, both of those rates are way better than any NBA team posted this season. (For reference, the Spurs led the league by scoring 110.9 points per 100 while the Celtics were the best defensive team in the association by giving up just 98.2 points per 100.)

For more context, last year against the Bulls in the playoffs, the team’s starters (Darren Collison, Paul George, Dany Granger, Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert) only scored 87.8 points per 100 while giving up 105.5 points per 100.

After the game in a post-game interview with NBA TV’s sideline reporter, Granger seemed relieved about his team finally looking dominant. He repeatedly said that Indiana has now found themselves. Even on the road, they were able to weather a second-quarter flurry by Glen Davis and then go for the kill after the half. And oh how they executed the execution.

   (3) Indiana (42-24)      vs.      (6) Orlando (37-29)     

It starts tonight. The heavily favored Pacers square off against the Magic tonight at 7:00 pm in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Without Dwight Howard, most experts agree: Orlando is a dead team walking. It seems impossible that Stan Van Gundy, almost certainly a lame-duck coach with only a week or two left on the job, will be able to rally his troops enough for them to mount a true threat to Indiana. The interior advantage the Pacers have will likely be just too much to handle. And while the Magic can still be deadly from behind the arc, three-point shooting has rarely propelled a lesser team to victory in a seven-game series.

The outcome, then, may be anticlimactic, but this is just how Pacers fans should want it. The team hasn’t won a playoff series since 2005 so getting a wounded opponent is just what the Dr. (Hibbert) ordered.

There is still plenty to watch for, however.

Four of the Pacers five highest-scoring players this season have never played in the second round of the playoffs. With the addition of David West (24 career playoff games), George Hill (20), Leandro Barbosa (64) and Lou Amundson (18), the roster does now have considerably more postseason experience than last year’s near-playoff-virgin squad did when they faced the Bulls. But nobody on this roster has played together in the second round, and none of the guys who played in that Chicago series have ever played in playoff series in which they were favored. So it will be interesting to see how they respond. To falter to such a degree that they lose to the Magic would be a collapse too large to even discuss before game one. But it will be important to see how they respond if — and when — some adversity surfaces. Because Orlando will make enough runs in most of these games to steal momentum. They have plenty of offensive firepower to trade blows with Indiana, which is prone to some long scoring droughts.

Will the Pacers respond by going back to their strengths of pounding the ball inside and moving it around the perimeter? Will any of the sometimes-hesitant-to-shoot players (looking at you, Paul George) shy away? Will the Darren-Collison-as-backup-point-guard experiment face more hurdles than expected? Will Roy Hibbert play like the All-Star he was this season or post a line like 7 and 5? Will Tyler Hansbrough make jumpers?

Other than concerns related to inexperience and psychology, the key for Indiana will be stopping the Magic from scorching nets from deep. Ryan Anderson, a leading Most Improved Player Award candidate, will be the biggest threat. Tim Donahue said it well in this series preview roundtable over on Magic Basketball, your go-to website for Orlando coverage for the next two weeks. “Neither David West nor Roy Hibbert are fleet of foot, and a stretch big like Anderson can pull either of them far out of their comfort zone defensively. A big series by Anderson will not only weaken the Pacer D by spreading them out, but could force the Pacers to go small.”

If Frank Vogel opts — or is forced — to keep Hibbert out of the game at times due to matchup concerns, that is highly favorable for Stan Van Gundy. It’s also safe to say that the Magic coach really doesn’t give a monkey fudgin’ sassafas about much right now. So we may also see him just throw the bathroom sink at the Pacers. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some weird zone defenses, high-risk traps and strange lineups. He knows his team has no business winning this series, and he also knows that he is facing an inexperienced team with a head coach who has only overseen five career playoff games. If he puts Jameer Nelson, Chris Duhon, JJ Redick, Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu out there at some point, I wouldn’t even bat an eye.

Will the Pacers freak out?

Really, that’s the only way they should be able to lose this series. The Magic can’t beat them.

Only the Pacers can beat the Pacers.

(Here are some stat/history primers to get ready for the game.)

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Regular season series (Magic leads 3-1)