Written by Josh Robbins at Orlando Sentinel
Eighty-two times a season, a public-address announcer introduces the Orlando Magic starting lineup and coach Frank Vogel a few minutes before tipoff of a game.
It occurs so often that the tradition almost has lost its meaning, but the introductions Monday night were anything but routine.
The fans inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse gave Vogel a warm ovation before Vogel’s Magic faced off against his former team, the Indiana Pacers. There was just one problem: The arena was maybe 30 percent full at the time.
“I love the fans here,” Vogel said after the Pacers routed the Magic 88-69. “We have a special relationship. I’m very, very grateful for all the support they’ve showed me over the years. It was a very warm welcome.”
Monday was the first time he coached against the Pacers in Indianapolis since the Pacers didn’t renew his contract.
Paul George, Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles and Myles Turner — four of Vogel’s former Indiana players — went up to him just before tipoff to say hello.
“It was great,” George said. “We talk to each other every now and then. He texted me about two or three weeks ago just to talk about tonight.”
Vogel spent 3½ years as a Pacers assistant coach before president of basketball operations Larry Bird fired coach Jim O’Brien during the 2010-11 season and named Vogel the interim coach.
Vogel immediately changed the team’s fortunes. He gave it more swagger and fine-tuned the defense. The Pacers reached the playoffs and played competitively in their first-round series loss to the Chicago Bulls, prompting Bird to remove Vogel’s interim label.
Vogel held the job for five more seasons.
No Pacers coach has won more regular-season games since the franchise joined the NBA for the 1976-77 season. He compiled a 250-187 regular-season record and a 31-30 postseason record. His teams reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and in 2014.
But Bird decided that the Pacers needed a change.
The decision left Vogel free to join the Magic after Scott Skiles resigned in May.
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