Frank Vogel has said that the Indiana Pacers' bench looked strong during their opening game of the NBA season.

Paul George scored 24 points as the Pacers beat the Orlando Magic 97-87 last night.

The head coach told reporters: "Our bench, in the last three pre-season games and tonight, really just blew the game open. I think they're going to be really strong, I think it was just a matter of nerves tonight.

"We have to be dominant at home if we hope to compete for the one seed [in the Eastern Conference] with the likes of Brooklyn, New York, Chicago and Miami. You have to be dominant at home."

Indiana were the runners-up in their conference last season.