2023-2024 Regular Season Game 71: Sacramento Kings (40-29) at Orlando Magic (42-28) - 7pm

[drsd]

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What is also really odd in this game is that Monk finished 0-11 with zero points scored on a plus/minus of minus-22.

There is no way anywon can predict the Kings would win a game where Monk plays his worst of the WHOLE season. Really odd.

[basketballRob]

Defensively that is ok but offensively that lineup is just terrible.

On this team our defense is our offense, but I doubt we're changing the lineup.... We should be shortening the rotations though.....Suggs and Franz barely play over 30 minutes a game.... In the playoffs they need to be around 35.... No "all bench" lineups.... Your best players have to be on the floor more

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Yeah, I agree to a certain extent that Magic defense is their offense but switching out WCJ and Harris for Goga and Black will just make the Magic more reliant on their defense to produce. You will have very few shooters on the court. The team will be highly dependent on Paolo and Franz to score but I do agree I don’t expect the starting up to change.

And also the starting line will be tightened in the playoffs. I only expect Moe, JI, and Cole to play off the bench.

I think the Magic were better offensivly too when everyone was healthy except Fultz and Carter.

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[drsd]

Box-score thoughts - a weird one:

The Magic won the FG% battle but lost the game. How? Horrible 3pt FG%.

Orlando decided to engage with the teams acting like this was a three-point contests: there were 70 total 3-pt FGs attempted in total, and that lead to FIFTY missed three point attempts. Eeh Gads.

Orlando had two players with minus-20 plus/minus lines and two players with positive-20 plus/minus lines.

The Magic bench outscored the Kings bench 49-7. Yep: a 42 point difference by the second units.

In the end, the Magic's defense was fine. It was a lack of offensive execution that doomed the team. Indeed the "final" play (not counting the Banchero heave) highlights the total lack of creativity for the Magic. Orlando had three chances to win the game, with two shots being odd three-pointers???? Orlando had just scored by F-Wagner and Anthony driving and getting paint points. Why not go back to that well????? Not really a box-score point, but I needed to vent.

[MagicMatic]

Free AB though. Mosley sucks in how he's handled AB.

I don’t get it either…how bad would he have to be to not take Fultz’ minutes?

Markelle is only actual point guard on the roster, Suggs and Cole are shooting guards and Black appears to be a wing. It's not like Mosley has much to work with.

How would you know what AB appears to be? Black hasn’t really even been in the game for the last few months apart from garbage time.

Mosely would rather put a broken overpaid guy, that shouldn’t be on the team next season, in for long stretches making any half court offense nearly impossible rather than playing our lottery pick.

[Bergmaniac]

The rest of the team should apologise to Isaac, they wasted his monster game. His impact is just crazy, he was dominant when he wasn't scoring much early in the season and now that his shot is looking very good he is a monster. We still had plenty of chances to win despite the starters not playing well, but we couldn't capitalise due to poor shooting. It happens, off to the next one.

But also Sacramento's starters were fantastic, they were hitting tough shots all night and played solid D. If Monk wasn't hilariously bad this could have been a comfortable win for them.

[yoyojw17]

I don’t get it either…how bad would he have to be to not take Fultz’ minutes?

Markelle is only actual point guard on the roster, Suggs and Cole are shooting guards and Black appears to be a wing. It's not like Mosley has much to work with.

How would you know what AB appears to be? Black hasn’t really even been in the game for the last few months apart from garbage time.

Mosely would rather put a broken overpaid guy, that shouldn’t be on the team next season, in for long stretches making any half court offense nearly impossible rather than playing our lottery pick.

And that broken overpaid guy was part of the winning surge on the bench in this case. So didn't seem like a bad idea. The starters on the other hand were terrible. As previously mentioned by another .... they started off this game as if it was a shootout. When the ball went to the basket.... I remember saying "it's about time"

[Jaxfann]

That call at the end as insanely bad.

Mosley in the final minute was terrible. (we needed a 2, and wtf was that?)

But we basically lost this game the same way we lost to Miami and Knicks last game. They zoned us all game and dared us to shoot, and we shot 35, 3's at 27%.

True!

[tiderulz]

The rest of the team should apologise to Isaac, they wasted his monster game. His impact is just crazy, he was dominant when he wasn't scoring much early in the season and now that his shot is looking very good he is a monster. We still had plenty of chances to win despite the starters not playing well, but we couldn't capitalise due to poor shooting. It happens, off to the next one.

But also Sacramento's starters were fantastic, they were hitting tough shots all night and played solid D. If Monk wasn't hilariously bad this could have been a comfortable win for them.

is Isaac apologizing for the past 3 years of taking up salary cap space without playing? then no, the team doesnt need to apologize. bad games happen. the front office needs to apologize to the better players on the team for not addressing the weakness a blind person could see.

[eyriq]

Those back-to-back Kegan Murray threes are what stand out to me

[byeganyo]

It probably has been said several times already, referee screwed us a bit, but we had 4 chances to take the lead in the last 20 seconds, missed them all, id say Cole is the biggest culprit there - he had 2 chances to give the ball to Suggs and Isaac for a lay up, but of cours was thinking only about shooting it... Also Franz all of a sudden decide to trust his 3pt shot more than his ability to drive...

[eyriq]

Tough call for the dunce cap.

WCJ beats out Suggs I'm my book

[basketballRob]

Those back-to-back Kegan Murray threes are what stand out to me

They both happened when Isaac went out of the game for a couple of minutes.

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[eyriq]

Those back-to-back Kegan Murray threes are what stand out to me

They both happened when Isaac went out of the game for a couple of minutes.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Exactly. We kept getting in a hole in non-JI minutes.

[p0peye]

I don’t get it either…how bad would he have to be to not take Fultz’ minutes?

Markelle is only actual point guard on the roster, Suggs and Cole are shooting guards and Black appears to be a wing. It's not like Mosley has much to work with.

How would you know what AB appears to be? Black hasn’t really even been in the game for the last few months apart from garbage time.

Mosely would rather put a broken overpaid guy, that shouldn’t be on the team next season, in for long stretches making any half court offense nearly impossible rather than playing our lottery pick.

Unless you are implying I am blind, it is very disrespectful. Black has played 60+ games exclusively off ball, even in garbage time. Saying that "it appears" is a polite way of saying he has not been a point guard in Magic jersey so far. if you claim he in fact has been a point guard so far, other than defending point guards, there is a large discrepancy in our understanding of what playing a point means.

[Rainwater]

On this team our defense is our offense, but I doubt we're changing the lineup.... We should be shortening the rotations though.....Suggs and Franz barely play over 30 minutes a game.... In the playoffs they need to be around 35.... No "all bench" lineups.... Your best players have to be on the floor more

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Yeah, I agree to a certain extent that Magic defense is their offense but switching out WCJ and Harris for Goga and Black will just make the Magic more reliant on their defense to produce. You will have very few shooters on the court. The team will be highly dependent on Paolo and Franz to score but I do agree I don’t expect the starting up to change.

And also the starting line will be tightened in the playoffs. I only expect Moe, JI, and Cole to play off the bench.

I think the Magic were better offensivly too when everyone was healthy except Fultz and Carter.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

When I think of that starting unit with Goga and Black, I think of that Sac game where Paolo was essentially playing 1 on 5 offensively.

[pepe1991]

Those back-to-back Kegan Murray threes are what stand out to me

They both happened when Isaac went out of the game for a couple of minutes.

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Exactly. We kept getting in a hole in non-JI minutes.

Because our team is pretty much defense first and praying somebody gets hot on offense. That's why we have Paolo + Banchero and nobody else averaging over 12,5 ppg.

But to be fair it's hard to find bunch of two way players. They are ultra expensive players to pay.
Even contenders tend to have team split between defensvie specialists & offensive specialistis and you hope your star(s) can defended at least at okey level when needed ( in playoffs).

Isaac had best game of his life. Not only he played great defense, he was hitting 3s, hitting from mid range, running transition, hitting fadeaways. Guy looked like Anthony Davis

[eyriq]

They both happened when Isaac went out of the game for a couple of minutes.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Exactly. We kept getting in a hole in non-JI minutes.

Because our team is pretty much defense first and praying somebody gets hot on offense. That's why we have Paolo + Banchero and nobody else averaging over 12,5 ppg.

But to be fair it's hard to find bunch of two way players. They are ultra expensive players to pay.
Even contenders tend to have team split between defensvie specialists & offensive specialistis and you hope your star(s) can defended at least at okey level when needed ( in playoffs).

Isaac had best game of his life. Not only he played great defense, he was hitting 3s, hitting from mid range, running transition, hitting fadeaways. Guy looked like Anthony Davis

I think the lack of a reliable 3rd option is expected given we are built through the draft. Lotto talents have decent odds to develop into 3rd options, but development takes time and ceilings vary by prospect. Suggs is already an elite 3&D player with room to grow into a 3rd option imo, for example. AB and Jett have lots of development runway available.

[eyriq]

Yeah, I agree to a certain extent that Magic defense is their offense but switching out WCJ and Harris for Goga and Black will just make the Magic more reliant on their defense to produce. You will have very few shooters on the court. The team will be highly dependent on Paolo and Franz to score but I do agree I don’t expect the starting up to change.

And also the starting line will be tightened in the playoffs. I only expect Moe, JI, and Cole to play off the bench.

I think the Magic were better offensivly too when everyone was healthy except Fultz and Carter.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

When I think of that starting unit with Goga and Black, I think of that Sac game where Paolo was essentially playing 1 on 5 offensively.

AB didn't start. That game was a HouSTAN and Okeke masterclass though

[thelead]

I’m still annoyed by the loss… can’t believe we wasted JI’s epic performance. Paolo and Franz need to step the F up as the scorers of this team. Suggs had a terrible shooting night but he was due for one. And WCJ… man… I’m irrationally angry at his sulking.

Can’t even rag on Cole. He’s starting to turn the corner again after that god awful stretch.

[eyriq]

I’m still annoyed by the loss… can’t believe we wasted JI’s epic performance. Paolo and Franz need to step the F up as the scorers of this team. Suggs had a terrible shooting night but he was due for one. And WCJ… man… I’m irrationally angry at his sulking.

Can’t even rag on Cole. He’s starting to turn the corner again after that god awful stretch.

It does sting. We should have been blown out, you could sense the Kings were on their A game and our body language sucked. But JI single handedly warped reality. Just amazing.