2023-2024 Regular Season Game 79: Orlando Magic (46-32) at Houston Rockets (38-40) - 8pm

[BlueBalls]

This game was so big. Now we have a home & home vs the Bucks and a trip to Philly.

Maybe I get my lotto pick after all.

Sorry but wanting a lotto pick after the season we’ve had is just dumb

Who wouldn’t want a lotto pick? Can you not see how flawed this team still is?

But that notwithstanding, I do want to make the playoffs. I was excited when it looked like we had at least the 4 seed locked up. If I wanted them to lose so we can get a lottery pick, I would have been thrilled with the outcome - not exasperated.

[magik9113]

This game was so big. Now we have a home & home vs the Bucks and a trip to Philly.

Maybe I get my lotto pick after all.

Sorry but wanting a lotto pick after the season we’ve had is just dumb

Who wouldn’t want a lotto pick? Can you not see how flawed this team still is?

But that notwithstanding, I do want to make the playoffs. I was excited when it looked like we had at least the 4 seed locked up. If I wanted them to lose so we can get a lottery pick, I would have been thrilled with the outcome - not exasperated.

so we can add another AB to the bench or another Jett to the G League
I'd rather have our young lads get a taste of the defeat in the playoffs. It would be far more beneficial.

[swarlesbarkley]

This is just....we got to do something about this in the off-season....rockets players not even looking at their matchup......

Shooting and spacing would fix so many of this teams woes.

Also WCJ has been a nightmare on D, some of the points we gave away down the lane were so weak with the SL

I mean… people keep saying this but Gary Harris and Carter are on the floor in this screenshot.

Why are they not moving off ball?
Why is Paolo forcing an iso on 5 guys?
Why are plays not being called so this doesn’t happen?
Why is Fultz even in the game with Paolo?

Mosely.

This was my takeaway after the game last night. Sure, Paolo can make better decisions. But better decisions will be a lot more natural and easier to make if the team plays any sort of organized offense with any sort of strategy.

Mosely got crushed by Udoka last night. After every Houston timeout, they came out and would go on a 12-2 run because he was much better at adjusting than Mosely.

Hopefully it's just an end of season mental lull for all people involved. Honestly, I want them to avoid the play-in and Miami/Philly, so a loss here isn't the end of the world and may actually be beneficial with Giannis out the remainder of the regular season.

The playoffs will be the first big test of Mosely's coaching and strategy execution.

[Bergmaniac]

Such a frustrating game. Paolo reverting to his bad habits and the defense just wasn't good enough. And playing 3 guards lineups just doesn't work. When you go small you are supposed to get an advantage offensively but this isn't happening for us because we still have Paolo being the main ballhandler and Fultz doesn't space the floor at all and plays like a PF on offense. So we get worse defensively due to lack fo size without an offensive advantage.

Franz even on his worst shooting days is a plus player with his defense and ability to get to the rim, we badly missed both things last nights.

FVV killed us. Shooting aside, the difference between his vision and passing skills and Fultz's couldn't be more obvious.

Peole saying Fultz had a good game is weird to me. He had 2 assists in 34 minutes and ended up with a TS% of 47.7 and we strugggled on both ends in his minutes. Paolo clearly don't trust him and would rather try to draw a foul against a crowd than kick it out to a wide open Fultz, and for good reason. Yeah, he got some buckets, but at this efficiency we are better off him not taking shots. And defensively he just dies on every screen.

Did you guys see the play where Fultz looked away a wide open Moe Wagner cutting to basket and passed it to I think Suggs (or Harris) in the corner? Just terrible...

Yeah, this play was so annoying. Just get the easy dunk, it's better than any 3, it's simple math.

[basketballRob]

I don't trust us to win against Milwaukee even if they sit Giannis and Lillard. We've had a good record since the all-star break, but a lot of those wins were us struggling to beat bad teams. I kept sounding the alarm after wins they we were playing bad.

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[swarlesbarkley]

Also - why is Fultz getting any minutes? Shot looks worse than ever, he's making them at his lowest clip ever (22%), and he's never shooting them. Unless he's got the ball with a head full of steam in transition, he's hot garbage out there and hurts our team way more than he helps it.

Try Jett out there next to Suggs.

[byeganyo]

This is true. And it's a simple reason for a lot of our offensive issues. A lot of good-great teams just have more reliable offensive 1st/2nd options. They're not worried about or debating third stringers coming in for 9-13 minutes and adding some points, because they know that Brunson or Giannis or Siakam or Bam or Donovan Mitchell will have to play really well for their team to have any success and the other stuff is just fun stuff to debate.

For all the **** we all like to talk about the lack of competent point guard play and lack of perimeter shooting and all that, the fact is the Magic's No. 1 and No. 2 options offensively are a combined 206-662 from 3PT this year.

That's just 31.1%.

You can phrase it differently - Paolo and Franz combine for 662 3pt attempts on 4959 minutes combined or one attempt every 7,49 minutes of playing time.
Suggs, Harris and Ingles are combined 290-726 on 40% on 4297 minutes or one attempr every 5,92 minutes. Shouldnt our best 3pt shooters shoot more often? Whose fault is this?

[basketballRob]

Goga, Paolo, Franz, Harris, and Suggs net rating is +19.1. It was pretty obvious he fit better with the starters. It's too late now because he's sat on the bench for 2 months, and his timing is probably off. They should’ve just kept riding him like NY did with Hartenstein.

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[swarlesbarkley]

Goga, Paolo, Franz, Harris, and Suggs net rating is +19.1. It was pretty obvious he fit better with the starters. It's too late now because he's sat on the bench for 2 months, and his timing is probably off. They should’ve just kept riding him like NY did with Hartenstein.

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I enjoyed watching the offense much better with Goga out there. The ball seemed like it never got stuck on him and he was much better at making above average reads compared to WCJ.

[basketballRob]

Goga, Paolo, Franz, Harris, and Suggs net rating is +19.1. It was pretty obvious he fit better with the starters. It's too late now because he's sat on the bench for 2 months, and his timing is probably off. They should’ve just kept riding him like NY did with Hartenstein.

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I enjoyed watching the offense much better with Goga out there. The ball seemed like it never got stuck on him and he was much better at making above average reads than WCJ.

WCJ has bad hands and heavy feet. Goga blocks shots and offensive rebounds. The big turnaround last night was Udoka calling a timeout and then pounding the ball inside for 10 consecutive plays.

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[KillMonger]

I don't trust us to win against Milwaukee even if they sit Giannis and Lillard. We've had a good record since the all-star break, but a lot of those wins were us struggling to beat bad teams. I kept sounding the alarm after wins they we were playing bad.

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I feel nervous about that game too.....it's their last home appreciation night for the season, so the bucks might be up to play us tough....Franz might be out and we know we don't play JI on back to backs.....Still....it would take Mose switching up the lineup throwing some Goga and AB in there for me to feel a bit better however....it's not going to happen....roll out the same lineup and just hope they come out with some energy?

[Knightro]

I mean… people keep saying this but Gary Harris and Carter are on the floor in this screenshot.

Why are they not moving off ball?
Why is Paolo forcing an iso on 5 guys?
Why are plays not being called so this doesn’t happen?
Why is Fultz even in the game with Paolo?

Mosely.

Screenshots aren't always the best at delivering accurate information.

Let's re-watch the play in question...

Suggs dribbles the ball up off of a made basket and initiates a pick and roll on the left wing with Paolo with Gary in the left corner, Fultz in the right corner and Carter at the right elbow.

Houston immediately switches putting FVV on Paolo. Paolo goes into a post up on the left side on FVV.

Gary correctly clears out from the left corner into the right corner to give Paolo maximum space on the left block.

Carter moves back beyond the 3PT line on the right wing from the right elbow.

The issue is obviously and overwhelmingly here is Fultz. He doesn't leave the right corner when Gary enters the right corner, thus allowing the Rockets to essentially defend two Magic players with one defender and also collapse a defender into the paint to deny an interior pass, and it also completely eliminates the possibility of Paolo being able to actually hit Gary in the opposite corner for an open 3PT attempt.

Carter crashes down late for a potential OREB/dump pass once it's clear the Rockets are not going to send help for FVV on Paolo's post up. The screenshot made it look like Carter was "in the way" but he crashed in late like he was supposed to given how the Rockets were defending it.

The screenshot made this look a lot worse than it actually was. But the issue here was still Fultz not getting the hell out of the way/not being respected by his defender which eliminated one of Paolo's obvious passing reads on the play.

Paolo made the easy turnaround jumper over FVV in single coverage out of the post btw.

[BlueBalls]

Sorry but wanting a lotto pick after the season we’ve had is just dumb

Who wouldn’t want a lotto pick? Can you not see how flawed this team still is?

But that notwithstanding, I do want to make the playoffs. I was excited when it looked like we had at least the 4 seed locked up. If I wanted them to lose so we can get a lottery pick, I would have been thrilled with the outcome - not exasperated.

so we can add another AB to the bench or another Jett to the G League
I'd rather have our young lads get a taste of the defeat in the playoffs. It would be far more beneficial.

Therein lies the real problem. A lazy, incompetent FO.

Everyone in the cosmos knew the Magic’s roster had a glaring defect coming into the season - perimeter shooting. So they signed Joe Ingles, drafted a raw PG whose offensive game is worse than Elfried Payton’s was and a shooting guard they exiled to Osceola. They bypassed better players to take 2 guys who were projects in a season in which we planned to be competitive.These picks made the Chuma pick seem shrewd.

They even decided to sit on their hands at the trade deadline.

And here we are. It makes no sense to me that this FO is not a target for much more criticism.

[jezzerinho]

Hey, that FVV guy isn't too bad

But not as good as kelleeeeyaahae

Jeez, when I think of the players i was on here pushing for Orl to sign in the last 2 years or so...

FVV
Porzingis
Derrick White (before Smart left)
Hart for NYK
Trey Murphy
IQ
Isaiah Joe
Monk
Micic

I was prob wrong on Saddiq Bey, Cam Johnson I thought would blow up and hasnt yet and I thought Nurkic would be awful amdnhes been good. But still, so many players we could have had that have since blown up, but we just sat on our hands.

[bigdogdylan5]

A lot of blame to go around on this one. We all know Fultz and WCJ flaws. But damn Paolo is our star the buck has to stop with him. He needs to become better. Yes our shooting could be better but from a coaching perspective we still are on point to get him space. When he isn’t getting calls he pouts and loses it. I know bad games happen but even his good games the efficiency is not always there, he relies way too much on the whistle. Still young but I feel like everyone gives him a pass. There is a reason the analytics don’t favor him. Instead of ignoring and getting mad at anyone who points it out we should acknowledge that too. Yes it’s not the whole picture but it’s been a theme with Paolo here in March that is not good he gets frustrated and then makes some dumb decisions. He has to be better or we can get rid of WCJ, Fultz and whoever but this would be our cap out.

[basketballRob]

The Bucks shot 36 3 pointers last night and will probably shoot over 40 if Giannis is out. We shot 24 last night

If Franz is out, you have to start Caleb over Fultz. It's almost mathematically impossible for us to win with Fultz playing 30 minutes.

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[Knightro]

It makes no sense to me that this FO is not a target for much more criticism.

The front office is far more to blame for what you're seeing offensively than the coaching staff.

That's not to say the coaching staff is blameless. Certainly not.

But you can only make a meal that tastes a certain caliber of good when you're given mostly bad ingredients.

[KillMonger]

pointless exercise but i went back and watched some of the games during our 9 game streak, what jumps out at me immediately is how much ball and body movement we had....Also Goga is miles and i mean MILES better as a screener than dell.......it's not even close......doesn't seem like we're playing the same brand of basketball now.....hmmm i wonder what changed....i wonder......

[pepe1991]

Hey, that FVV guy isn't too bad

But not as good as kelleeeeyaahae

Jeez, when I think of the players i was on here pushing for Orl to sign in the last 2 years or so...

FVV
Porzingis
Derrick White (before Smart left)
Hart for NYK
Trey Murphy
IQ
Isaiah Joe
Monk
Micic

I was prob wrong on Saddiq Bey, Cam Johnson I thought would blow up and hasnt yet and I thought Nurkic would be awful amdnhes been good. But still, so many players we could have had that have since blown up, but we just sat on our hands.

Cam is very good at what he does and is plug & play guy that can play on any nba team.

Micić was moved for basically nothing, would be helpful off bench for not this but next year as well.

White is ultimate Celtics glue.

[jezzerinho]

pointless exercise but i went back and watched some of the games during our 9 game streak, what jumps out at me immediately is how much ball and body movement we had....Also Goga is miles and i mean MILES better as a screener than dell.......it's not even close......doesn't seem like we're playing the same brand of basketball now.....hmmm i wonder what changed....i wonder......

100% agree.

When the ball moves and the players move off-ball, we win. Been that way all season.