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alright we are back home after a four-game road trip where we played some good teams in the bulls, wizards and grizzlies.

this should be a good matchup, as both teams seem to be pretty evenly matched at this point in the season. they've played similar schedules so far, with Orlando's wins coming against the sixers, timberwolves, knicks and bucks while we have beaten the knicks, bucks and thunder.

key matchup: Brandon Jennings vs. victor oladipo. I was considering putting smith vs. harris but oladipo has looked fairly good in his first two games and his combination of size and athleticism could really be exploited against the much smaller Jennings. there may be a chance that KCP guards oladipo for stretches, much like he did against wall. also to watch - how we defend channing frye. our bigs are used to playing close to the basket on defense but you absolutely have to respect frye's shot, so we may see smith on him if Monroe proves to be unable to guard frye on the perimeter.

STARTERS
Brandon Jennings
KCP
Josh Smith
Greg Monroe
Andre Drummond

Victor Oladipo
Evan Fournier
Tobias Harris
Channing Frye
Nicola Vucevic

go pistons!

Some bad matchups for us, could get ugly.

Man you do these so quick,iam calling the next one.

I think we win this one,get a rest and are back at home.This should be a good test to see if we can put away a team like orlando,especialy with the way the team is playing together,they should come out hungry for a game like this.

We have a lot to be encouraged by! We have played much better for the past 10 ish days & guys are buying in. The losses at the end of games could be pinned on us not having a #1 option. I've liked the energy though, much better.


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Hope Tobias doesn't light us up.

We'll win this one. If we don't then we haven't taken a step forward. We're home and Orlando is a bottom team. Our defense can close them out. One thing I've noticed is our defense has been more consistent than our offense. Our defense has been really good compared to what I've watched the past 5 years. Our offense though... Our offense goes with how well the opponent does which is a sign of bad offense. We should learn how to play on our OWN level offensively. I think defensively we've been doing that more often. Offensively, we need shots to go in. That pathetic KCP better make shots! He's making me mad. What type of a SG can't shoot? That's pathetic man. You took 11 shots and only made 1. That's horrible shooting. What's wrong with him? I don't know. But he better man up on offense.

sc8581 wrote:Some bad matchups for us, could get ugly.

Everyone can shoot on their starting lineup. SVG will probably focus on perimeter defense for it in practice. Cover the outside and if they score inside, it's fine. Cuz we know we'll beat them inside defense and offense. We just need to cover the perimeter and rebound the ball like we are currently. Should give us a win. But that perimeter needs to be covered at all times.

I'd put KCP on Oladipo from the tip and have Jennings cover Fournier.

Harris could be the guy that wrecks since Smith can't defend him AND Frye and someone will have to defend Frye away from the hoop.

Vucevic has been killing it this season so Dre could end up in foul trouble (again) which might actually help us:

Vucevic v Monroe
Frye v Butler/Jerebko
Harris v Smith
Fournier v Jennings
Oladipo v KCP

That's more to our favour IMO

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We need to win this game. It's the start of the next 10 games. If we win 4+ then we're improving and I'll take that!

Spider156 wrote:

sc8581 wrote:Some bad matchups for us, could get ugly.

Everyone can shoot on their starting lineup. SVG will probably focus on perimeter defense for it in practice. Cover the outside and if they score inside, it's fine. Cuz we know we'll beat them inside defense and offense. We just need to cover the perimeter and rebound the ball like we are currently. Should give us a win. But that perimeter needs to be covered at all times.

Vucevic will embarras Drummond and Monroe inside if we focus on perimeter defense.

sc8581 wrote:

Spider156 wrote:

sc8581 wrote:Some bad matchups for us, could get ugly.

Everyone can shoot on their starting lineup. SVG will probably focus on perimeter defense for it in practice. Cover the outside and if they score inside, it's fine. Cuz we know we'll beat them inside defense and offense. We just need to cover the perimeter and rebound the ball like we are currently. Should give us a win. But that perimeter needs to be covered at all times.

Vucevic will embarras Drummond and Monroe inside if we focus on perimeter defense.

We're 4th in the league with rebounding. Vucevic will have trouble rebounding if Drummond stays out of foul trouble.

Hopefully this is a W, I think we are easily a better team than Orlando. We are more talented and better coached.

It wouldn't shock me if Drummond picked up quick fouls this game though guarding Vucevic but Monroe is outplaying Vucevic this season so I'm not real worried about him going off. Vucevic is averaging more only because he's playing 37 minutes to Greg's 32, on a per minute basis- Monroe is more productive. If Greg were on the Magic and allowed to lead the team in minutes and FGA he'd be a 20 point scorer.

Smith should be able to stop Harris and Channing isn't particularly good so there's no real need to worry about Monroe having to cover him, Greg should be able to punish Frye in the post so thats a favorable matchup for us. Fournier is the guy I'm most worried about. We really need KCP to have a good game

Orlando is so young, but I like their team more than ours. Vuc is a better player than Drummond, Fournier has been hot to start the season (basically the polar opposite of KCP).

On the flip side, Jennings is a better playmaker than Oladipo and Smith can post up Harris when he's playing the 3.

It will be an interesting game. I expected Detroit to get the win, mostly because Orlando doesn't seem to have any idea on how to win games.

Spider156 wrote:

sc8581 wrote:

Spider156 wrote:Everyone can shoot on their starting lineup. SVG will probably focus on perimeter defense for it in practice. Cover the outside and if they score inside, it's fine. Cuz we know we'll beat them inside defense and offense. We just need to cover the perimeter and rebound the ball like we are currently. Should give us a win. But that perimeter needs to be covered at all times.

Vucevic will embarras Drummond and Monroe inside if we focus on perimeter defense.

We're 4th in the league with rebounding. Vucevic will have trouble rebounding if Drummond stays out of foul trouble.

Gigantic if though.

Pharaoh wrote:I'd put KCP on Oladipo from the tip and have Jennings cover Fournier.

Harris could be the guy that wrecks since Smith can't defend him AND Frye and someone will have to defend Frye away from the hoop.

Vucevic has been killing it this season so Dre could end up in foul trouble (again) which might actually help us:

Vucevic v Monroe
Frye v Butler/Jerebko
Harris v Smith
Fournier v Jennings
Oladipo v KCP

That's more to our favour IMO

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Yep, I agree with everything. I'll also like to see how Aaron Gordon performs and fits in since I didn't like him at the draft at all. We should be able to win this one, we might not matchup well to begin with, but we'll slide stuff around with rotations and it'll be fine.

If we lose, I'm sure there will be the usual suicide watch list in the thread.

Drummond needs to pick it up and play the whole game. It's time to show improvement.

KCP needs to start showing regularly that he can shoot and make all those open shots. His shooting is supposed to be one of his biggest strengths....and yet we barely see any consistency.

Orlando has our number recently. This is going to be a struggle.

And if Oladipo is guarding Jennings, prepare for another bad game from him.

Spider156 wrote:We're 4th in the league with rebounding. Vucevic will have trouble rebounding if Drummond stays out of foul trouble.

Yeah, just like Z-Bo had trouble rebounding.

Vucevic (right now) is a substantially better player than Drummond. Averaging 10 PPG more, same rebounding, and marginally worse BPG.

Hoping for a good game and improvement. If we win that`s a nice addition. Few things I`d like to see:

- Jennings bounce back from last game even if Oladipo is guarding him. I believe in him this year.
- Drummond to show good attitude and a great defensive effort.
- Our bench to keep up the good work from last game. It looked to me that something clicked on the game vs. Memphis for our second unit, it wasn`t just Singler hitting some shots.