2024 NBA Playoffs Round 1 Game 1: (5) Orlando Magic at (4) Cleveland Cavaliers

[Redwood]

We looked like a young inexperienced team with no shooting because we are a young inexperienced team with no shooting. Some of these guards have to go, obviously, and I think they will. You can't go into next season, once again, hoping the shooting finally improves. Fultz can't shoot, Suggs can't shoot, and Anthony is very streaky and offers nothing beyond shooting, if his shot isn't falling he's the worst player on the court any given night. Black and Howard also haven't shown they can shoot, yet, so throw every asset we can at getting some outside shooting in here and get rid of Fultz, Harris, and Anthony.

[JF5]

Calling Harris a volume 3-point shooter is a joke you lost all credibility

Harris shoots 5.5 shots per game. 3.8 of them are 3 point shots and he makes them at a 37 percent clip.

And clearly teams chase after him when he's shooting the 3.

Teams don't even try to guard black half the time.

The Black takes for him to play more over guys who are way better offensive player than him make me laugh and themselves are ridiculous.

You're saying this in defense of a guy who made ZERO buckets on 5 attempts from 3. There is no scenario where that represents a "way better" offensive performance. He's literally giving us zero production on the offensive end, even if defenders are chasing him around.

That said, Harris also plays great defense which he doesn't get credited for, he knows how to operate in the offense off-ball and he has a proven history of knocking down shots from 3, so I don't think he should be getting docked minutes. Fultz and Cole should be seeing some serious reductions though.

Black deserves minutes purely for the development and exposure. We're getting zero benefit short term or long term by playing Fultz and Cole right now.

You're purposely moving the the narrative though.

Who in general is the much better offensive option and shooter? It's clearly Harris

Clearly the guy YOU just mentioned that other teams chase after when he catches and shoots the ball. He had a bad game but so did about everyone else outside of Paolo. This happens...

This isn't the preseason, nor the regular season... The team is trying to place in surrounding players that will help the current core maximize their abilities and add to their experience. Throwing in an inexperienced rookie with no offense, and confidence issues does not help him and your team.

[Rainwater]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

lol I don’t know. Defense would definitely be weaker and he really isn’t the greatest shooter honestly. Depends how much he would get to the line and if he can control his TOs.

[OnlyFranz22]

I want to shoutout Paolo. In the first half, they swarmed him and he seemed out of sorts. He is slowly figuring it out and it's great to watch.

No disrespect, but Paolo had over half the turnovers for the team.

A lot of dumb passes. If he is turning it over being aggressive that’s one thing, we can’t have him attacking and getting caught in no mans land just throwing the ball up for grabs. He needs to be better, and I believe he will be.

So many opportunities in transition where he needs to just attack. If he gets an offensive foul so be it. Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen are not gonna get him in foul trouble on the other end.

Aggressive Paolo to the rack will keep us in this series. Timid Paolo posting up Niang and fading away will lead to a 3-1 exit first round.

Truth. He's been turnover prone all year, not surprised. He does need to cut those out. But at least he did something. For being his first playoff game. I think he'll figure it out.

I love Paolo. Think he can lead this organization to great things. Front office failed him this year.

I have faith that he will tighten the handle and only continue to get better.

I mentioned in the game thread that he needs to attack Mobley this series the way Zion attacked AD when he scored 40 against the lakers before getting hurt.

Mobley has length, Paolo is a big body, attack Mobleys frame and eliminate that length and shot blocking ability. Can’t be doing fade aways against Mobley in the mid range. That’s what he wants.

Series is far from over, but if Mos and the players don’t make adjustments it will be a 3-1 exit.

Cavs got bullied by the Knicks last year first round and that same opportunity presented itself today, Magic didn’t attack enough.

[Message Boar]

Holy ****, Cole, Gary, and Kelle were a combined 0-17

Cole was also 4/16

Suggs, but point taken.

[zaymon]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

Thats the question Weltman needs to think over and answer in the offseason.
Offense would be in different galactic but Cavs would hunt Young every possesion. Its looking awful with Cole, but we know you can win with 6'3 guards if they are elite. Is Young offense elite if his usage is down ?

[eyriq]

Anyway, no need to panic. Our guys are 21/22 years old and we have a ton of capspace and assets to add a guard in the offseason. They arent expected to win their 1st play off game playing on the road. They are also quick learners. They should be better in their second game and on even though i dont expect them to win the series.

Yeah, big picture things are all roses. Young and super successful team, great coach, and a front office dedicated to organic development.

Tactically, just going to a nine man rotation solves a lot of problems.

[Residual-Heat]

We looked like a young inexperienced team with no shooting because we are a young inexperienced team with no shooting. Some of these guards have to go, obviously, and I think they will. You can't go into next season, once again, hoping the shooting finally improves. Fultz can't shoot, Suggs can't shoot, and Anthony is very streaky and offers nothing beyond shooting, if his shot isn't falling he's the worst player on the court any given night. Black and Howard also haven't shown they can shoot, yet, so throw every asset we can at getting some outside shooting in here and get rid of Fultz, Harris, and Anthony.

Suggs was a 40% 3pt shooter this season. One game means nothing. Literally every shooter in the league has had games where they just cant get it to go in.

[rcklsscognition]

If I was coaching I might only consider the following: JI to the bench again. Still getting 30mpg though. Not going to change anything else but adjusting minutes to get starters more playing time.

We spent most of the game driving 1 player into at minimum three Cavs in the paint. Sending cutters in who then are not doing anything or boxing out for rebounds. I may be totally off because I don’t have the stats but we played horribly on the offensive dive boards.

Historically bad shooting night from us and we would have won if the right person could have scored during the 2nd quarter when the Cavs missed 9 in a row.

I need Suggs putting up at minimum 8 threes a game.

[Rainwater]

Holy ****, Cole, Gary, and Kelle were a combined 0-17

Cole was also 4/16

Suggs, but point taken.

Sorry about that, will correct

[OnlyFranz22]

Anyway, no need to panic. Our guys are 21/22 years old and we have a ton of capspace and assets to add a guard in the offseason. They arent expected to win their 1st play off game playing on the road. They are also quick learners. They should be better in their second game and on even though i dont expect them to win the series.

I still say Mitchell would be perfect with this squad.

His passing is underrated/Can make big shots/ Can play off the ball.

Always been a fan of his game.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

Me: Trae Young's career stat against Cavs
Google: Trae Young has averaged 25.7 points, 9.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 18 games against the Cavaliers in his career.

[ChosenSavior]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

We wouldn't have 11 missed free throws with him on the team. Paolo's turnovers are probably down since Trae would be orchestrating more. Could possibly offset the production Mitchell and Garland provided.

Would lean towards fact.

[Rainwater]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

Me: Trae Young's career stat against Cavs
Google: Trae Young has averaged 25.7 points, 9.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 18 games against the Cavaliers in his career.

The problem with Trae is not his countable stats but his percentages and defense. What is his shooting percentage? What is his 3 point percentage? How many shots did he take to get those points? How was his defense?

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

Me: Trae Young's career stat against Cavs
Google: Trae Young has averaged 25.7 points, 9.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 18 games against the Cavaliers in his career.

The problem with Trae is not his countable stats but his percentages and defense. What is his shooting percentage? What is his 3 point percentage? How many shots did he take to get those points? How was his defense?

No idea, but what was our combined guards shooting percentage this game? 3 point percentage? I'm going to assume Trae's was higher. Funny enough, Trae's points and assist is more than our guards combined.

BTW, I am not saying that I want him on the team, I'm just saying he's better offensively than our guards collectively. Now, defensively, that is completely different.

[OnlyFranz22]

No thanks to Trae

Pistons get first pick and take another guard I would 100% look into Cunningham.

Size and playmaking ability who can fit the defense with the switching.

[Rainwater]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

We wouldn't have 11 missed free throws with him on the team. Paolo's turnovers are probably down since Trae would be orchestrating more. Could possibly offset the production Mitchell and Garland provided.

Would lean towards fact.

I don’t know man Trae also avgs more TOs per game than Paolo, his defense is pretty bad, and shooting is pretty inefficient if you aren’t considering his free throw shooting.

[eyriq]

The front office evaluated this backcourt and decided to
1. Draft a PG and SG in the lottery
2. Extend Cole

Slow motion revamp but a revamp

[ChosenSavior]

Fact or fiction…

The Magic win today's game with Trae Young starting at PG.

We wouldn't have 11 missed free throws with him on the team. Paolo's turnovers are probably down since Trae would be orchestrating more. Could possibly offset the production Mitchell and Garland provided.

Would lean towards fact.

I don’t know man Trae also bags more TOs per game than Paolo, his defense is pretty bad, and shooting is pretty inefficient if you aren’t considering his free shooting.

Yeah I know. Despite that, he would still be the most talented PG we've rostered which speaks to how bad our PG rotation has been.

[thelead]

Trae makes 43, 46, and 49 mil the next 3 years and will take 4+ picks and possibly AB and Jett to land him. He is just wildly overrated by his FO. Most hardcore nba fans get it but the Atlanta Hawks’ FO is delusional.