2024-2025 Regular Season Game 4: Indiana Pacers (1-2) at Orlando Magic (2-1) - 7pm ET

[Orlando Dawg]

The first half was psychedelic
We have the best announcers … long live DS and JT, may Kendra replace David Steele if needed instead of Dante (annoying).
And the best team … there are players we would trade but no teams.
Suggs Asylum … less 3’s from 8 feet behind the line please
Anthony Black stock up … clutch 3
Jett Howard … had quality minutes but didn’t do anything
Franz with the max money hooking up with too many women
Moe … underpaid
KCP … has not been “made” into a Magic player yet
Paulo … best he’s ever shot

[drsd]

We have the best announcers … long live DS and JT, may Kendra replace David Steele if needed instead of Dante (annoying).

I could see Kendra Douglas doing color (Turner's job) but the play-by-play, that's a really tough job.

Last season the Magic trialed Turner on PbP in spots, and he was quite good, in my opinion.

[Tarheel]

Anyway, now i just need to survive 8 hours of work and wife bickering to go to sleep. It will be very long day.

#pray4pepe

[jezzerinho]

Damn, i planned watching first half only to go to sleep, instead i watched until the end, got exited, couldn't sleep, and here i go to work with grand total of 2 and half hours of sleep.
But it was worth it.

Banchero in first half was unsolvable enigma for Pacers, and Suggs pretty much made all 3 points shots of a team.

Third quarter turned into grindhouse where we couldn't produce offense nor could defend in transition.
In 4th, Pacers probably runned out of gas, due back to backs on the road after OT game and our defense picked up.

Black made massive corner 3 as momentum swing.
Banchero with almost 50 points triple double. Very memorable first half.
Suggs with amazing first half shooting performances.

But man you can really tell how much Franz is missed on offense and defense. Third quarter was brutal to watch in terms of incapability of setting offense.

Oh and damn FTs, that game lasted for ages due free throws. In real time 3 hours.


Anyway, now i just need to survive 8 hours of work and wife bickering to go to sleep. It will be very long day.

Was my wife's birthday yesterday and we were out for it, so no way to watch it live. Only seen the 10-min highlights so far (will watch the full game later) but what a nice start to the day here in Spain!!!

Paolo. Wow. Indiana didnt load up against him and he made them pay. If we can learn to make hay off of the other nights when teams send 2 and 3 at Paolo, we'll be hard to stop. Franz is the key, those are the night I feel he needs to take charge.

Watching the last quarter I'm thinking, "no way we can lose this - would be a bummer for Paolo" and sure enough we just stretch away from the Pacers and win at a canter. Kudos to AB for the dagger 3 but also to Suggs (for his great play in general also) for not taking a harder shot and finding Black instead. Coolness personified.

More thoughts when I get to watch the whole.thing.

[tiderulz]

what happened with Franz? did he get hurt?

[Anti Chalmers]

what happened with Franz? did he get hurt?

Illness. He did not look well on the bench

[richi_v25]

what happened with Franz? did he get hurt?

Nah he's sick but so are a few other guys on the team. We really missed his playmaking abilities so hope he gets better ASAP.

[JoshuaPotter]

I feel like in the 3rd the refs attempted to nerf Paolo and it sorta worked. I wish officials wouldn't change how they make calls halfway in the game. It sets a really awkward tone and you can tell we suffered.

Paolo big negative on the night has to be his FT % and then TO. I do suspect part of it was the nerf, part of it was being tired from carrying the team. Dude definitely has a great motor but I think stamina is sorta a concern for him.

Suggs performance surprised a little, but ya'know it actually goes hand in hand with last season and his great performances at home.

AB, I continue to say this is the potential tip of the iceburg. He may not be as good as a streaky shooter as Suggs but he has all the potential to be a better creator overall and not so shabby on shot selection / decision making himself. The fact Mosely has pulled a 180 and gone from 3&D him to allowing him to create is a full season ahead of what I expected Mosely to allow him to do.

[Bergmaniac]

Great that we pulled it off in the end, would have been a shame to waste Paolo's historic night. He was awesome.

I thought we might have problems in the second half with the Pacers hanging around despite Paolo and Suggs making every shot in the first half, especially with Franz out and I was right. Just a really ugly 3rd quarter where we were completely out of sorts on both ends. But we regrouped in the fourth, got some stops, Paolo got it going again, we moved the ball better and Black hit two huge shots so we got a very satisfying win.

I becoming a bit worried about KCP's shot though, another game where he couldn't make a 3.

[JoshuaPotter]

Great that we pulled it off in the end, would have been a shame to waste Paolo's historic night. He was awesome.

I thought we might have problems in the second half with the Pacers hanging around despite Paolo and Suggs making every shot in the first half, especially with Franz out and I was right. Just a really ugly 3rd quarter where we were completely out of sorts on both ends. But we regrouped in the fourth, got some stops, Paolo got it going again, we moved the ball better and Black hit two huge shots so we got a very satisfying win.

I becoming a bit worried about KCP's shot though, another game where he couldn't make a 3.

Much like Harris having very streaky nights. I imagine the intensity in defense is partly to blame. Yet, we see that this opens up the ability for Suggs to shoot lights out and still have energy on the defensive end.

It's annoying to see a .40 shooter from 3 struggle so early on, and yet I couldn't be any less concerned about KCPs play and effort thus far.

[JoshuaPotter]

Stats I believe have updated, and the season is still young.

We are top 4 in 3pt attempts and top 12 in 3pt % top 4 in makes. With it still being a young season I imagine this will eb and flow a little bit, but 4 games in I am starting to think it is no longer an accident.

[UCFJayBird]

I feel like in the 3rd the refs attempted to nerf Paolo and it sorta worked. I wish officials wouldn't change how they make calls halfway in the game. It sets a really awkward tone and you can tell we suffered.
.

For sure. I feel like the Pacers complained and got in their ears and that influenced their play calling. It happens all the time, but not usually to this degree. I mean getting who hit the ball out of bounds wrong when it's not all that close on multiple occasions is embarrassing. I also think Paolo was just kind of tired after the first half and came out a bit sluggish. You could see his jumpshots were coming up short all 3rd quarter. He kind of regrouped in the 4th but even he said after the game he was tired, lol.

outside the officials doing their best to giftwrap the game to Indiana (i'm sure their fans were complaining about calls our way), it was a great game. I also hit my 4-bet Parlay for the Magic.

Had Paolo over 23.5 pts, Black over 2.5 assists, Black over 6.5 pts, and Magic to win at +800 with a 30% profit boost. Won $570 on $50 bet.

I had chalked it up as a loss and was just hoping for the Magic win because AB hadn't scored much. Then he hit those two FTs to get to 5 points. When he missed a three I was heartbroken, and then ecstatic when he drilled the second attempt, for both the bet and the game, haha.

[LongHairedBob]

Was watching first take this morning. They went through their NBA segment and no mention of Paolo's near 50 point triple double. It's crazy how little coverage he gets despite being a generational talent.

[VFX]

3rd quarter was borderline unwatchable due to refs. Probably the worst officiating I’ve seen in 10 years.

Also, Orlando wins this game by 20 with Isaac and Franz playing.

Does Isaac have contract stipulations based on games played or injuries? I’m frankly tired of him and his glass bones.

[Knightro]

Paolo's 50/13/9/1/2 game is the highest "Game Score" game of the first week of the NBA season.

By quite a bit.

Second best game was Tatum's 37 PTS, 10 AST, 1 TOV, 14-18 FG, 8-11 3PT on Opening Night.

[thelead]

Lost in all of the (deserved) attention Paolo is getting is Suggs’ performance. 25 pts, 5 rebs, 7 asts, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 TOs, and 6-13 from deep. Those are all-star caliber numbers. The kid is trending up.

[VFX]

Lost in all of the (deserved) attention Paolo is getting is Suggs’ performance. 25 pts, 5 rebs, 7 asts, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 TOs, and 6-13 from deep. Those are all-star caliber numbers. The kid is trending up.

He’s absolutely part of the core.

Probably the most important player on the roster when not looking at box scores. Now he’s starting to climb into those as well. Loving the core trio we have going here.

[eyriq]

Paolo leading the team in win shares. First time he's done this I think. Still early but this is the last shoe to drop as he transitions from volume impact to efficiency impact.

[JoshuaPotter]

Lost in all of the (deserved) attention Paolo is getting is Suggs’ performance. 25 pts, 5 rebs, 7 asts, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 TOs, and 6-13 from deep. Those are all-star caliber numbers. The kid is trending up.

He’s absolutely part of the core.

Probably the most important player on the roster when not looking at box scores. Now he’s starting to climb into those as well. Loving the core trio we have going here.

Fun stat lines...

Remember when we used to have a guy who was a supposedly great PG and great backup but couldn't shoot the 3-ball. We used to comment about how Suggs and AB have motor and will likely turn their shots around.

Suggs and Black went 8-16 3-ball last night.

18/38 for the season thus far.

Yeah, thats mostly thanks to Suggs, but I remember when 2 FGA per g was a stat line.

[Catledge]

A big key in this game was Paolo's ability to play good defense without fouling after he picked up his fourth early in the second half.