2023-2024 Regular Season Game 34: Orlando Magic (19-14) at Sacramento Kings (19-13) - 10pm

[FrightCoward]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

Single game +/- is not a great barometer

+/- in general is a lousy stat, tbh. Paolo was -2 for the game and was the only reason Orlando had a chance, lol. He’s also way in the negative for the season as a whole. Nobody with a functioning brain would say this team is better with Paolo not playing, lol.

[Knightro]

I know people have been understandably down on him for his defense, but you watch a game like last night and it makes me wonder how the Magic can keep Houstan from playing regular rotation (15-25 MPG) minutes every night.

They need more shooters that have no fear to fire even if they aren't WIDE open.

[magik9113]

I know people have been understandably down on him for his defense, but you watch a game like last night and it makes me wonder how the Magic can keep Houstan from playing regular rotation (15-25 MPG) minutes every night.

They need more shooters that have no fear to fire even if they aren't WIDE open.

People forget he's only 20 (21 next week). He's having a solid season overall. At the very least, all these injuries will help with his development and Black's as well (everyone but Jett's apparently lol)

[Blue_and_Whte]

A third 20 ppg scorer would be nice….

[tiderulz]

The 3 point shooting was really good from him tonight. Did some decent stuff out there but his defense and rebounding have dropped a bit.

Looks like his knee flared up on him again which is why he got subbed out.

Sabonis is leagues best rebounder and cooked Goga all night. I don't understand the witch hunt on WCJ at this time without mentioning anybody else. Who was responsible for guarding Monk? I don't think he averages 37ppg

Oh l didn't let Goga off the hook. He looked flat footed most of the time guarding him but he played a bit better in the 2nd half.

Monk cooked every one of our guards and whenever we tried to switch but gotta say he got some really "favorable" screens from Sabonis.

so leagues best rebounder had a good rebounding game against a player that was an end of the bench player Indiana and just now really getting some playing time. not that very surprising.

[tiderulz]

I'm actually a fan of WCJ... but I had these thoughts last year.

They're not absolutely terrible together but it's not optimal IMO.

He was pretty good playing with Paolo last year... the synergy isn't there now because obviously they run a completely different offense and Carter looks slow and out of shape/hurt.

He'll be fine long term...

And he's only 24!

and surprise surprise, still cannot stay healthy.

[eyriq]

Paolo with 8 turnovers... Ouch

[JoshuaPotter]

Worst things about the "L" last night.

- At 1am, the radio for the game cut off. I was into 2OT blind and could only use the forum and or wait for box score updates. Sickening.
- This loss in my humble opinion goes to management investing so much into often injuries players that they hope they can recoup into healthy ones. To be clear, nobody is "not allowed to be hurt". It just is so obvious between the start of last season and right about now that we have essentially partially open roster spots.
- Franchise record in 3pts and no W

Proud of our guys though. They came to play and put as good a product on the floor as they could.

[FrightCoward]

Paolo with 8 turnovers... Ouch

Not surprising when you were down so many players and he was the only one who could score with any consistency. You carry the team on your back as the teams primary ball handler, you’re going to have TOs.

[pepe1991]

Paolo with 8 turnovers... Ouch

Not surprising when you were down so many players and he was the only one who could score with any consistency. You carry the team on your back as the teams primary ball handler, you’re going to have TOs.

Among all 8 only one was really ugly, that one when he didn't pay attention to clock and dribbled ball otu of time.
Others were basic TOs when player is overworked.

[The-Stallion70]

We fought so hard and still lost... disheartening. We even got help from Lightning Mcqueen himself and still lost.

**** this org for being too patient and stupid quite frankly and not addressing our obvious problems on offense.

[Optimus_Steel]

Watching the game now and Franz injury didn’t look really bad. He was able to walk off the floor putting wait on the right foot which gives me hope. Hopefully he doesn’t much a lot of time. It would be nice to get Ingles back right away.

[UCFJayBird]

I am paying for staying up late last night, lol. Regardless of the outcome, it was one of the best games i've seen in a long time. It was really fun to watch and really thrilling. Obviously this team needs to get healthy and will be a force, especially if they can find a starting PG who is ready now to run an offense and can alleviate pressure for Paolo and Franz.

But right now this team needs to find a way to get healthy and get some players back.

Personally i've never been a huge fan of Carter, and with the way Goga and Moe are playing I think he's a perfect person to move in a trade with a few other pieces to acquire that missing starting PG piece (let's face it, Anthony is a great spark plug off the bench and AB needs a year or two before he's a consistent starter). I'd also be ok moving Harris, though I'm sure the second we do his shooting woes will sort themselves out, lol.

Lastly, Paolo is HIM. He's THE guy. Going into this season I wasn't sure if he was going to be that guy you could put the ball in his hands and say "go get us a bucket", but he is.

[JBSouthpaw]

We fought so hard and still lost... disheartening. We even got help from Lightning Mcqueen himself and still lost.

**** this org for being too patient and stupid quite frankly and not addressing our obvious problems on offense.

Not sure this is the game to blame the offense with the loss.
25 threes on 57%, 33 Assists. With 5 min of Franz and no Cole or Joe.
them getting 18 Offensive rebounds lead to way too many 2nd chance points.

[The-Stallion70]

We fought so hard and still lost... disheartening. We even got help from Lightning Mcqueen himself and still lost.

**** this org for being too patient and stupid quite frankly and not addressing our obvious problems on offense.

Not sure this is the game to blame the offense with the loss.
25 threes on 57%, 33 Assists. With 5 min of Franz and no Cole or Joe.
them getting 18 Offensive rebounds lead to way too many 2nd chance points.

Paolo is visibly getting frustrated from having to do too much, having to create offense on every possession. Our offense is ranked 20th, our offense is CLEARLY the problem with this team, lad.

[swarlesbarkley]

What a game last night - really wanted that last Paolo 3 to go in. Also - we wouldn't have even been in OT if the refs hadn't incorrectly switched that Monk continuation foul call - what garbage.

Why were Ingles, Cole and Isaac in street clothes last night?

[ChosenSavior]

What a game last night - really wanted that last Paolo 3 to go in. Also - we wouldn't have even been in OT if the refs hadn't incorrectly switched that Monk continuation foul call - what garbage.

Why were Ingles, Cole and Isaac in street clothes last night?

Isaac was in his usual spot on the Magic bench so no need to go into detail about him. Ingles hasn't fully recovered from his ankle injury and Cole was out with a bruised quad.

[Skybox]

We fought so hard and still lost... disheartening. We even got help from Lightning Mcqueen himself and still lost.

**** this org for being too patient and stupid quite frankly and not addressing our obvious problems on offense.

Not sure this is the game to blame the offense with the loss.
25 threes on 57%, 33 Assists. With 5 min of Franz and no Cole or Joe.
them getting 18 Offensive rebounds lead to way too many 2nd chance points.

Paolo is visibly getting frustrated from having to do too much, having to create offense on every possession. Our offense is ranked 20th, our offense is CLEARLY the problem with this team, lad.

Honestly, this misuse scares me a bit. Nice to know he CAN be Hercules on occasion. But doing it every night could break him- physically, mentally & emotionally (Why the F@#*$ don’t they get me some help?). I wonder what star level guys are saying to him when dapping him up after another loss.

[Tarheel]

I hope Weltman throws a bag at Monk in the summer, that guy is exactly the type of player we need.

[swarlesbarkley]

Not sure this is the game to blame the offense with the loss.
25 threes on 57%, 33 Assists. With 5 min of Franz and no Cole or Joe.
them getting 18 Offensive rebounds lead to way too many 2nd chance points.

Paolo is visibly getting frustrated from having to do too much, having to create offense on every possession. Our offense is ranked 20th, our offense is CLEARLY the problem with this team, lad.

Honestly, this misuse scares me a bit. Nice to know he CAN be Hercules on occasion. But doing it every night could break him- physically, mentally & emotionally (Why the F@#*$ don’t they get me some help?). I wonder what star level guys are saying to him when dapping him up after another loss.

If he idolizes LeBron or Luka, he's probably pumped about being the main creator every possession. Paolo doesn't move great without the ball so he probably needs to be on ball as much as possible.

I don't think we need more guys to initiate the offense, we just need guys who can shoot better so the lane opens for Paolo and he can get his assists up (both would make him very happy).