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The Orlando Magic will take on a guy who just shot two air ball free throws. Imagine any of our players doing that? We just prefer to have crap offense the entire game, airballing two free throws is beneath us.



The Bucks will be angry and hungry for a win after dropping a few games they probably shouldn't have. Giannis is going to go hard, but we do have the bodies to disrupt him a little bit. Too much attention on Giannis could also hurt us if he hits the open man.



We will need to protect homecourt again and get the offense going. It'll be a tall order against the Bucks, but it's doable. Off the top of my head, over the last few years, we've actually played well against great teams that were hungry for a win after they dropped a few in a row, so I hope we send them home even more disappointed.

My last game predictions vs Knicks:

1. DJ struggles early against Ntilikina's length since he takes a while to get going anyway. The ball will either not be in his hands much or we'll go to Fultz because DJ commits some dumb turnovers. - HALF RIGHT - Ntilikina didn't start, but DJ struggled to get the offense going early, didn't commit turnovers. We went to Fultz early but DJ got normal minutes.

2. Evan is going to get blocked by Mitch at least twice on really embarrassing drives. HALF RIGHT - I know it happened once. Maybe twice? I think only once though.

3. AG is going to struggle inside yet again, but will hit a couple of threes and finish with 14-18 points. RIGHT - AG finished with three 3 pointers late in the game and ended with 15 points.

4. Vuc plays okay, gets Mitch in foul trouble eventually, but still gets outmuscled a little too much and it will make us complain. HALF-RIGHT - Mitch was not in foul trouble, but we were complaining about Vuc again at half. Finished with a good # game and hit some important shots.

5. Ross flips heads. WRONG - Very wrong.

6. Fultz will try to dunk on someone. WRONG - Didn't happen.

7. We win after a few close quarters, but pour it on late. RIGHT - We poured it on in the late 3rd and again in the fourth to win it.

8. Someone like Ellington or Portis will catch fire and be the Scrub of the Night. HALF RIGHT - Ellington shot like crap, but Portis had some timely buckets off of the bench for a good game.

9. MCW plays disrupting defense yet again, possibly gets a tech with Portis. WRONG - Defense wasn't notable, and didn't get a tech.

SOUL'S PREDICTIONS vs Bucks

1. We use AG to disrupt Giannis more than Isaac. I don't think length alone is the answer vs Giannis. I remember Hezonja actually played Giannis really well by just being in good positions and annoying him. I think using Isaac on Middleton/playing a free safety disruptive role against Giannis will serve us better, while hoping AG and Vuc can slow down Giannis when he tries to run into the paint. Plus, I don't want annoying fouls on Isaac just because he breathes on him.

2. Korver is out for this game, so I predict that Connaughton has an annoyingly decent game with 10+ points.

3. We actually get off to a decent start this game for once and the Bucks will call the first timeout.

4. Giannis will struggle shooting against us, but still end up with a near triple double.

5. If we win the game, Vuc will get the sweater vest.

6. Khem Birch has an OK-average game, enough so that Birch and Bamba supporters will argue about who is better to play.

7. Ross flips heads. (It has to work eventually, right?)

8. Fultz will struggle shooting this game but will play a good floor general game and have at least one sick alley oop with somebody.

9. We have some really annoying turnovers this game because of the length of Giannis/the Bucks.

Traveling to Raleigh tomorrow to see some family, so I won't be able to even watch the game, but I hope to check my phone for a W later in the night.

Milwaukee are coming off a loss to the Celtics and they did a good job frustrating Giannis, I hope to see Isaac guarding him. I think our defense will get us the win tonight 106-99

Bucks & Nuggets lost the last 2 games, i would prefer the Nuggets first, because i think they are more beatable. Jokic looks pretty bad so far with his extra weight.
Giannis is shooting FT like crap since the that Raptors series (even at FIBA), could be a mental thing. If the game is close, someting to watch.
Yea i think AG on Giannis too, but this ended always pretty bad. But like you said, i don't want JI in foultrouble. AG & Aminu should guard him primary.
If we keep Lopez (Brook) & Middleton (Isaac ) in check, i think we can win that one with a normal to good offensive game, but i can see the Bucks hitting 17 threes & us 7 too in a blowout

Hopefully JI doesn't get called for cheap fouls. I remember him picking up two quick ones against Giannis last year on questionable calls.

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These are objectively excellent threads!

..

@Soul

Obviously it comes down to us hitting open shoots. If we can score like a normal nba team then we have a chance. If we shoot below 40% again we have no shot of winning this game.

Alright, SOUL with the g thread! Go Magic! Hopefully this is the game where we start to click on all cylinders and put the league on notice. No more blah basketball pleaseeeeee

Appreciate you coming through and making the game thread SOUL! Be safe on your trip!

As far as tonight goes, we really need to limit their 3 point shooting and keep them off of the 3 point line. I am so glad that Brogdon and Jabari do not play for them anymore. Those two would always kill us and we would never have an answer for them. I want to see us control the defensive glass, attack the paint more and do a better job of sharing the basketball. I saw that return a bit in the 2nd half of the Knicks game and was consistent in the 4th quarter of that game.

I really hope Ross can bust out of his shooting slump cause we are really gonna need him to turn back into last year's form if we want to improve that punch from our bench. I am also interested to see Khem out there tonight. The one thing I love from Khem is that he is an excellent screener so I want to see if our pick and roll action along with his off-ball screens frees up our shooters better. If Khem plays well, you can guarantee there will be a debate on here on whether he should be in the rotation or not.

I do like our chances if we play our style of basketball. There is a chance that I may not be able to watch this game but hopefully that is not the case.

It's simple really. If we come out and play offensively like we have the previous 4 games we will lose by 15+ points. Ross either gets it together, or I'd sub in Iwundu bc he is too much of a liability to have out there when he is shooting this poorly. With how we have played offensively I really don't see how we win this game. You just aren't going to beat better teams playing as poorly on offense as we have.

PrimeThyme wrote:It's simple really. If we come out and play offensively like we have the previous 4 games we will lose by 15+ points. Ross either gets it together, or I'd sub in Iwundu bc he is too much of a liability to have out there when he is shooting this poorly. With how we have played offensively I really don't see how we win this game. You just aren't going to beat better teams like that.

Iwundu may be playing regardless. MCW has an issue with his hip so he will not play tonight. He may play tomorrow against Denver. We shall see.

ChosenSavior wrote:

PrimeThyme wrote:It's simple really. If we come out and play offensively like we have the previous 4 games we will lose by 15+ points. Ross either gets it together, or I'd sub in Iwundu bc he is too much of a liability to have out there when he is shooting this poorly. With how we have played offensively I really don't see how we win this game. You just aren't going to beat better teams like that.

Iwundu may be playing regardless. MCW has an issue with his hip so he will not play tonight. He may play tomorrow against Denver. We shall see.

Sign me up for some Birch and Iwundu minutes tonight.

want to see awundu and mcw rotate games for a bit he looked solid in preseason...also will ji play some at the 5 ? go magic!

Glad we have 3 guys who can rotate guarding Freak.
I'd like to see him shoot less than 12 free throws.

Ok so the bigger question is who got rid of Ducler? Maybe he'll show up on Page 2.

ChosenSavior wrote:

PrimeThyme wrote:It's simple really. If we come out and play offensively like we have the previous 4 games we will lose by 15+ points. Ross either gets it together, or I'd sub in Iwundu bc he is too much of a liability to have out there when he is shooting this poorly. With how we have played offensively I really don't see how we win this game. You just aren't going to beat better teams like that.

Iwundu may be playing regardless. MCW has an issue with his hip so he will not play tonight. He may play tomorrow against Denver. We shall see.

Hopefully Iwundu has overcome his knee issues.

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I want to know which reporter asked that nonsense.