Regular Season Game 48: Orlando Magic (21-26) at Miami Heat (31-14) - 7:30pm ET

[The Real Dalic]

It's called being rational and understanding that... the team is dealing with a crap load of injuries and playing guys out of position. They had their best January in years and yet people still gripe. Due to the circumstances, they are managing and the schedule gets easier.

Remember when Giannis missed a game against us? You know that team won, right? They didn't make excuses and hang their heads because they lost THE BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME to injury. They just picked each other up and destroyed us.

How about the Celtics? They were down 3 major rotation players in Tatum, Brown, and Kanter. They even got down big that game. They then turned it around and spanked us to win the game.

How would Isaac and DJ have helped us during all those times we went scoreless for 5-8 minute stretches? I believe Isaac is our most impactful player, but he's not gonna be the one to end the scoring drought. DJ is just a role player and he ball hogs and pounds the ball way too damn much. C'mon now, you can't be serious about the injury thing, right?

If it were our defense struggling, I'd agree with you that we miss Isaac and his elite defense. But the same problem that has been here for 7-8 years continues to persist here. . . WE CANNOT SCORE.

Of course... I'm serious with the injury thing. Orlando is a team that needs their depth because we don't have a Superstar. I know we can't score and I'm aware that scoring issues is still a problem with this team. I know there needs to be change, but if the young core is Isaac, Fultz and Bamba... I prefer them to experience Playoffs until management figures this out.

Isaac has already experienced the playoffs. Fultz has been in the atmosphere every year he's been in the league. But if we actually want to make some noise, it's time to start featuring those two primarily and move the lesser talents with players that actually want to win and have heart and are not just here because of paychecks. We need scorers and people who don't shy away but also don't ballhog or take shots because they think they're "the guys."

[MagicStarwipe]

Just give me a video of all of Fultz's plays and AG's highlight dunks. That's all I need to see from this iteration of the Magic. Call me in 2031 when Martins is fired.

[Howard Mass]

The defense was not there tonight and the scoring problem persisted.

The Magic will have four days off to regroup.

[Bensational]

I still don't see why Isaac can't be our future center even in spurts (if Bamba doesn't pan out) other than the injury bug, but the last one was a freak/unfortunate accident..you rarely have bruising bigs inside anyway. I mean he literally locked up Porzingis who is a giant and disturbs other bigs as well.. I don't know.. I feel like that would make us much more dynamic with different options at the forward/guard spots too.

Hell yeah. Isaac at the 5 gives us a serious edge, on both sides of the court. Most of all, he and Fultz would have PnR defense on lockdown.

[SOUL]

Also a firesale doesn't imply tanking before people get all up in arms about that.. people thought OKC would be bad even with CP3 and Gallo and Adams, thought Toronto would be bad without Kawhi... they're the opposite of that. Like, being bad for one season where your ceiling is 7th/8th seed doesn't really scream tanking to me, just making the most out of a lost season. I think we still can compete in the future depending on our trade returns.

[swarlesbarkley]

What's the average length of a Monday night game thread? Gotta be way more than 5 pages, even during our terrible years. I'm guessing people are prioritizing other things over the Magic now because our roster is crap and there's really no hope this year or for the foreseeable future. That's how I feel at least - invited friends over to play board games the last 2 nights instead of watching this team.

Just a crap product.

[FFBlitzace]

I always kinda feel like you can get a glimpse of a player's mettle when they get sent to the free throw line in garbage time to earn their first career points. Vic Law really Vuc'ed it. Vuc'ed it? Oh, it's just something that people around the office say whenever someone screws up. I don't know where it comes from. Do you think it came from Nik "Vuc"evic?

[The Real Dalic]

How many PGs do we have to go through blaming failed PnR defense on them until we replace the actual culprit who has failed all of the differing matchups over time?

The funny thing is that I believe Fultz has been by far our best defensive guard since Oladipo. I don't think any other players comes close to those two for us. Fultz has been great on that end most nights. Vuc has been softer than usual lately. Last year he was there and much better at the rim than this year. . . And he had freaking DJ and Fournier as his starting guards. It doesn't make any sense.

[Def Swami]

Vucevic has been especially bad of late, even by his own standards. Defensively he has been a sieve. Offensively he has struggled all season. He has been nowhere near as efficient as last season. His post game has left him. His mid-range touch has left him. He's in an especially bad slump, and it's absolutely killing us. We leaned on him hard last season and made the playoffs because of him. If he's going to be this bad, we're going to look like a lottery team most nights.

naw....more like he left his post game, he's popping way more this year as opposed to rolling. That's what clifford wants though, he calls all the plays.

2018-2019 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.93 ppp, 49.4% eFG%, 46.8% scoring frequency

2019-2020 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.70 ppp, 34.5% eFG%, 35.7% scoring frequency

He's way less efficient in the post this season compared to last. Sure, he's spending less time in the post. But when he's there, he's less productive and less efficient. Vucevic even said it himself.

“I have to figure it out,” Nikola Vucevic said, via Magic.com. “All season long my offense and my shooting have been a little bit up and down, I haven’t been as efficient as I’ve been my whole career and I have to figure it out. I have to work through it, fight through it and that’s all I can do. It’s frustrating because if I was more efficient in some games, we’d have had a much better chance if I make some of the looks that I had. I just have to figure it out.”

[KillMonger]

I still don't see why Isaac can't be our future center even in spurts (if Bamba doesn't pan out) other than the injury bug, but the last one was a freak/unfortunate accident..you rarely have bruising bigs inside anyway. I mean he literally locked up Porzingis who is a giant and disturbs other bigs as well.. I don't know.. I feel like that would make us much more dynamic with different options at the forward/guard spots too.

Hell yeah. Isaac at the 5 gives us a serious edge, on both sides of the court. Most of all, he and Fultz would have PnR defense on lockdown.

clifford would never do this full time especially with vuc here for 3 more years

[KillMonger]

Vucevic has been especially bad of late, even by his own standards. Defensively he has been a sieve. Offensively he has struggled all season. He has been nowhere near as efficient as last season. His post game has left him. His mid-range touch has left him. He's in an especially bad slump, and it's absolutely killing us. We leaned on him hard last season and made the playoffs because of him. If he's going to be this bad, we're going to look like a lottery team most nights.

naw....more like he left his post game, he's popping way more this year as opposed to rolling. That's what clifford wants though, he calls all the plays.

2018-2019 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.93 ppp, 49.4% eFG%, 46.8% scoring frequency

2019-2020 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.70 ppp, 34.5% eFG%, 35.7% scoring frequency

He's way less efficient in the post this season compared to last.

whats the sample?

[The Real Dalic]

The defense was not there tonight and the scoring problem persisted.

The Magic will have four days off to regroup.

They'll probably beat the Heat on Saturday and everyone will celebrate that we're 22-27 like that's an amazing accomplishment.

[OrlChamps2030]

Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat
Lose to the teams you’re supposed to lose to
Squeak into the playoffs as the 7 seed
Lose in 5
Draft a raw tweener forward with your middling draft pick
Resign your vets
Repeat

[CPBalla2003 n da 863]

Remember when Giannis missed a game against us? You know that team won, right? They didn't make excuses and hang their heads because they lost THE BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME to injury. They just picked each other up and destroyed us.

How about the Celtics? They were down 3 major rotation players in Tatum, Brown, and Kanter. They even got down big that game. They then turned it around and spanked us to win the game.

How would Isaac and DJ have helped us during all those times we went scoreless for 5-8 minute stretches? I believe Isaac is our most impactful player, but he's not gonna be the one to end the scoring drought. DJ is just a role player and he ball hogs and pounds the ball way too damn much. C'mon now, you can't be serious about the injury thing, right?

If it were our defense struggling, I'd agree with you that we miss Isaac and his elite defense. But the same problem that has been here for 7-8 years continues to persist here. . . WE CANNOT SCORE.

Of course... I'm serious with the injury thing. Orlando is a team that needs their depth because we don't have a Superstar. I know we can't score and I'm aware that scoring issues is still a problem with this team. I know there needs to be change, but if the young core is Isaac, Fultz and Bamba... I prefer them to experience Playoffs until management figures this out.

Isaac has already experienced the playoffs. Fultz has been in the atmosphere every year he's been in the league. But if we actually want to make some noise, it's time to start featuring those two primarily and move the lesser talents with players that actually want to win and have heart and are not just here because of paychecks. We need scorers and people who don't shy away but also don't ballhog or take shots because they think they're "the guys."

Look at the Bucks between 2014-2018... Treadmill team while letting Giannis develop in the playoff environment until they got the right pieces around him. They added Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe within the midst of those seasons. I know we don't have a Giannis on this team... But we possess an Defensive Ace in Isaac and possibly a building piece with Fultz. This is why I don't want to blow it up looking at the Bucks through the years... Then Boom! in 2019 Giannis explodes into a Superstar and MVP candidate and they surrounded pieces around him for the team to ascend. I for one prefer the Playoff routes until we get it right. There is a decision needs to be made with AG/Evan.

[Bensational]

I still don't see why Isaac can't be our future center even in spurts (if Bamba doesn't pan out) other than the injury bug, but the last one was a freak/unfortunate accident..you rarely have bruising bigs inside anyway. I mean he literally locked up Porzingis who is a giant and disturbs other bigs as well.. I don't know.. I feel like that would make us much more dynamic with different options at the forward/guard spots too.

Hell yeah. Isaac at the 5 gives us a serious edge, on both sides of the court. Most of all, he and Fultz would have PnR defense on lockdown.

clifford would never do this full time especially with vuc here for 3 more years

That's why we need to move Vuc.

[The Real Dalic]

What's the average length of a Monday night game thread? Gotta be way more than 5 pages, even during our terrible years. I'm guessing people are prioritizing other things over the Magic now because our roster is crap and there's really no hope this year or for the foreseeable future. That's how I feel at least - invited friends over to play board games the last 2 nights instead of watching this team.

Just a crap product.

It used to be I couldn't wait to watch the Magic play. I made events out of it and planned my whole day around it. Tonight, I had it on in the background. It's just not fun. No one but Fultz and Isaac are consistently exciting. Gordon and Ross have the occasional highlight here and there, but this season has been a snoozefest.

[Def Swami]

naw....more like he left his post game, he's popping way more this year as opposed to rolling. That's what clifford wants though, he calls all the plays.

2018-2019 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.93 ppp, 49.4% eFG%, 46.8% scoring frequency

2019-2020 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.70 ppp, 34.5% eFG%, 35.7% scoring frequency

He's way less efficient in the post this season compared to last.

whats the sample?

Through 36 games played this season, about 140 post ups, which is a healthy amount. It bears out what we're seeing on TV. He's not finishing as well as he did last season. He's averaging about 2 less post ups per game this year, but when he's there, he's less productive and less efficient.

[The Real Dalic]

Of course... I'm serious with the injury thing. Orlando is a team that needs their depth because we don't have a Superstar. I know we can't score and I'm aware that scoring issues is still a problem with this team. I know there needs to be change, but if the young core is Isaac, Fultz and Bamba... I prefer them to experience Playoffs until management figures this out.

Isaac has already experienced the playoffs. Fultz has been in the atmosphere every year he's been in the league. But if we actually want to make some noise, it's time to start featuring those two primarily and move the lesser talents with players that actually want to win and have heart and are not just here because of paychecks. We need scorers and people who don't shy away but also don't ballhog or take shots because they think they're "the guys."

Look at the Bucks between 2014-2018... Treadmill team while letting Giannis develop in the playoff environment until they got the right pieces around him. They added Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe within the midst of those seasons. I know we don't have a Giannis on this team... But we possess an Defensive Ace in Isaac and possibly a building piece with Fultz. This is why I don't want to blow it up looking at the Bucks through the years... Then Boom! in 2019 Giannis explodes into a Superstar and MVP candidate and they surrounded pieces around him for the team to ascend. I for one prefer the Playoff routes until we get it right. There is a decision needs to be made with AG/Evan.

I'm not advocating for tanking, every here should pretty much know by now that I hate tanking, from the bottom of my heart I do. It's lazy, and mostly unsuccessful. But we absolutely have to move on from these mediocre players like Fournier and AG that think they have to take 14+ to be successful. At least AG gives effort on the glass and defensive end, but we need winners here. Not people that are content because they got their shots up/got paid.

[KillMonger]

Hell yeah. Isaac at the 5 gives us a serious edge, on both sides of the court. Most of all, he and Fultz would have PnR defense on lockdown.

clifford would never do this full time especially with vuc here for 3 more years

That's why we need to move Vuc.

That's going to be tough to do with his contract and with today's nba where you don't really need a good center to win? i don't know how likely it is he'll get moved.....what would be equal value? In my eyes AG and Fournier are more likely to be moved and honestly should be

[KillMonger]

2018-2019 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.93 ppp, 49.4% eFG%, 46.8% scoring frequency

2019-2020 Vucevic Post Up Stats: 0.70 ppp, 34.5% eFG%, 35.7% scoring frequency

He's way less efficient in the post this season compared to last.

whats the sample?

Through 36 games played this season, about 140 post ups, which is a healthy amount. It bears out what we're seeing on TV. He's not finishing as well as he did last season. He's averaging about 2 less post ups per game this year, but when he's there, he's less productive and less efficient.

Big Facts.....clear regression