Game 12: Phoenix Suns (8-3) @ Orlando Magic (3-9) | Friday | 5:00 PM

[Saberestar]

Magic say Paolo Banchero (left ankle sprain) will not play tonight vs. Phoenix.

CP3 and Shamet out.

[bwgood77]

Magic say Paolo Banchero (left ankle sprain) will not play tonight vs. Phoenix.

CP3 and Shamet out.

Honestly I'm kind of glad CP3 is out. Feels weird to say but he's felt disappointing this season. But the main reason I say I'm kind of glad is because I think we should play with a very fast pace against these guys.

They are huge, starting two Cs in WCJ and Bol Bol, a PF (Okeke) and Franz Wagner who is 6'10 at SG. Obviously it's another game where Bridges and Booker should take advantage of their matchups...Craig too if he can. I know WCJ's been playing really well and Bol Bol as well, shooting 44% from 3 (and that shot is even probably impossible for DA to deter)....so they will be tough to guard on defense with their length. How do you guard a 6'10 SG? Bol Bol shooting 3s?

They have the rebounding advantage.

It's a game where we should be able to exploit in ways we did the TWolves with pace, fast breaks, steals, moving the ball, lots of assists, etc.

[Saberestar]

Magic say Paolo Banchero (left ankle sprain) will not play tonight vs. Phoenix.

CP3 and Shamet out.

Honestly I'm kind of glad CP3 is out. Feels weird to say but he's felt disappointing this season. But the main reason I say I'm kind of glad is because I think we should play with a very fast pace against these guys.

They are huge, starting two Cs in WCJ and Bol Bol, a PF (Okeke) and Franz Wagner who is 6'10 at SG. Obviously it's another game where Bridges and Booker should take advantage of their matchups...Craig too if he can. I know WCJ's been playing really well and Bol Bol as well, shooting 44% from 3 (and that shot is even probably impossible for DA to deter)....so they will be tough to guard on defense with their length. How do you guard a 6'10 SG? Bol Bol shooting 3s?

They have the rebounding advantage.

It's a game where we should be able to exploit in ways we did the TWolves with pace, fast breaks, steals, moving the ball, lots of assists, etc.

They aren't that big.

First... Franz Wagner is 6'8. His brother is much taller but he is out with an injury.

Okeke is 6'7 at most. You will see that he is not taller than Mikal.

Bol Bol is tall, long and has an incredibly standing reach but the guy is too thin and lacks strength so he doesn't take advantage from his height.

I hope and expect that Ayton dominates WCJ and Bamba. He is the superior player but WCJ has improved his game this season, so it’s not gonna be easy for him.

Interesting game. This Magic team has a young and exciting roster.

[Saberestar]

I love the way Franz Wagner plays with or without the ball. One of my favorites players in the league, I think he is gonna be an All-Star in the next future.

He can play any position on the perimeter, versatile player who can score or facilitate and plays hard every single time.

We are gonna have a tough time dealing with him. Book is probably too small to defend him so I think Mikal will be on him.

[bwgood77]

CP3 and Shamet out.

Honestly I'm kind of glad CP3 is out. Feels weird to say but he's felt disappointing this season. But the main reason I say I'm kind of glad is because I think we should play with a very fast pace against these guys.

They are huge, starting two Cs in WCJ and Bol Bol, a PF (Okeke) and Franz Wagner who is 6'10 at SG. Obviously it's another game where Bridges and Booker should take advantage of their matchups...Craig too if he can. I know WCJ's been playing really well and Bol Bol as well, shooting 44% from 3 (and that shot is even probably impossible for DA to deter)....so they will be tough to guard on defense with their length. How do you guard a 6'10 SG? Bol Bol shooting 3s?

They have the rebounding advantage.

It's a game where we should be able to exploit in ways we did the TWolves with pace, fast breaks, steals, moving the ball, lots of assists, etc.

They aren't that big.

First... Franz Wagner is 6'8. His brother is much taller but he is out with an injury.

Okeke is 6'7 at most. You will see that he is not taller than Mikal.

Bol Bol is tall, long and has an incredibly standing reach but the guy is too thin and lacks strength so he doesn't take advantage from his height.

I hope and expect that Ayton dominates WCJ and Bamba. He is the superior player but WCJ has improved his game this season, so it’s not gonna be easy for him.

Interesting game. This Magic team has a young and exciting roster.

Well in their last game they outrebounded Dallas 49-29, the Kings 48-36, the Warriors 46-35 and their previous Dallas game 46-36. Their rebounding has been huge...the #1 rebounding team in the Bucks averages

I knew Okeke wasn't tall...but he's typically a PF...he's like 230 lbs and that's his position. Wagner is really kind of like a KD lanky guy that is more of a traditional SF but some teams would maybe even have him at PF in today's league, definitely not at SG.

ESPN lists him at 6'10 but he's not as tall.

My point is that Book should EASILY be able to lose Wagner on offense and Bridges should EASILY be able to lose Okeke.

But they are 7th in rebounding and in their recent games look like they should be like 3rd...and all the teams that employ two bigs are at the top in rebounding. The Bucks are 1st but they basically play 3 bigs a lot of the time. Orlando is just tall and long.

I agree a Bol Bol is skinny as is Wagner but if the ball comes off the rim it's a lot easier for him to grab it than our other guys. It only takes WCJ to try and box out Ayton on D. If Ayton tries to box out WCJ for a defensive board, our other guys are still at a big disadvantage compared to their other guys.

Sure Ayton has been disappointing with his boards, but we are 25th in rebounding primarily because we play so small. It's just a little tougher for Ayton than a lot of teams.

We should win based on talent but it will still be interesting since they have played everyone close, beat some good teams and outrebounded some teams in a big way recently.

Interesting looking at team stats on espn (b-ref is down for me) that the Suns are #1 in defense. That's impressive, but it's an another area where I think Ayton usually does make a big difference...sure he will get exploited sometimes by smaller quick guards or other savvy players and it is noticeable but he often gets switched onto the ball handler and deters their shot or prevents it forcing them to pass out..the kind of things not picked up in the box score like many of the things Bridges does on D. Of course Craig and Book are fairly solid too but often are on the 3 pt shooters, as is Paul or Payne (though Payne is usually on a PG when he brings it up and he is pretty active on D himself).

Anyway, the mismatches should be interesting.

[grumpysaddle]

Ayton with some laziness to start, then got a bucket. He's so frustrating.

[grumpysaddle]

Suns should be up 20 already. Playing lazy and missing easy shots.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Playing down to their level, as long we eventually get the win.

[bwgood77]

Ayton with some laziness to start, then got a bucket. He's so frustrating.

Yeah, such a frustrating start for him out of everyone.

[grumpysaddle]

Ayton with some laziness to start, then got a bucket. He's so frustrating.

Yeah, such a frustrating start for him out of everyone.

He let a ball go out of bounds and then played zero defense on the first two possessions of the game. Then he hit easy baskets after I posted that. My bad, he's still lazy though.

[bwgood77]

Damn, Ayton missed a shot. C'mon Ayton.

[grumpysaddle]

It feels like the Suns are TRYING to miss shots.

[Gorilla Warfare]

Slow start against a 3-8 team that’s missing 5 of their players. Classic Suns.

[Jdiddy701]

Josh Okogie doesn’t give us much on offense, does he?


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[bwgood77]

Surprised we are outrebounding them, considering we've missed 13 shots to their 7 missed shots. That and they've outrebounded pretty much everyone.

[grumpysaddle]

Josh Okogie doesn’t give us much on offense, does he?


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He's never shot above 30% from 3 in his career. He's shooting 0% so far this season.

[bwgood77]

It feels like the Suns are TRYING to miss shots.

It is weird how so many close and easy shots/layups are just coming off the hoop.

[bwgood77]

Josh Okogie doesn’t give us much on offense, does he?


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He's never shot above 30% from 3 in his career. He's shooting 0% so far this season.

He doesn't play many minutes though. The guy in my avatar, Jock, was supposed to be a stretch 5, or so I though, but he's at 13.6%.

[Thor Buthox]

We need to be playing some players who are on contract years. They know they can't afford to take a night off like 12/6 max. DA.

[Jdiddy701]

Josh Okogie doesn’t give us much on offense, does he?


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He's never shot above 30% from 3 in his career. He's shooting 0% so far this season.

He doesn't play many minutes though. The guy in my avatar, Jock, was supposed to be a stretch 5, or so I though, but he's at 13.6%.

It’s weird though, because every time Jock shoots, I feel it’s going in. Lol I do love that he’s not hesitating. Let that fly!


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