2022-2023 Regular Season Game 37: Washington Wizards (15-21) at Orlando Magic (13-23) - 7pm

[ORLMagicGirl15]

BTW even though no one asked I refuse to root for the Knicks to win as long as Julius Randle wears that jersey. So because Jalen Suggs is my favorite NBA player to watch I've taken an interest in your team. thanks for letting me post without trolling me.

I’m so sorry that we’re sucking and that Jalen is hurt. I wish you were having a better experience.

[ibraheim718]

BTW even though no one asked I refuse to root for the Knicks to win as long as Julius Randle wears that jersey. So because Jalen Suggs is my favorite NBA player to watch I've taken an interest in your team. thanks for letting me post without trolling me.

I’m so sorry that we’re sucking and that Jalen is hurt. I wish you we’re having a better experience.

It's been great. I played for 25 years and have been watching the game avidly for 38 years.. there are only a few better feelings as a fan than watching young players learn and grow. My only real concern is the front office and Mosley. Mosley much less this year than last year.

[drsd]

Orlando needs shooters, an exhibition of proof.

[penny_nz]

Just finished watching the game.

GET PERIMETER SHOOTERS!!!

End of message.

[drsd]

Tank watchers:
LAL in a close game against Atlanta tonight
DET and CHI are battling in the 3rd right now

Wit the Bulls 2-game winning streak, Orlando is currently 4 games out of a play-in slot.

[Bergmaniac]

For some reason I expected that we could pull a miracle here, Washington are notorious for playing down to the opposition. But it wasn't to be. Paolo, Ross and Bol were dreadful. Ross in particular was hilariously bad, when his shot isn't going in he looks like he doesn't belong in the league at all.

Fultz did some good things, some nice hustle boards and steals and a few good passes, but when the other team can just completely ignore him on the perimeter this is absolutely killing our spacing and a few offensive rebounds don't make up for this. We had a dreadful 71.1 ORTG when he was on the court. Yes, it would have been higher if he had played garbage time and a lot of it was also due to Paolo and Ross shooting poorly but when your PG plays more like a old school non-shooting SF on offense than a guard on most possessions, giving the ball up at the start of the play and then trying to get offensive boards instead of spacing the floor or playmaking, that's hurting your offense. If that's what he's ghoing to do on most plays, we are better off playing someone bigger in his place. He still really, really doesn't want to shoot 3s and this will get exploited more and more as the season progresses. And if we somehow reach the play-in or the playoffs, it will be even more of an issue.

[Skybox]

Bright side...turned it off early, but reading the box score this morning, I see that Paolo & Franz got their 20+ (meaningless & inefficient) points...that will matter as the team improves and the ppg are still impressive despite the ugly reality of this stretch.

*BTW, did the league tell the refs that Paolo was getting to the line too much for a rookie and suggest they swallow their whistles? I'm not saying I saw any egregiously bad calls, but there do seem to be a lot less whistles for the same style of play that rewarded him earlier in the season.

[Def Swami]

A lot of bad stuff from last night's game. Hard to takeaway anything from that game with only 8 guys available and no centers.

But, if you ever had any optimism about Markelle Fultz being the starting point guard on a good basketball team, rewatch last night's game. He's a complete non-factor outside the 3 point line. It was comical how much the Wizards ignored Fultz. It was Russell Westbrook levels of disrespect. I really love Fultz the person. I root for him. He's the best organizer of the offense on the team. I think his destiny is a back up point guard on a good basketball team. His liability as a shooter and scorer make the game harder on his teammates. You'll get regular season games where he'll drop a random 20/9/5. But, in a playoff series, teams are going to do what the Wizards did to him last night.

Banchero was pressing. He's in a slump. He's frustrated. I'd be more worried if he stopped shooting. A rookie wall was bound to happen. 82 games is a big jump. It's all part of the learning process for him. He'll have to learn to play through it.

[Skybox]

I'm always pulling for Fultz too, but I don't even know if he's a backup PG on a relevant team (if he doesn't develop shooting)...I feel like a backup guard (PG or SG) needs to be at least a threat to go off for a big scoring night -even more so than a starter (who should bring reliable game management above all). Backups should be really explosive but less reliable/consistent for big performances every night(otherwise they'd be starters), IMO.

I guess what I'm saying is...Starters, especially at PG need higher floors (ceilings would be great too) but bench guys can get away with lower floors and higher ceilings on any given night (like Cole?).

[zaymon]

In reality 3 players showed up Franz, Kevon and Caleb. Its not yet decided it will be Banchero team. Wagner has a lot more charisma.

I will stay consistent about Fultz. Not a starter. He hustled like crazy and he was still huge negative on the floor.