What a run!

[mattdelray1220]

I am so proud of our guys. That 9 game streak showed so much growth. It really got me excited again. After 1/4 of the season and we are 14-6. I know me personally, I had them 10-10 before the season and I thought that was a big win for us. This is a long season and we definitely need WCJ and Kelle back sooner than later. We are going to lose games. Probably another 30 or so. Can't get too high and can't get too low. This team is exciting and we need to stick with them!

[AaronB]

I would rather watch this team win 30 games in a season than Buddy Ball win 50.

That was barely basketball IMO

[eyriq]

Amazing run! Very fitting that Paolo, Franz, and Jalen lead the team in vest points.

[Message Boar]

it was a good run. Now we just need to bunker down, get healthier, and play .500 ball or above for the rest of the season.

[RookieStar]

Yes and the season isn't over yet.

Take the few days off to get healthy and right. Let's make another run.

[Skybox]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

[basketballRob]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only playing 500 the rest of the season.

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[eyriq]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only play 500 the rest of the season.

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.500 teams don't tend to win 9 in a row, nor have spans across 20 games where they win at a .700 clip. What's our true strength? Probably somewhere in-between a .500 team and a .600 team. If we break 50 wins Paolo/Franz/Suggs = Durant/Harden/Westbrook.

[mattdelray1220]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only play 500 the rest of the season.

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.500 teams don't tend to win 9 in a row, nor have spans across 20 games where they win at a .700 clip. What's our true strength? Probably somewhere in-between a .500 team and a .600 team. If we break 50 wins Paolo/Franz/Suggs = Durant/Harden/Westbrook.

Agree. I had us 41-41 to start the season. I have updated to 46-36. I think this is realistic. Anything above and we are a top 4 seed which if you told me at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have believed it and I am super optimistic about this team.

[RookieStar]

What it really all boils down to is can we keep up our defensive intensity? An 82 game marathon is hard to stay consistent for a 6-7month timeframe.

As long as no ego, no injury and etc gets in the way, we have a chance to go top 4 esp as we saw we can go toe2toe with the likes of BOS DEN and MIL and beat them. Those 3 are the gold standards this season after all.

[basketballRob]

The strength of schedule so far.

https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

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[eyriq]

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only play 500 the rest of the season.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

.500 teams don't tend to win 9 in a row, nor have spans across 20 games where they win at a .700 clip. What's our true strength? Probably somewhere in-between a .500 team and a .600 team. If we break 50 wins Paolo/Franz/Suggs = Durant/Harden/Westbrook.

Agree. I had us 41-41 to start the season. I have updated to 46-36. I think this is realistic. Anything above and we are a top 4 seed which if you told me at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have believed it and I am super optimistic about this team.

We've done ourselves proud winning at a .700 clip through 20 games. With 62 games remaining, a .500 win rate would put us at 45 wins. A .600 win rate would put us at 51 wins. I'm expecting 48 now.

[Skybox]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only playing 500 the rest of the season.

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That’s my math…lots to be excited about but check back around mid-January. I’m not saying it’s a fluke, but we’re way ahead of schedule in November…gives us a little cushion for “learning” games to come…opposite of last year.

[basketballRob]

We've had more B2B than a lot of these other teams with good records. Boston has only had 2 and lost to Charlotte in one. OKC has only had 2, and I think they played Detroit and Portland on the second night.

We played Denver, Clippers, Chicago, and the Nets. Minnesota only had one and lost.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/thunder-record-in-back-to-backs

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/magic-record-in-back-to-backs

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/76ers-record-in-back-to-backs

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/celtics-record-in-back-to-backs









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[UCFJayBird]

I'm very curious to see how they regroup after a few days off. It just looked like they were emotionally and physically exhausted against Brooklyn, which is completely understandable. I think their defense has been a bit lax while we were on our homestand, which isn't surprising given how well our offense had been playing (players tend to relax on defense when the offense is clicking). If they can get their defense back into high gear and refocus, this team could be really good this year and 50 wins is possible.

[JoshuaPotter]

I like the early part of the streak…the last few games didn’t look like the same lockdown defense…duking it out with WAS (twice) by scoring 120 pts isn’t the same blueprint that locked down BOS & DEN, etc. It’s really hard to maintain that defensive intensity without wearing guys out, but that’s what led us to be so good. Hope we can get Isaac back, Goga back to earlier levels of play, survive a tough December and come out with 45 wins and a solid playoff berth…we won ugly a few times- but that’s what good teams do. Personally, I’d l8ke to get where we’re truly favored going into games vs mid-level playoff teams like CLE & ATL…very attainable goal.

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only play 500 the rest of the season.

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.500 teams don't tend to win 9 in a row, nor have spans across 20 games where they win at a .700 clip. What's our true strength? Probably somewhere in-between a .500 team and a .600 team. If we break 50 wins Paolo/Franz/Suggs = Durant/Harden/Westbrook.

But with better 3 ball, defense and less athleticism. We need an Ibaka....

[JoshuaPotter]

I'm very curious to see how they regroup after a few days off. It just looked like they were emotionally and physically exhausted against Brooklyn, which is completely understandable. I think their defense has been a bit lax while we were on our homestand, which isn't surprising given how well our offense had been playing (players tend to relax on defense when the offense is clicking). If they can get their defense back into high gear and refocus, this team could be really good this year and 50 wins is possible.

Kinda where my mindset is. Let's see where we are at after a couple days off and how we respond. We are young, so winning 8 losing 2 then picking it back up is also plausible but not the end of the world.

[drsd]

Orlando's bench is averaging something like 50 ppg. That's all on Anthony and M-Wagner.

They both "got paid" and did what none of us predicted: got better. I would say most of the wins are on these two more than the growth of F-Wagner and Banchero, who are also clearly better (but not yet stars).

I love the depth of this team.

[eyriq]

I think 45 wins is being very conservative. That's only play 500 the rest of the season.

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.500 teams don't tend to win 9 in a row, nor have spans across 20 games where they win at a .700 clip. What's our true strength? Probably somewhere in-between a .500 team and a .600 team. If we break 50 wins Paolo/Franz/Suggs = Durant/Harden/Westbrook.

But with better 3 ball, defense and less athleticism. We need an Ibaka....

Claxton!

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Super excited for this group and what they are learning this year! Love watching Jalen stepping up on offense, Paolo becoming a closer both as a scorer and playmaker. Franz is doing Franz things and Goga and AB stepping up when we need them. The bench mob is amazing and I love Caleb, I hope he, Jett and Okeke can get some minutes because they need development too. I love that they team likes being around each other, hopefully that chemistry and help them get them into the playoffs.