2023-2024 Regular Season Game 25: Orlando Magic (16-8) at Boston Celtics (19-5) - 3pm

[richi_v25]

Dunce cap? I'm going with Franz
Dunce ribbon I'll let Cole and Gary share.

[Rainwater]

Well, a small fall back down to earth. This is ugly, but Boston is undefeated at home for a reason. They’re a seasoned playoff team, and yes, we got punked twice up there. Nice to see Paulo taking big steps, but it’s time to get back to fundamentals. And honestly, it wouldn’t hurt to get healthy again. No pun or play on words or whatever that is intended. We knew December would be tough and it is. Hopefully these guys dig a little deeper and get back on track. If you would’ve told me that we would be 16-9 in mid December, I would’ve laughed. Still proud of how far these dudes have come.

Completely agree, the game shows while good the magic are not yet on the level of Boston. The future is still bright though, still a very young team.

[SOUL]

I think people need to also realize sometimes there are NO answers - the people entrusted need to play better which is largely how we've won this year, by committee and people doing their jobs. Yeah, we have people picking up the slack in some instances but at that point you're asking people to do outside of their comfort zones and often that doesn't work which is why there was no answers.

[RookieStar]

It expected..

Especially when i saw earlier franz was 1/10 fg. He needs to get his head on right.

Moe, if hes not scoring, is a negative.

Cole is being hunted... i expected that.

[MasterGMer]

I still think during the stretch in the 4th Q, We needed to play Cole instead of Harris. Harris is -26 tonight

It just didn't matter... Cole was getting killed on the defensive end and he couldn't knock down any shots.

Celtics just killed us...

I think that today's game has two sides:

a. Franz and Cole got cold because of Boston's defense
b. JB and Tatum got hot in the 4th Q and killed the game

What does that tell us? We need a scorer who can get hot during clutch times. This Magic team is better than last year's Magic team and last year's Magic team even swept Boston Celtics

How we went from 7 point lead in the 1st half to losing the half by 11? We settled too much on 3s. Franz was 0-4 during the stretch and Boston went a run. If I were to credit the loss of tonight's game? I would say it is because of that stretch in the 2nd Q that lost us the lead. We have to play the inside out game and run our offense. And then return to defense and trust our plan. We failed at that tonight.

[Ralof]

I think people need to also realize sometimes there are NO answers - the people entrusted need to play better which is largely how we've won this year, by committee and people doing their jobs. Yeah, we have people picking up the slack in some instances but at that point you're asking people to do outside of their comfort zones and often that doesn't work which is why there was no answers.

people need to realize this team is not a contender or even an outsider to the nba title.
and that it is perfectly normal to be blown out two times by this incredible celtics team.

i get fanbases usually overrate their team,but damn,there should be some kind of limit,lol.

boston have letterally two all nba + two with all star talent if healthy+two good starters and they also all fit perfectly.

calling out players after these games it is pretty silly imo.

[SOUL]

zaymon what's with your boy Gary though... guy is toast this year

[SOUL]

people need to realize this team is not a contender or even an outsider to the nba title.
and that it is perfectly normal to be blown out two times by this incredible celtics team.

i get fanbases usually overrate their team,but damn,there should be some kind of limit,lol.

boston have letterally two all nba + two with all star talent if healthy+two good starters and they also all fit perfectly.

calling out players after these games it is pretty silly imo.

Yep, but people had higher expectations because we played well against them. I expected at least 1 loss and the win would've been tough, but doable only in that 1st game.

I don't mind calling out players, I just want it to be fair. Too many posters that I agree and disagree with on this forum do this **** where they target the players they don't like and nobody else gets the blame.

I went from defending players because of tanking years and evaluation, to equally holding expectations for everyone to do their jobs.

I'm probably most partial to Paolo and I'm one of his harshest critics outside of his actual haters lol, cause I know how good he can be.

[basketballRob]

I think we're prepping Ryan Bass to take David Steele's job when he retires.

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[Bensational]

Have you read the posts?

There are legit posts saying Cole has been horrid this last week and he's shooting 51/40/83. If that's what horrid is on an offensive starved team then I'll take it.

Should we bring Vuc back then?

Putting up decent scoring stats while your lineup is getting toasted doesn’t make him an effective player. I don’t get why people ignore that completely. I mean, they’re happy to exaggerate how much Black holds the team back but then they’re blind when White/Brown/Pritchard/etc are shooting straight over Cole or blowing by him with one step.

My guy, you know I respect you but these posts about AB and Jett earlier in the season are actual madness.

Jett wasn't going to fix shooting and Black isn't magically going to fix everything wrong when Franz is struggling and we need a consistent offensive threat.

I love how he's played lately, I traded a lot for AB in Knicks BAF and have huge hopes for him, but I know that next year is when he'll be used way more.

Cole has his warts, mostly his size, but people acting like we can survive off of Fultz/AB right now only are totally punting any sort of consistent three point production from the PG spot.

See this is where I think people are defending an ideal of Cole and not the reality of him, and similarly attacking a stereotype of Black and not the reality of him. You say playing Black is punting on 3’s? He shot and made more 3’s tonight than Cole. You paint a picture of AB being some kind of complete zero when he’s not - and he’s becoming more involved each game.

Most of all I think you’re forgetting the defense has been probably the biggest reason we’ve won this season and Cole is the antithesis of that. He’s probably the worst fitting player on the team in terms of matching team identity and his microwave scoring ability isn’t impactful when he’s allowing opposing players to microwave score all over him too. You point to Cole’s shooting splits, I point to the amount of points the opposing team scores when he’s on the court. Why are you ignoring that?

[ChosenSavior]

Teams will definitely start to hunt the weaker defenders on our team since we frequently switch more than usual these past few games. Been happening since the 2nd Wizards game.

Mostly disappointed in the fact that the Magic could not handle physical play at all. Watching the growth of the team continues to be fun though regardless of this whoopin we took against the Celtics this weekend.

[VFX]

I think people need to also realize sometimes there are NO answers - the people entrusted need to play better which is largely how we've won this year, by committee and people doing their jobs. Yeah, we have people picking up the slack in some instances but at that point you're asking people to do outside of their comfort zones and often that doesn't work which is why there was no answers.

people need to realize this team is not a contender or even an outsider to the nba title.
and that it is perfectly normal to be blown out two times by this incredible celtics team.

i get fanbases usually overrate their team,but damn,there should be some kind of limit,lol.

boston have letterally two all nba + two with all star talent if healthy+two good starters and they also all fit perfectly.

calling out players after these games it is pretty silly imo.

Magic are nowhere near contending for anything. Celtics are and the cost of their roster shows that.

Not mad about Franz and the young guys having slumps sometimes. I’m less forgiving when it’s vets like Gary Harris just out there getting cardio.

Outside of Fultz and Carter, Magic are dealing with a ton of injuries. Suggs has one arm. Ingles didn’t suit up. And JI will be limited to minutes until he retires.

Beating Boston at home wasn’t going to happen and it’s not on anyone in particular. But guys like Gary, Cole, and Moe have to at least show up to make it competitive. If we get nothing from those guys it’s going to put more on second and third year guys.

[SOUL]

Should we bring Vuc back then?

Putting up decent scoring stats while your lineup is getting toasted doesn’t make him an effective player. I don’t get why people ignore that completely. I mean, they’re happy to exaggerate how much Black holds the team back but then they’re blind when White/Brown/Pritchard/etc are shooting straight over Cole or blowing by him with one step.

My guy, you know I respect you but these posts about AB and Jett earlier in the season are actual madness.

Jett wasn't going to fix shooting and Black isn't magically going to fix everything wrong when Franz is struggling and we need a consistent offensive threat.

I love how he's played lately, I traded a lot for AB in Knicks BAF and have huge hopes for him, but I know that next year is when he'll be used way more.

Cole has his warts, mostly his size, but people acting like we can survive off of Fultz/AB right now only are totally punting any sort of consistent three point production from the PG spot.

See this is where I think people are defending an ideal of Cole and not the reality of him, and similarly attacking a stereotype of Black and not the reality of him. You say playing Black is punting on 3’s? He shot and made more 3’s tonight than Cole. You paint a picture of AB being some kind of complete zero when he’s not - and he’s becoming more involved each game.

Most of all I think you’re forgetting the defense has been probably the biggest reason we’ve won this season and Cole is the antithesis of that. He’s probably the worst fitting player on the team in terms of matching team identity and his microwave scoring ability isn’t impactful when he’s allowing opposing players to microwave score all over him too. You point to Cole’s shooting splits, I point to the amount of points the opposing team scores when he’s on the court. Why are you ignoring that?

I don't necessarily disagree with your Cole takes, but most of the posts I see from you lately are about criticizing Cole and nobody else cops the blame. Maybe I missed it but it's hard for me to take anyone's criticism seriously when they attribute a loss on one player alone - not Gary shooting like ****, not Franz being a no show for the 2nd Boston game in a row, not Moe giving up rebounds and bad paint defense.

AB deserves more minutes, yes, but Cole has helped us more than hurt us this year too, even though there are games where he can get exploited quite easily.

I largely take overly biased rookie takes with a grain of salt, whether positive or negative - eyriq with AB, Skin with his anti-Suggs stuff, people championing Jett as some 40% shooter who will solve our issues his rookie year.. it's mostly BS. AB will come along nicely, and some games he's a very positive player who is a driving force in terms of being helpful in terms of winning.. other games he is simply a player people can help off of and ignore on offense and considering they do that to Goga as well, I'd argue it's just as much of an issue as Cole being hunted on defense, seeing as our defense has been a strength this year, unlike our offense.

[basketballRob]

16-9 compared to 5-20 last season.

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[basketballRob]

Cole could still be playing with the sprained ankle.

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[richi_v25]

Cole could still be playing with the sprained ankle.

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I did see him limping off in his final possession.

[Residual-Heat]

Im really disappointed in Franz so far. WTF happened. He's not just missing threes, they're bad misses.

[T-Cat]

Paolo was the only guy that impressed me with his aggressive play!

Jonathan Isaac is trying to maintain a healthy season by chucking up threes and playing timid.

Franz and Moe Wagner are grade A floppers who rely heavily on that soft Euro step but Boston played aggressive defensive, they both were non existent!

If Franz is going to be a star he has to find other ways to be aggressive and help his team, this was his worst game of his career IMO!

We need a better offensive game plan except playing iso ball.

[SOUL]

We're just a way better team when Franz is a scoring threat - he's 3-22 in his last 25 threes. Gotta find a way through it like Paolo last year.

[ibraheim718]

I think I may be getting baited into the Celtics forum. Lol.. They might be taking my post about how Jaylen Brown is a fraud and they won't win a chip this year which they won't and posting it on their forum. THE CELTICS AREN'T WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP with the corpse of Tito Horford's son and KrisGLASS Pordingus. Maybe they'll make a run so Jayson tatum can turn the ball over 3 million more times in the playoffs though.