2023-2024 Regular Season Game 34: Orlando Magic (19-14) at Sacramento Kings (19-13) - 10pm

[Bakomagic]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

He was trash and most likely still hurt. Tell me you didn't watch the game without telling me.

Coach wouldn't even let him touch overtime.

Watched every second. He made some huge shots, guess you missed those while you were "watching" the game apparently.

Hit some key shots for sure, but he was really struggling when being put into a pick and roll on defense.

It’s like he either over plays and gets blown by or sits way back and lets the ball handler walk into an open shot.

Maybe his knee is hurting his defensive mobility.

[ChosenSavior]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

The 3 point shooting was really good from him tonight. Did some decent stuff out there but his defense and rebounding have dropped a bit.

Looks like his knee flared up on him again which is why he got subbed out.

Sabonis is leagues best rebounder and cooked Goga all night. I don't understand the witch hunt on WCJ at this time without mentioning anybody else. Who was responsible for guarding Monk? I don't think he averages 37ppg

Oh l didn't let Goga off the hook. He looked flat footed most of the time guarding him but he played a bit better in the 2nd half.

Monk cooked every one of our guards and whenever we tried to switch but gotta say he got some really "favorable" screens from Sabonis.

[ChosenSavior]

Wow looking at the schedule, if Franz cant suit up, were cooked.

Yeah it's rough sledding this month which is why I'm sad he went down. Tired of relying on the other guys (minus Ingles) to remain healthy.

[Bakomagic]

Wow looking at the schedule, if Franz cant suit up, were cooked.

Yea, going to be tough, we may limp into the All Star break around 500. Hopefully we get healthy, and make a run ramping up to the playoffs. If we get Ingles and JI back for the majority of the second half it’s doable.

Love to get Fultz too, I just have no idea what’s going on with him right now.

[thelead]

Paolo and WCJ don't mix well. The FO needs to figure that out.

WCJ is coming off injury... why can't we wait like 40 games until we write him off. He's clearly still working himself back in...

I'm actually a fan of WCJ... but I had these thoughts last year.

They're not absolutely terrible together but it's not optimal IMO.

[JF5]

Paolo and WCJ don't mix well. The FO needs to figure that out.

WCJ is coming off injury... why can't we wait like 40 games until we write him off. He's clearly still working himself back in...

I'm actually a fan of WCJ... but I had these thoughts last year.

They're not absolutely terrible together but it's not optimal IMO.

He was pretty good playing with Paolo last year... the synergy isn't there now because obviously they run a completely different offense and Carter looks slow and out of shape/hurt.

He'll be fine long term...

[richi_v25]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

The 3 point shooting was really good from him tonight. Did some decent stuff out there but his defense and rebounding have dropped a bit.

Looks like his knee flared up on him again which is why he got subbed out.

Sabonis is leagues best rebounder and cooked Goga all night. I don't understand the witch hunt on WCJ at this time without mentioning anybody else. Who was responsible for guarding Monk? I don't think he averages 37ppg

Seriously who was over monk? The crossover step back 3 over Jalen i understand but where was the defense the rest of the game?

[richi_v25]

WCJ is coming off injury... why can't we wait like 40 games until we write him off. He's clearly still working himself back in...

I'm actually a fan of WCJ... but I had these thoughts last year.

They're not absolutely terrible together but it's not optimal IMO.

He was pretty good playing with Paolo last year... the synergy isn't there now because obviously they run a completely different offense and Carter looks slow and out of shape/hurt.

He'll be fine long term...

And he's only 24!

[ogmagicfan]

I gotta give a special s/o to Houstan, Chuma, & Queen

Houstan & Chuma were snipers from 3 tonight, and Chuma's 3 pt shot form looks good again and not like a 1 hand shot anymore

Houstan had 4 STEALS & Queen had 2 steals & 1 block

If Queen can get a consistent jumper, he's a rotational player. Was active defensively and had 6 asts & 0 TOs!

Queen played 38 minutes. Talk about being ready when your name is called

[SOUL]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

Single game +/- is not a great barometer

[pepe1991]

Chuma looking like PJ Tucker tonight

[crazytown]

Bright spot. It took us over a decade but we finally have a franchise player. Now let’s put some shooters and an actual PG around him.

[KillMonger]

wendell is looking better offensively but i still don't feel good about how he's looking defensively.....he was getting his lunch taken by sabonis....

[drsd]

Boxscore thoughts:

Orlando won the FG% battle and lost the game.

Indeed the eFG% was 62.8% and TSS was 66.3%. Those are amazing shooting lines. The Magic also made an outstanding 22 FTs on only 27 attempts (81.5%). This was a "perfect" offensive game.

So: how did Orlando lose? P*$$ poor defensive rebounding, a high foul rate, and a high TO rate led to an unfathomable 105 FG attempts and 31 FTAs for the Kings. Let's reflect: Sacramento guided a ball towards a metal ring 136 times in only 58 minutes.

Ouch!

Specifically
The Kings out rebounded Orlando 58 to 39, winning the offensive board race 18 to 7.
Orlando fouled 30 times to "only" 21 from Sacramento.

That led to 15 extra FG attempts and 4 more FTAs for the Kings. And that was the game.

[drsd]

WCJ +9 but people be trashing him lol.

Single game +/- is not a great barometer

And-1

Bench player Malike Monk went off for 37 and the Kings bench scored 56 points. Carter and the whole bench was liable for those 56 points defensively.

[jezzerinho]

Only saw the highlights but an incredible game.

Seemed.like a lot of transition points from the King's limited our ability to organise defence and to rebound. Just didn't have time to contest a lot of shots.

Paolo. Wow.

I was on this board about us putting a package together for Monk, maybe giving them Suggs. Would make sense for both teams. King's need defence. We need offense and speed/athleticism.

[pepe1991]

At one point in a game we shot 21/31 for 3

[p0peye]

This was brutally late, I fell asleep at half time only to wake up and find out we lost 2OT game.

[magik9113]

I fell asleep by halftime. I expected to see that we were blown out. Our boys deserve credit although it seems like this was another winnable one -- thx to Paolo.
Trev Queen 38 minutes, wow. Serious mixed emotions about this one and I didn't even watch it live

[Bergmaniac]

Great effort by the team, seems like the players played freer mentally knowing we were a huge underdog with all the injuries and this helped their shooting. Paolo was fantastic late, this should be great for his development.

Hopefully we won't be back to bricking everything in the next games.

Still, I am a bit disappointed we couldn't steal this one given the incredible shooting. Too many turnovers and the Kings destroyed us on the glass.