2023-2024 Regular Season Game 40: Orlando Magic (21-18) at New York Knicks (23-16) - 3pm

[Knightro]

Vest thread slightly delayed. This is my kid’s bath time

[FFBlitzace]

I'll be honest, I did not give us much of a chance in this one going in. I believe in the fact that this is a team that will battle, but the struggle to put the ball in the basket is so extreme for us when you take away one of our only legitimate offensive threats. We can't even make free throws, as we continue to slide closer to the bottom in that category. And this game was no different in that regard, as we scored below 100 again and were awful at the free throw line. But the defensive effort, enough big baskets down the stretch, and only 7 turnovers were huge.

It's a broken record, but turnovers just absolutely kill us. Live ball turnovers for transition baskets don't care how good you are on defense, it erases that as a strength. And when you suck offensively, obviously it hurts to lose a possession without even getting a shot. You need lots of attempts if your conversion rate is low, that's just obvious. So keeping turnovers low, and making free throws, go such a long way for us. We got away with only doing one of those two in this one, since the reality is, Jalen Brunson could have elevated them to the win. At the same time, given our circumstances over the past few years, I trust you all will forgive me for not giving a flying **** about any other team's problems with player availability.

[ogmagicfan]

Cole absolutely deserves love, he played great and carried the offense when Paolo was out, and played hard defense. Probably his best game he's had in a while

[RichCollab]

Fultz 7 assists and 0 TOs but 1 TOS

[Black and Blue]

Everyone wants to bench Cole or trade him until he saves your ass like he did today

I’m never in that crowd. He is a spectacular 6th man and this team would be beyond screwed without his scoring in that second unit.

He has been cold lately but he works his way out of it usually. The team locking him up so early shows how much they depend on him.

[ogmagicfan]

Vest thread slightly delayed. This is my kid’s bath time

im really intrigued who will win the vest today, i'm still stuck on who I'll vote for, probably one of the bigger toss ups we've had this season

[JF5]

This is why I like Fultz... he's able to control the pace of the game and get other people looks that no one else can. His shooting is very much questionable. But that BBIQ and Passing ability is not..

[davey_wavy]

Everyone wants to bench Cole or trade him until he saves your ass like he did today

We win when he's Good Cole, lose when he's not.

Good Cole is good, Bad Cole is bad. But at least the guy shows up every game and does whatever he can to help. Can't say the same for half of this roster

[SOUL]

There are no consistent players on this team outside of Paolo, Franz, and Suggs/Isaac defense and Ingles playmaking. A lot of y'all live and die with every play and change your opinions massively within 3-4 plays. The line between "bench/cut Cole" and "leave him in the rest of the game" is like within 3 plays.

We still need spacing like a mf via trade. Houstan can catch fire but he's still too young too depend on like that, and we obviously have spacing problems with the other guys.

[Bensational]

Paolo needs to work on his EQ regarding FT's. I imagine he is super frustrated from carrying the team all the time. So clearing his mind before his shots I think will go a long way for him.

I’ve always had this crazy idea that sound could help with shooting form and consistency. Like a theremin tuned to shooting motion so players can match movement to a certain sound. I wonder if they’d be allowed to play with headphones?

[Rainwater]

Everyone wants to bench Cole or trade him until he saves your ass like he did today

The Cole hate is annoying considering all he has done for this team this year. He will have his off nights but he is perfect in his role.

[eyriq]

Black went from starting to DNPCD

[Black and Blue]

Everyone wants to bench Cole or trade him until he saves your ass like he did today

I have been very happy with Coles role. Said it earlier before I imagine him + Paolo are the most frustrated because whom you play with is changing every night while they remain constant.

The argument could be made Cole has been more consistent and dependable than Franz this year. We have so many players on this team that deserve to be questioned as far as being on an NBA roster but Paolo and Cole have proven it night in and night out. Franz was finally percolating before the injury so it’ll be interesting to see if he goes back to “passive Franz” when he returns (which I hate).

[VFX]

I don’t get mad at Cole anymore. He’s a backup and he’s paid like one. What is there to discuss.

[JoshuaPotter]

There are no consistent players on this team outside of Paolo, Franz, and Suggs/Isaac defense and Ingles playmaking. A lot of y'all live and die with every play and change your opinions massively within 3-4 plays. The line between "bench/cut Cole" and "leave him in the rest of the game" is like within 3 plays.

We still need spacing like a mf via trade. Houstan can catch fire but he's still too young too depend on like that, and we obviously have spacing problems with the other guys.

I'll be dogging Houstan for a while as well as Okeke. Seems like they both do better if I talk crap about them regardless what I think.

[SOUL]

Black went from starting to DNPCD

Technically he went from DNPCD to starting to DNPCD.

A lot of this year, with this current crop of guys, is going to be by committee. Pretty much how Mose has to handle it where certain games, Moe won't play much, or Isaac, or Goga, or WCJ. May not make them all happy but then that's up to the front office to consolidate.. or.. if they're all fine with it, keep a lot of big men since we have so many injuries.

Same with the youngsters.

[SOUL]

I'll be dogging Houstan for a while as well as Okeke. Seems like they both do better if I talk crap about them regardless what I think.

It always happens, the RealGM anti-jinx

[drsd]

Team stat of the game: Orlando had 7 TOs.

Coach will sleep well tonight.

[JoshuaPotter]

I don’t get mad at Cole anymore. He’s a backup and he’s paid like one. What is there to discuss.

Again, so long as you have this mindset. One could even say he is doing great in his role. If he had consistency around him I think he would do even better.

Seriously some people here think that Cole and even Paolo are somehow going to push 3 3rd stringers to wins and playoff record. If ya'll thought playing Black could jeopardize wins then I got news for those people.

[richi_v25]

BING BONG!