2023-2024 Regular Season Game 44: Cleveland Cavaliers (25-15) at Orlando Magic (23-20) - 7pm

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Embiid ended up with a franchise record of 70 pts

Wasn't Wilt Chamberlain on the 76ers? Didn't he have a 100 point game? How is 70 points a franchise record?

That was the Philadelphia Warriors, not Sixers

That wasn't the same team? I just figured they changed their names to the 76ers.

Good for Embiid.

[Redwood]

Four million draft picks spent on guards and we don't have any. Cool.

[eyriq]

Paolo tanking his all-star bid?

[ChosenSavior]

Wasn't Wilt Chamberlain on the 76ers? Didn't he have a 100 point game? How is 70 points a franchise record?

That was the Philadelphia Warriors, not Sixers

That wasn't the same team? I just figured they changed their names to the 76ers.

Good for Embiid.

You would think but no lol. They ended up being the Golden State Warriors.

[Knightro]

You think Mosley is saying “just go out and set some screens and react and everything should be ok”? You don’t think they have tape on opposing teams and an idea of where they are more likely to generate open looks? You don’t think Wendell is mentioned once?

Goga is purely an opportunistic scorer. Wendell is heavily involved in the offensive off-ball movement and he’s often the final recipient of those play calls. No it’s not the same as dumping the ball to Embiid or Jokic to create, but nobody said that was the case.

If Wendell sets a screen for Franz and the center plays drop coverage and mistimes his contest and the backside help defender ALSO doesn't rotate over correct, Wendell *might* get a lob.

But if Wendell sets a screen for Franz and the defense blitzes Franz and forces a reversal or they immediately switch instead of drop or they hedge hard and recover, Wendell is getting that pass basically 0 times out of 100.

It's the exact same offensive action each time, but of all the possible options and outcomes for the Magic, that action ends with Wendell getting a pass for a shot attempt like once every 10 times and it's ENTIRELY PREDICATED ON WHAT THE DEFENSE DOES, not the action the offense called.

This is not "we're featuring Wendell in the game plan offensively" for goodness sake.

[ChosenSavior]

Mose looks pretty annoyed, I don't blame him. Roster is inconsistent with their health. Never know what rotation we're gonna roll out there.

[thelead]

Paolo tanking his all-star bid?

Saw it coming from a million miles away. The schedule got harder and now that the team is relatively healthy, his usage has dropped.

[thelead]

Meanwhile, KAT has 53pts midway through the 3rd... geez

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Meanwhile, KAT has 53pts midway through the 3rd... geez

Paolo or Franz are not there yet but give them time.

[thelead]

Meanwhile, KAT has 53pts midway through the 3rd... geez

Paolo or Franz are not there yet but give them time.

Once Silver lets the refs know, they'll be there.

[Bensational]

It's the exact same offensive action each time, but of all the possible options and outcomes for the Magic, that action ends with Wendell getting a pass for a shot attempt like once every 10 times and it's ENTIRELY PREDICATED ON WHAT THE DEFENSE DOES, not the action the offense called.

This is not "we're featuring Wendell in the game plan offensively" for goodness sake.

And what the defense does will be a result of… the play called. A play with multiple scoring options that forces the defense to decide which option they want to give up. Just because they don’t work doesn’t mean they’re not a play. It doesn’t mean a player wasn’t an intended focal point.

You’ve got an interpretation of what I originally said as if I was saying Wendell is getting all of Paolo’s baseline ISO plays. I’m not. He’s a focal point of the gameplan because Mosley wants Wendell to generate gravity to open up space for Paolo and Franz. You don’t get that if the defense doesn’t think you’re a threat to receive the pass or make a bucket. Hence, we force feed him shots early in games.

I’m not sure why this is such a contentious issue for you.

[Optimus_Steel]

Mose looks pretty annoyed, I don't blame him. Roster is inconsistent with their health. Never know what rotation we're gonna roll out there.

We got to cut bait on the Fultzs, Issacs, Gary Harris type of guys that you can’t count on to be on the floor. The chronically injured list, reminds me of the Grant Hill days, more a distraction than anything else and once he finally left it was a better situation for morale and chemistry. Got to do the same here.

[thelead]

Knightro and Bensational going at it

[ChosenSavior]

Mose looks pretty annoyed, I don't blame him. Roster is inconsistent with their health. Never know what rotation we're gonna roll out there.

We got to cut bait on the Fultzs, Issacs, Gary Harris type of guys that you can’t count on to be on the floor. The chronically injured list, reminds me of the Grant Hill days, more a distraction than anything else and once he finally left it was a better situation for morale and chemistry. Got to do the same here.

Agreed. Need to find a way to infuse the roster with talent that can actually be available consistently.

Fultz and Isaac being held out of this game when they are healthy enough to play is very disappointing to me.

[Audi]

Knightro and Bensational going at it

Lol. Weirdest thing is…they are both right.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Knightro and Bensational going at it

And both are defending their position better than what the team did tonight.

[Knightro]

For fun, let's look at all six of Carter's first quarter shot attempts...

9:35 Wendell Carter Jr. makes 2-foot two point shot
-Paolo drives and is cut off as Wendell camps in the dunker spot. Paolo kicks out to Suggs who drives and is also cut off as Wendell remains camped in the dunker spot. Suggs kicks out to Black who in a panic late in the shot clock dumps it to Carter who improvises a quick post up on Dean Wade. This was not a game plan action for Carter, but rather late shot clock desperation after two other actions failed.

8:09 Jarrett Allen blocks Wendell Carter Jr. 's 1-foot dunk
-Offensive rebound off a Suggs miss. Not a game plan action.

7:58 Wendell Carter Jr. misses 2-foot hook shot
-Offensive rebound off a Paolo miss. Not a game plan action.

5:39 Wendell Carter Jr. makes 15-foot jumper (Anthony Black assists)
-Suggs drives and is cut off. Suggs kicks out to Black. Black drives left on Merrill and Allen (Carter's man) overhelps off Carter. Black makes a quick sideways pass off to Carter at the foul line with Allen out of position and unable to contest. Allen concedes an open foul line jumper which Carter hits. If you want to call this a "game plan action" for Carter, that's your business, but I don't think it is. It's really just Black reading the defense and the defense ultimately conceding a shot they're comfortable with. Carter was not involved in the action as a screener.

3:31 Wendell Carter Jr. misses 8-foot two point shot
-Paolo runs a pick and roll with Suggs, Cavs defend it properly. Paolo kicks out to Carter who gives to Ingles. Ingles rejects Carter's screen and drives left, drawing Allen deep into the paint. Ingles reads the defense and correctly makes the pass to Carter who is open for a short floater/hook. Carter inexplicably pump fakes against a flat footed Allen and eventually takes a fallaway jumper which misses badly. The original action Carter was not involved in. This is the closest thing to a "game plan action" designed for Carter so far, but it's still ultimately Ingles just reading Allen and making a pass.

1:42 Wendell Carter Jr. misses 23-foot three point jumper
-Magic have absolutely nothing going this possession. Late in the shot clock, Cole drives left on Merrill and draws help from Niang. Cole kicks to a wide open Carter in the left corner who shoots with 2 on the shot clock.

This is roughly around this time that Bensational bitched about Mosley "featuring" Carter in the offensive game plan too much because he had more shots than anyone else on the floor.

But if you actually watch the games and know what you're looking at, you'd see that two of his six attempts were on offensive rebounds and two more of his six attempts were at the very end of the shot clock after multiple other failed actions. One shot attempt came on an action Carter wasn't even involved in, just where his man over helped and got himself way out of position.

So that leaves all of one of his six first quarter shot attempts (the pass from Ingles off the rejected screen) that you could even say was something Carter was involved in the action at all.

But yeah, Mosley sucks or whatever for trying to "feature" Carter too much in the game plan. Sure.

[Knightro]

And what the defense does will be a result of… the play called. A play with multiple scoring options that forces the defense to decide which option they want to give up. Just because they don’t work doesn’t mean they’re not a play. It doesn’t mean a player wasn’t an intended focal point.

You’ve got an interpretation of what I originally said as if I was saying Wendell is getting all of Paolo’s baseline ISO plays. I’m not. He’s a focal point of the gameplan because Mosley wants Wendell to generate gravity to open up space for Paolo and Franz. You don’t get that if the defense doesn’t think you’re a threat to receive the pass or make a bucket. Hence, we force feed him shots early in games.

I’m not sure why this is such a contentious issue for you.

It's a contentious issue because you're just not correct.

Carter was decidedly NOT force fed shots early tonight. He took two shots in the first quarter directly off offensive rebounds and he took two shots at the end of the shot clock in desperation.

There were two shots at the absolute most that could be considered the Magic specifically hunting a shot for Carter, and that's being extremely generous in both cases.

[Bensational]

This is roughly around this time that Bensational bitched about Mosley "featuring" Carter in the offensive game plan too much because he had more shots than anyone else on the floor.

You need to go back and re-read what I originally wrote. I also made the comment at halftime, not after the 1st quarter.

I blame Mosley for setting a game plan tonight that has Wendell as the 2nd highest shot taker when he’s playing against one of the league’s best defenders.

Where did I say “feature”? Where did I even say that he was the recipient of too many play calls?

I blamed Mosley for generating a gameplan that resulted in Wendell as the 2nd leading shot taker at half time. I stand by that. If it comes from Wendell shooting off broken plays, then it’s a bad gameplan. If it comes from intentional plays for Wendell against one of the best interior defenders, then it’s also a bad gameplan.

Mosley had more or less the same personnel against Denver and the gameplan was decidedly different and focused on shooting a lot more. Sending the ball back out to the perimeter and looking for shots. Tonight we went back to clogging the paint with Wendell hanging in the dunkers spot most of the night when he wasn’t setting screens. It was a bad gameplan, made worse by bad nights for our two stars.

And once again - the Magic do run plays for Wendell. You tried to claim they don’t. You were wrong. The end.

[Knightro]

I blamed Mosley for generating a gameplan that resulted in Wendell as the 2nd leading shot taker at half time. I stand by that. If it comes from Wendell shooting off broken plays, then it’s a bad gameplan. If it comes from intentional plays for Wendell against one of the best interior defenders, then it’s also a bad gameplan.

I mean listen to yourself

You're suggesting with a straight face that if Wendell has the second most shot attempts in a half that it's a bad gameplan by Mosley regardless of the context behind how Wendell actually got those shots.

Get out of here with that nonsense man. That is trash analysis and you know it.