2023-2024 Regular Season Game 79: Orlando Magic (46-32) at Houston Rockets (38-40) - 8pm

[thelead]

Paolo Banchero has a true shooting percentage of 50.6 in his last 10 games

[RookieStar]

Paolo Banchero has a true shooting percentage of 50.6 in his last 10 games

He is saving it up for the POs!!!

[Rainwater]

LMAO how does this have to do with Fultz? The team can't play defense and your best player is having an atrocious game.

I don't like Fultz but he played well in the 4th, he is not to blame.

I have been a Fultz supporter in the past but I'm over it. He had a decent scoring game 8/18 2 assists 3 TO's, but his perimeter defense was atrocious. That loping running style doesn't cut it with quick guards.

This comment is in regards to his play in the 4th and the attempted comeback. Fultz should not return next season.

[byeganyo]

I don’t think the Magic have much of a chance to beat Philly in Philly on Friday night. The Sixers will be much more rested and Embiid will be playing.

So you basically have to take these two games off the Bucks without Giannis to avoid the play in.

Dallas should be beating Miami tomorrow - they are better team, their form is better and miami just played 2 OTs, so if Cleveland beats Indiana one win will be enough for us. Not only is Giannis not playing, but Dame and Middleton are banged up, frankly if we dont get one win against this current version of Bucks, what are we hoping for in the play offs?

[VFX]

I wonder when Mosley is going to realize the game isn't called the same way and hasn't for months... in the Celtics/Bucks game, there were a total of 2 free throws attempted. 2... Bobby Portis shot 2 FTs and that was it.

Paolo hunting for fouls is not going to work and hasn't for a while now.

Pfft. Mosely hasn’t even figured out his best lineups were 2 months into the season when Orlando was beating teams like Denver and Boston.

Statistically the Suggs/Harris/Wagner/Banchero/Carter lineup (+11.5 NET) has been better than the Black/Suggs/Wagner/Banchero/Bitadze lineup (+9.2) on a larger minute sample at this point.

No Franz tonight was a killer. He’s in every good lineup they have basically.

Maybe, but with those net ratings what was the average level of competition.

[basketballRob]

I don’t think the Magic have much of a chance to beat Philly in Philly on Friday night. The Sixers will be much more rested and Embiid will be playing.

So you basically have to take these two games off the Bucks without Giannis to avoid the play in.

Dallas should be beating Miami tomorrow - they are better team, their form is better and miami just played 2 OTs, so if Cleveland beats Indiana one win will be enough for us. Not only is Giannis not playing, but Dame and Middleton are banged up, frankly if we dont get one win against this current version of Bucks, what are we hoping for in the play offs?

Sometimes, teams come in with a good rhythm after an OT game.

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[Knightro]

With the AB and Goga lineup, you would still have Harris and Wendell to play on the second unit. Now we just don't have as deep of a team.

This is just not really the case.

The primary core bench group, which is Cole, Ingles, Isaac and Moritz, have a +13.2 NET on the season. They've been very good most of the year.

Those four with Black: +30.8
Those four with Franz: +21.1
Those four with Gary: +4.0
Those four with Markelle: +3.3

The team is too "deep" if that makes sense. They really should be playing 9 guys and not 10.

[eyriq]

For what it’s worth…

If we consider the all-star break right around the time the league started calling fewer fouls, Paolo’s FTAs per game have only dropped from 7.2 to 6.2.

That’s a less significant drop than a lot of other star players.

Luka: 9.3 before, 7.3 after
SGA: 9.1 before, 7.2 after
DeRozan: 9.0 before, 7.2 after
Lillard: 7.6 before, 5.6 after
Booker: 7.0 before, 5.8 after
Durant: 6.3 before, 4.7 after

The issue is that those guys all still make shots and Paolo’s overall shotmaking has declined a lot, especially over the last month.

Sophomore slumps happen

Not really man. At least not for star players.

I didn't know that. you sure? Remember we are talking about all stars, not just obvious stars that are only 21.

[VFX]

Paolo’s efficiency will settle once he finds a better balance between running point and attacking. When he gets blitzed by 3 defenders he sees 6 arms to draw a foul off instead of 3 open Magic players (who could also do better at getting better position). When the foul isn’t called then it’s a bad shot with low chance of dropping. If he’d made the pass at least the ball is alive, but there’s also every chance he passes to someone who doesn’t utilise the open look and puts the ball on the floor to drive again.

Striking the balance will help a lot, but that takes time and experience.

Should he be “running point”?

[basketballRob]

With the AB and Goga lineup, you would still have Harris and Wendell to play on the second unit. Now we just don't have as deep of a team.

This is just not really the case.

The primary core bench group, which is Cole, Ingles, Isaac and Moritz, have a +13.2 NET on the season. They've been very good most of the year.

Those four with Black: +30.8
Those four with Franz: +21.1
Those four with Gary: +4.0
Those four with Markelle: +3.3

The team is too "deep" if that makes sense. They really should be playing 9 guys and not 10.

Wendell and Fultz body language kill me. Fultz was high stepping with his dribble while we were down 13 with 3 minutes left. AB would've been crying.

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[dsg2021]

Paolo's looking a bit too similar to his first four games of the season, but I don't think we miss out on the Playoffs. We avoid the Play In, and go for 5 or 6 wins in Round 1. I can live with this version of Paolo making us lose in 5 because for like 3 months before he showed up bigger than we could have imagined in many ways. That's good development (first ever motivational taste of Playoffs now too), and we might have a better shooting Franz next year, and a better fitting team next year to complement our two young star forwards yet to reach 22-23 years old (regardless if it's on a small budget or not).

[Knightro]

Pfft. Mosely hasn’t even figured out his best lineups were 2 months into the season when Orlando was beating teams like Denver and Boston.

Statistically the Suggs/Harris/Wagner/Banchero/Carter lineup (+11.5 NET) has been better than the Black/Suggs/Wagner/Banchero/Bitadze lineup (+9.2) on a larger minute sample at this point.

No Franz tonight was a killer. He’s in every good lineup they have basically.

Maybe, but with those net ratings what was the average level of competition.

A mix of both for both lineups.

The Black/Goga lineup went 13-8 and had some good wins - Boston and Denver obviously - but also had some cupcakes including the Wizards three times.

The Harris/Carter lineup is 13-2, but not that many great wins - Cavs once and Pelicans twice, otherwise mostly middling teams.

[Knightro]

I didn't know that. you sure? Remember we are talking about all stars, not just obvious stars that are only 21.

It doesn't really matter how old Paolo is though. He's getting star player usage and producing at a level that is far below star player capability or expectation.

There are 20 NBA players with at least a 29.6 USG%, including Paolo.

He's 18th out of the 20 in TS%. Ahead of only Cade Cunningham and Kyle Kuzma who each have free reign on 13 and 15 win teams respectively.

[basketballRob]

Statistically the Suggs/Harris/Wagner/Banchero/Carter lineup (+11.5 NET) has been better than the Black/Suggs/Wagner/Banchero/Bitadze lineup (+9.2) on a larger minute sample at this point.

No Franz tonight was a killer. He’s in every good lineup they have basically.

Maybe, but with those net ratings what was the average level of competition.

A mix of both for both lineups.

The Black/Goga lineup went 13-8 and had some good wins - Boston and Denver obviously - but also had some cupcakes including the Wizards three times.

The Harris/Carter lineup is 13-2, but not that many great wins - Cavs once and Pelicans twice, otherwise mostly middling teams.

Issac, Ingles, and Harris went down for several of the Goga and AB losses

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[dsg2021]

I didn't know that. you sure? Remember we are talking about all stars, not just obvious stars that are only 21.

It doesn't really matter how old Paolo is though. He's getting star player usage and producing at a level that is far below star player capability or expectation.

There are 20 NBA players with at least a 29.6 USG%, including Paolo.

He's 18th out of the 20 in TS%. Ahead of only Cade Cunningham and Kyle Kuzma who each have free reign on 13 and 15 win teams respectively.

This is why my first post in a few weeks or so is only about Paolo. No point talking about line-ups or anything else with this version of Paolo.

[eyriq]

I didn't know that. you sure? Remember we are talking about all stars, not just obvious stars that are only 21.

It doesn't really matter how old Paolo is though. He's getting star player usage and producing at a level that is far below star player capability or expectation.

There are 20 NBA players with at least a 29.6 USG%, including Paolo.

He's 18th out of the 20 in TS%. Ahead of only Cade Cunningham and Kyle Kuzma who each have free reign on 13 and 15 win teams respectively.

I'd argue it does matter in terms of grading his performance as a #1 option

[Def Swami]

This one and the Hornets loss are going to sting on the back end of all this.

[Knightro]

Paolo Banchero has a true shooting percentage of 50.6 in his last 10 games

People have been losing their minds over Franz and his TS% is still .575 for the season.

Even when his 3PT shooting went off the friggin rails (.236 since Feb 1) - his TS% is still .589 during that timeframe because he is so efficient near the rim and shoots such a high FT%.

Also his FT rate hasn't dropped all that much since the rules changed. 4.5 per game before, 4.3 per game after.

[DiplomaticMagic]

This team loses every must win game. How am I supposed to trust this team to win a game in playoffs???

**** if we're in the play-in tournament, Id expect us to lose. Heat and Hawks have our number.

Like everybody is saying how good of a season this is, but it can drop to be a disaster very quickly.

[basketballRob]

This team loses every must win game. How am I supposed to trust this team to win a game in playoffs???

**** if we're in the play-in tournament, Id expect us to lose. Heat and Hawks have our number.

Like everybody is saying how good of a season this is, but it can drop to be a disaster very quickly.

Yeah, and we probably won't beat Chicago 5 times in a row in one season.

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