2024-2025 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 1: (7) Orlando Magic at (2) Boston Celtics - 3:30pm ET

[basketballRob]

AB needs to be way more aggressive when he has the ball. He didn't look to penetrate at all. He has a size advantage every time he has the ball. He always looks confused about whether he is playing the wing or PG. They flip-flop him so much.

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[I Rasharted]

I think the Magic’s front office thinks they can recreate a 2016 Cavs or 2024 Mavericks kind of situation where they end up having two guys who are so good at creating, finding and ultimately destroying mismatches in isolation that they can ride that all the way to the Finals/winning a championship.

I just think the road to accomplishing that is full of potential potholes, none bigger than the fact these two guys just aren’t as good as the other guys who have had high end success playing this style.

You're getting it.



This is why I've been harping on the need to get a 3rd star by any means necessary.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Haven’t watched you guys this year (haven’t watched any NBA). But watched today’s game.

1. The clear positives are Paolo and Franz are legit. I don’t know what happened to Franz shot. And I do think a more structured offense could really benefit him. Paolo is the freak level talent that can excel no matter what.

2. I know you have a lot of injuries. But the problems seem to be identical to the problems last year. No structure to the offense, a lack of shooters which creates zero spacing, and no one who can create offense outside of Paolo/Franz.

I do think it probably is time for a significant shake up though with the roster. Something just really needs to change with this offense and the firepower outside of Paolo/Franz.

But the positive is, y’all seem to have the hardest part down. You got the freak talent. You got a good #2 and Suggs is a really good player. Just got to do something now to help them out.

This team isn’t built to support a team led by PB, and Franz. We called for roster upgrades at the trade deadline.Now there may not have been anything available at the time, but there HAS to be a change this off-season. If there isn’t a major shake up then this FO isn’t serious about contending.

In Game 1, it looks like we can somewhat contain Tatum and Brown but we have to get more from our other guys or we’ll have an even slimmer chance to win than we already do.

[pepe1991]

I don't think we can play much better tbh

Paolo won't make 4 threes a game on 60% accuracy, off bench nobody will provide scoring.

Franz can maybe play little better.
But Tatum, Zingis and Brown can play much bettter

Story of game one is: played well, lost by 17

We need a lot more from our guards because we miss the spark Suggs can give us. If Cole, AB, CoJo or even Houstan or Harris can get going it’ll help them handle some of Boston’s runs.

I think a big adjustment the Magic can make is to help Paolo and Franz create some easier looks for others now that they’ve got more of a feel for how they’re being covered.

Team limited Tatum, Brown and KP about as well as you could hope for. Gotta find an answer for White and Pritchard next.

Times when good guard is needed, and we have non.

Celtics got away with 3 guards lineup.
We don't have 3 guards on roster

[basketballRob]

I was a little confused on why they had AB guarding Tatum when he came in when he'd been guarding guards all season. Cojo, KCP, Cole, and Harris were no match for the Celtics guards.

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[KillMonger]

I think the Magic’s front office thinks they can recreate a 2016 Cavs or 2024 Mavericks kind of situation where they end up having two guys who are so good at creating, finding and ultimately destroying mismatches in isolation that they can ride that all the way to the Finals/winning a championship.

I just think the road to accomplishing that is full of potential potholes, none bigger than the fact these two guys just aren’t as good as the other guys who have had high end success playing this style.

You're getting it.



This is why I've been harping on the need to get a 3rd star by any means necessary.

sure as long as it's a star that's not getting a max deal

[basketballRob]

We should go bigger. Have Goga play in Isaac's minutes. Let Isaac guard Tatum. Black can switch back to guarding guards.

I think they are having Black guard Tatum so they can find room in the rotation for Cole and Harris. They should leave them both out of the rotation.

Wendell
Paolo
Franz
KCP
Joseph

Goga
Isaac
Black
Caleb

That should be the playoff rotation.

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[drsd]

I just highly doubt we can win shootout with them

The wining strategy for Orlando is to turn the series to a slow, inside game and win by dominating FT attempts. AND really lowing offensive TOs.

Defensively the Magic did more than enough to win. Offensively, Orlando did exactly the opposite of my "keys to victory".

Boxscore thoughts.

Orlando lost the FG% battle and lost the game. But not by that much. eFG% differential wasn't good. But the Magic did limit the Celts in threepoint attempts and overall score.

This game was lost because of TO differential (+6) [with a -1 rebounding differential], meaning the Celts got 7 more looks at the basket. And the Magic ended with a horrendous 8-made FTs.

And that was the loss. It is hard to feel bad here as the Magic is simply the worst team.

[pepe1991]

We can't do much, that is bottom line.
Can't play Cole because of defense.
Can't play Goga because of perimeter defense and how Horford will pick him apart
Can't play Isaac and Black more because they proivde nothing on offense.

Celtics will still ignore Paolo and Franz mid range game as long as they contol middle of the field and keep everybody else isolated.

Paolo & Franz made **** loud of bad shots, scored near 60, rest of a team never was involved and scored what, 27 total?

Prioritizing defense comes at high cost as nobody can score off the dribble nor demands attention from defense.

If Mortiz plays, they would just attack him on defense like Cavs did.
Suggs would be handy help but still wouldn't change how series will be played.

Roster simply needs retool. It is too defense heavy, you can play 1# defense and lose because offense is flat out terrible.
We shot 37% at 3, don't expect that to repeat any time soon.

[basketballRob]

Puzzling coaching. Boston ran a 3-guard rotation. Pritchard, Jrue, and White.

We ran a 4-guard rotation. Harris, KCP, Joseph, and Cole.

Our best guard defender who just shut down Trae Young in the last game was moved over to guard forwards.

All of this so they can keep Goga out of the rotation and play Cole and Harris.

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[basketballRob]

We can't do much, that is bottom line.
Can't play Cole because of defense.
Can't play Goga because of perimeter defense and how Horford will pick him apart
Can't play Isaac and Black more because they proivde nothing on offense.

Celtics will still ignore Paolo and Franz mid range game as long as they contol middle of the field and keep everybody else isolated.

Paolo & Franz made **** loud of bad shots, scored near 60, rest of a team never was involved and scored what, 27 total?

Prioritizing defense comes at high cost as nobody can score off the dribble nor demands attention from defense.

If Mortiz plays, they would just attack him on defense like Cavs did.
Suggs would be handy help but still wouldn't change how series will be played.

Roster simply needs retool. It is too defense heavy, you can play 1# defense and lose because offense is flat out terrible.
We shot 37% at 3, don't expect that to repeat any time soon.

Goga can match minutes with Kornet. Isaac can guard Horford and Wendell on Porzingas.

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[basketballRob]

The Boston guards were 14-22 from 3 , so going small didn't work.

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[eyriq]

We can't do much, that is bottom line.
Can't play Cole because of defense.
Can't play Goga because of perimeter defense and how Horford will pick him apart
Can't play Isaac and Black more because they proivde nothing on offense.

Celtics will still ignore Paolo and Franz mid range game as long as they contol middle of the field and keep everybody else isolated.

Paolo & Franz made **** loud of bad shots, scored near 60, rest of a team never was involved and scored what, 27 total?

Prioritizing defense comes at high cost as nobody can score off the dribble nor demands attention from defense.

If Mortiz plays, they would just attack him on defense like Cavs did.
Suggs would be handy help but still wouldn't change how series will be played.

Roster simply needs retool. It is too defense heavy, you can play 1# defense and lose because offense is flat out terrible.
We shot 37% at 3, don't expect that to repeat any time soon.

Yeah, this makes sense.

[basketballRob]

It's rotation chaos. We play too many players and create new rotations we've never tried. I'm a Black fan, and they moved him out of the guard rotation for the first time this season to defend forwards.

If you're going to leave Goga out of the rotation, just do an 8-man rotation. Black, Cojo, and KCP to matchup with the 3 Celtics guards.

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[KillMonger]

gary and cole shouldn't be in the rotation....no reason to be playing 10 or 11 guys in this series......or any for that matter

[basketballRob]

gary and cole shouldn't be in the rotation....no reason to be playing 10 or 11 guys in this series......or any for that matter

Exactly. It just creates chaos. You could see Black didn't know what role he was playing.

Rhonda is going to need to light up the coaches again

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[Knightro]

i disagree, i think the role players have a lot to do with it....for example bron was never known for being a great 3pt shooter so spacing was important for him because it didn't allow teams to just load up the paint....bron only recently became a decent shooter that wasn't the case early in his career and certainly wasn't so in his 3rd year....plus 2016 had david blatt as the coach, a coach that's known for offense......nobody would be standing around in a david blatt offense....these things matter it isn't just the individual, that is only part of the equation.....at least how i see it

LeBron overcame his lack of consistent perimeter shooting early in his career by being one of the best passing forwards in the history of the NBA. He was also, especially early in his career, pretty much impossible to keep from getting to the rim because of his athleticism. Luka same thing although it wasn't pure athleticism - it was the ability to get to any spot on the floor off the dribble.

These are historically elite traits Banchero and Wagner simply don't have. They're good passers, but LeBron and Luka are all time great passers.

Banchero and Wagner are very good at getting to the rim and finishing, but Luka, LeBron and Kyrie are all time greats at getting to and finishing at the rim.

And you are incorrect about Blatt. The 2015 Cavs led the NBA in isolations in Blatt's first year. The 2016 Cavs were 5th in the NBA in isolations when Blatt got fired.

[eyriq]

KCP gets tons of minutes but he can't create for himself or others. Meanwhile we've got point guard and big man platoons.

The roster construction is designed for heavy Paolo and Franz usage.

Cole cannot scale in the playoffs and AB isn't good enough on offense to scale into a playmaking role.

Harris is like KCP, a spot up shooter. Good at finishing, not at creating.

I keep coming back to the idea of throwing AB into the fire and scaling up JI. It's a tough call but the probability of winning is so low anyway I think it's worth the risk.

WCJ can be a difference maker as well on offense by stretching the floor. I honestly trust JI more though, which is crazy. JI is more offensively versatile and better defensively. JI and AB need to be getting 28+ MPG.

[basketballRob]

KCP gets tons of minutes but he can't create for himself or others. Meanwhile we've got point guard and big man platoons.

The roster construction is designed for heavy Paolo and Franz usage.

Cole cannot scale in the playoffs and AB isn't good enough on offense to scale into a playmaking role.

Harris is like KCP, a spot up shooter. Good at finishing, not at creating.

I keep coming back to the idea of throwing AB into the fire and scaling up JI. It's a tough call but the probability of winning is so low anyway I think it's worth the risk.

WCJ can be a difference maker as well of offense by stretching the floor. I honestly trust JI more.

If I were the coach, I'd take away Wendell's green light on 3s.

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[JoshuaPotter]

To be fair, we did a lot better then I thought. The absolute worst case that could happen is actually the predictable one. We just can't score. Fix that, its a 7 game series.

I would rather be swept identically by this box score just showing leadership the glaring weaknesses then go 7 games and leadership think we are fine.

In a "Suggs and Mo" are healthy reality. I still think we lose game 1. Just by maybe < 10.

Some additional positives.

AB is legit on defense, but we need to find ways for him to score more.
CoJo needs to be on life support - no idea why he played that many minutes - swaps him and blacks minutes
Wendell aggressively rebounding.

Still got 3 games to go to see how our players at the individual contribution level react. If you look across the court at Boston, you see what happened when their 1/2 were shut down. The rest of the individual contributors head up their end of the deal.