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

[VFX]

When every critique launched against Mosley or Paolo or Franz can be explained away by citing "age" or "injuries" it's just a bad look for the critical. Use some perspective instead of knee-jerk complaining.

Yeah, and what happens when those “explanations” reach peak expiration and are no longer valid?

Are you aware that more analysis has gone into some of these complaints, rather than complaining for the sake of it?

Mosely, Paolo, and Franz aren’t injured and have been in the system for 3 seasons.

[eyriq]

When every critique launched against Mosley or Paolo or Franz can be explained away by citing "age" or "injuries" it's just a bad look for the critical. Use some perspective instead of knee-jerk complaining.

Yeah, and what happens when those “explanations” reach peak expiration and are no longer valid?

Are you aware that more analysis has gone into some of these complaints, rather than complaining for the sake of it?

Mosely, Paolo, and Franz aren’t injured and have been in the system for 3 seasons.

Well, if we want to be critical of our performance I'd point to the strength of schedule as represented by the spread. We are performing close to expectations, maybe slightly below.

[VFX]

When every critique launched against Mosley or Paolo or Franz can be explained away by citing "age" or "injuries" it's just a bad look for the critical. Use some perspective instead of knee-jerk complaining.

Yeah, and what happens when those “explanations” reach peak expiration and are no longer valid?

Are you aware that more analysis has gone into some of these complaints, rather than complaining for the sake of it?

Mosely, Paolo, and Franz aren’t injured and have been in the system for 3 seasons.

Well, if we want to be critical of our performance I'd point to the strength of schedule as represented by the spread. We are performing close to expectations, maybe slightly below.

Ok man.

[eyriq]

Yeah, and what happens when those “explanations” reach peak expiration and are no longer valid?

Are you aware that more analysis has gone into some of these complaints, rather than complaining for the sake of it?

Mosely, Paolo, and Franz aren’t injured and have been in the system for 3 seasons.

Well, if we want to be critical of our performance I'd point to the strength of schedule as represented by the spread. We are performing close to expectations, maybe slightly below.

Ok man.

I'm serious though. It's interesting to ask the question "should we be 10 point underdogs against the defending champs in Boston?" If you don't think we should then you think that the team should be better than it is right now. Why should they be better?

And I know a lot of your criticisms about where we've lost value at the margins. So I'm not asking you to reiterate your entire argument. But even if all these moves at the margins that you've been highlighting went our way how many points are we shaving off that spread?

[DiplomaticMagic]

Charles Barkley called Mosley stupid for only playing Cole Anthony 5 minutes.

I agree Mosley is stupid but not because of Cole Anthony lol. Anyway whatever heat Mosley gets, he deserves. Hes doing a bad job.

[OrlChamps2030]

Most positive development from these first 2 games is that Paolo is undeniably a true #1 option in the NBA.

He's putting up 34, 9.5, & 5.5 on great shooting against the defending champs

He's a playoff riser

Facts

Weltman needs to start doing his job and get him some help

[drsd]

The Magics defense has been excellent; it's offense has failed.

Disagree, the defense has been bad

It *appears* the defense has been good because Boston's PPG is low, but that is only because the pace has been remarkably slow through two games.

The actual defense has been poor. I agree with you on that.

Orlando has held Boston to take 1/3 less three-pointers per game - of their seasonal average - and has limited their makes percentages. That is the defensive goal. And that goal is being achieved.

Does that mean more 2's (and more And-1's); yes. But it is by design.

[JoshuaPotter]

Most positive development from these first 2 games is that Paolo is undeniably a true #1 option in the NBA.

He's putting up 34, 9.5, & 5.5 on great shooting against the defending champs

He's a playoff riser

Facts

Weltman needs to start doing his job and get him some help

Pretty confident and happy with Paolo playing. Can argue and debate all we want about generational talent, roster construction, ect ect.

Paolo is the best player we have had since Tracy Mcgrady, and positional our best PF / F. It may not even be close.

[IllMagic04]

Charles Barkley called Mosley stupid for only playing Cole Anthony 5 minutes.

I agree Mosley is stupid but not because of Cole Anthony lol. Anyway whatever heat Mosley gets, he deserves. Hes doing a bad job.

Cole should've played more minutes. I know its not the popular thing to say here but its true. I get the defensive issues but you gotta try him. The Celtics were pressuring the ball full court and stole it once from Co Jo and once from Franz. Even when they didn't get a TO it overall threw our timing off offensively. We need more ball handling and shooting. You just gotta coach him to not play hero ball. Run the office and be ready to fire and catch and shoot situations. If nothing else Boston wont be so sure to leave Cole the way the leaving other guys. Yes Boston is going to target him defensively but one positive of that is it makes them a bit more predictable offensively. Just need to get creative on where and how you bring help. If its not working sure pull him but 5 minutes is not enough time to see if he can help

[Knightro]

Disagree, the defense has been bad

It *appears* the defense has been good because Boston's PPG is low, but that is only because the pace has been remarkably slow through two games.

The actual defense has been poor. I agree with you on that.

Orlando has held Boston to take 1/3 less three-pointers per game - of their seasonal average - and has limited their makes percentages. That is the defensive goal. And that goal is being achieved.

Does that mean more 2's (and more And-1's); yes. But it is by design.

They haven’t really though because the first two games have been played at an absolute snail’s pace. Fewer possessions means fewer raw three point attempts, but the percentage of attempts is still sky high.

Boston had a 45% three point rate in Game 1 and a 46% three point rate in Game 2.

That would rank 2nd in the NBA extrapolated over the entire season.

[Skin]

Anthony Black played 23 minutes and didn't record a single assist or three.

Meanwhile, he didn't slow down any of Boston's guards. What is he out there for again?

"Bbbbut he's getting solid playoff experience!"

He's a joke. Been that since Day 1.

Black wasn't the player giving up the points. He's upset because Cole didn't get very many minutes. Cole may not get any more minutes in the series. The Celtics guards are too physical. Black is the only guard not getting bullied.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mo

WHO CARES? HE CAN'T HIT THREES!

You guys have really lost sight following Weltman so long. WE NEED PLAYERS WHO HIT 3s!!! Weltman doesn't care about players who hit 3s. He's so old fashion that he thinks defense prioritizes everything and it doesn't. Stupid thing is he didn't even build a strong defensive team. You can't have a strong defensive team without a strong defensive Center. Basketball 101. Talk about failing.

[eyriq]

Apologies to knightro, you think I'm cherry picking and funneling teams through this narrow scope. You could have analytic chops and still be annoyed with my approach. I don't want to be defensive about the point I'm trying to make.

[SOUL]

Ok man.

Eyriq is homeristic a lot but this game a better shooting team simply hit more threes and FTs.

Go 10-29 and 17-24 instead of 7-29 and 15-24 and it's 11 more points. For the amount of wide open threes we missed and FREE throws.. that isn't a tall ask.

The lack of shotmaking is simply something that has been our Achilles' heel all year and isn't fixable until we get shot makers/a consistent guard.

[Ducklett]

Gotta fix our free throws. This is as bad as Dwight years.

[dsg2021]

Among all takes this is ... A take?

"Enforcer" does what? Shows em how tough you are while also sending team to bonus, making every next foul being awarded with 2 FTA? Great. Real highly advanced basketball right there. Why not have one assassin to break leg of Brown in next?
Down by 11, he makes flagrant 1 foul, sents KP to FT line and ball on a side, Celtics score 4 points off one idiotic play to finish 3rd quarter.





Ever since playoffs rolled, i'm yet to make single comment about Franz. or Paolo.




let's play a game. You find where i said anything close to what you are suggesting in last two games and i will never post here again.

Like, you either confused my post with somebody else or i don't know what's going on

I very specifically said that offense can't be two guy taking 60% of shots. My personal opinion about Franz- Paolo if, you are interested, after 2 games is way different than you insinuate.

1. Do you understand what Boxscore +/- means? Team was closest to winning with Goga in the game. No thanks for me to cherry picking one play. Because I could point to zero BOS offensive boards and Goga’s block and cleanup dunk. And by the way, if KP enters Concussion Protocol from it, then make sure you send Goga your fruit basket for the 6 game series.

2. Note I said “WAITING” as in you haven’t yet, but you are waiting on it so you can bring it all up again like you’ve done, oh, I don’t know, 20+ times in the regular season. That’s why a few months ago I was trying to get you to reach a conclusion and start asking for one of Paolo or Franz traded. Complaining without standing on constructive criticism is lame. Do better.

Plus minus over one games means jack shi*.
Houstan didn't do anything and had second highest on a team.


So you read mind now? Find somebody else to shuehorn into "trade Banchero/Franz" wagon because again, i was never on that train.

Love the nuance. Sure, you never said trade Banchero/Franz this year. You were just a top 2 poster of the year in trashing Paolo posts this year. Note I didn't say you wanted to trade him either, I say you are a major cause for Paolo/Franz division.

Plus minus over one game means nothing? Then why are you in a thread about one game specifically, talking bad about Goga in one game specifically? Why did you gloss over Goga's massive Rebounding/Block rate over WCJ too? Get over it cupcake, that some people in here want to bite back at you sometimes. The only difference is most of us have real lives instead of living at the PC, Mr. cynical pepe.

[dsg2021]

Look at me, look at me. My way of thinking is winning in an online forum thanks to posting more than anyone else every day. You know who you are out there.

[eyriq]

Look at me, look at me. My way of thinking is winning in an online forum thanks to posting more than anyone else every day. You know who you are out there.

Winning with a loud minority only

[basketballRob]

He's a joke. Been that since Day 1.

Black wasn't the player giving up the points. He's upset because Cole didn't get very many minutes. Cole may not get any more minutes in the series. The Celtics guards are too physical. Black is the only guard not getting bullied.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mo

WHO CARES? HE CAN'T HIT THREES!

You guys have really lost sight following Weltman so long. WE NEED PLAYERS WHO HIT 3s!!! Weltman doesn't care about players who hit 3s. He's so old fashion that he thinks defense prioritizes everything and it doesn't. Stupid thing is he didn't even build a strong defensive team. You can't have a strong defensive team without a strong defensive Center. Basketball 101. Talk about failing.

He shot 40% from 3 in the second half of the season.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/anthony-black-stats-over-last-41-games

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Ducklett]

Saw what I wanted to see, outcome is whatever at this point. We played hard in Boston, same warts we always have. Only thing different from end of season to post these two games is I am leaning more toward fire Mosley when I was leaning keep Mosley.

[Skin]

Black wasn't the player giving up the points. He's upset because Cole didn't get very many minutes. Cole may not get any more minutes in the series. The Celtics guards are too physical. Black is the only guard not getting bullied.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mo

WHO CARES? HE CAN'T HIT THREES!

You guys have really lost sight following Weltman so long. WE NEED PLAYERS WHO HIT 3s!!! Weltman doesn't care about players who hit 3s. He's so old fashion that he thinks defense prioritizes everything and it doesn't. Stupid thing is he didn't even build a strong defensive team. You can't have a strong defensive team without a strong defensive Center. Basketball 101. Talk about failing.

He shot 40% from 3 in the second half of the season.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/anthony-black-stats-over-last-41-games

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

LOW VOLUME, OPPORTUNISTIC, WIDE OPEN SHOTS. Stop being fooled. He demands zero attention on defense in the playoffs and still has little effect. Bro is straight trash. We need to trade him to the first GM who thinks he's a 40% 3pt gold mine!