2024-2025 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 4: (2) Boston Celtics at (7) Orlando Magic - 7pm ET

[RichCollab]

Are we now finally over with whole "AB point guard" bull?

Nope

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

[basketballRob]

Are we now finally over with whole "AB point guard" bull?

Nope

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

Is Peyton Pritchard a PG? He's has 2 ASST and 4 TOV in the last 79 minutes. AB has played 68 minutes in the series. I think it's safe to say AB is Pritchard's daddy

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/payton-pritchard-last-3-games

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/anthony-black-stats-in-his-last-3-games

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[RichCollab]

Nope

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

Is Peyton Pritchard a PG? He's has 2 ASST and 4 TOV in the last 79 minutes. AB has played 68 minutes in the series.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/payton-pritchard-last-3-games

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An assistless PG does sound like something the Magic would do.

Suggs is now and always been more PG than AB. Suggs is better shooter.

Suggs isn’t enough player maker so don’t see AB filling that role now.

[eyriq]

Are we now finally over with whole "AB point guard" bull?

Nope

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

[basketballRob]

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

Is Peyton Pritchard a PG? He's has 2 ASST and 4 TOV in the last 79 minutes. AB has played 68 minutes in the series.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/payton-pritchard-last-3-games

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An assistless PG does sound like something the Magic would do.

Suggs is now and always been more PG than AB. Suggs is better shooter.

Suggs isn’t enough player maker so don’t see AB filling that role now.

I like AB and Suggs starting together. Then, adding another PG playmaker off the bench. Boston has a 3 PG rotation they use for their guards, and I like that mold.

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[RichCollab]

Nope

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

[basketballRob]

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

He averaged 4.6 ASST per 36 mpg. More than Suggs did in his second season. That number jumped by 1.8 ASST from the previous season. There is no reason to think that the total won't keep increasing over the next couple of seasons.

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[Bergmaniac]

I love the fight we showed, we competed against the champs and pushed them quite a bit, but we are going nowhere with Paolo and Franz taking so many shots and dominating the ball to such an extent. They need help, both in playmaking and shotmaking. Paolo leads the playoffs in usage rate and Franz isn't far behind. That's not a recipe for success in 2025, it's not sustainable for a whole series and even less for a deeper playoff run, especially with the style of D we play which is very demanding physically.

[eyriq]

Why not? Zero assists in the playoffs.

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

Ultimately his position is determined by Mosley and it's been point guard regardless of your or my opinion.

[AdamTheGreek]

Are we now finally over with whole "AB point guard" bull?

No. He has the ability. It’s about reps and technique.
Give him a week to work with Penny. Give him a few weeks to work with Phil Handy (he did wonders for Suggs who still isn’t a PG but improved a lot).


Tristan and Goga not playing again is rough to defend. If Goga gets exposed on switches (which I don’t think happens) then it happens, but we needed his rebounding.
Tristan should have had some combination of Cole, Caleb, and Gary’s minutes. AB was harmed last year not playing in the Cavs series and Tristan is getting harmed now sitting.

[JoshuaPotter]

Was my birthday this weekend, was really hoping for my birthday theyd even the series 2-2 against what I would call insurmountable odds.

[eyriq]

Losing the free throw rate battle when you are also completely outmatched from the perimeter is tough to overcome.

We are reliant on the whistle and it's not going our way.

[eyriq]

Houstan fading in the bright lights has been disappointing, TDS should be getting those minutes.

[AdamTheGreek]

Sooooooo baaaaaaad! I remember going wtf like multiple times

Paolo is closer to passing Tatum than I thought.

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Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

Paolo has been overall better than Tatum in this series.
Franz has been overall better than Brown.
Combined our duo is beating their duo.
The difference in the series is the support pieces (Jrue, White, Porzingis, Horford, Pritchard).

I’ve said it for over a year, Paolo is the next American MVP. Tatum will never win MVP as long as Paolo is healthy because starting next season Paolo will finish in MVP voting ahead of Tatum.

Paolo had a bad Game 4 because he was gassed the entire second half (thus the short misses). It’s not a fitness thing. He’s played a lot of minutes, it’s just the toll of all of the hacking finally caught up.
I am not ruling out Paolo winning Game 5 and bringing the series back.
We beat a championship team with two guys in Game 3, and would’ve won Game 4 if Franz hits an extra open 3 and Paolo doesn’t miss those midrange shots he normally buries because he was worn down.
It’s a learning experience for our 23 and 22-year-old studs.

[pepe1991]

some posts here really bring collective IQ to Down's level.

[RichCollab]

The assist doughnut is the result of a tiny workload with fewer minutes at a slower pace, and a scheme where usage is funneled to Paolo and Franz.

That’s a gold medal in mental gymnastics right there.

I thought AB could be a PG type player to start this season. It’s no longer there for me. The opportunity was there this season.

He averaged 4.6 ASST per 36 mpg. More than Suggs did in his second season. That number jumped by 1.8 ASST from the previous season. There is no reason to think that the total won't keep increasing over the next couple of seasons.

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Per 36??? Majority of his assists are during random bench players.

[RichCollab]

Paolo is closer to passing Tatum than I thought.

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Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

Paolo has been overall better than Tatum in this series.
Franz has been overall better than Brown.
Combined our duo is beating their duo.
The difference in the series is the support pieces (Jrue, White, Porzingis, Horford, Pritchard).

I’ve said it for over a year, Paolo is the next American MVP. Tatum will never win MVP as long as Paolo is healthy because starting next season Paolo will finish in MVP voting ahead of Tatum.

Paolo had a bad Game 4 because he was gassed the entire second half (thus the short misses). It’s not a fitness thing. He’s played a lot of minutes, it’s just the toll of all of the hacking finally caught up.
I am not ruling out Paolo winning Game 5 and bringing the series back.
We beat a championship team with two guys in Game 3, and would’ve won Game 4 if Franz hits an extra open 3 and Paolo doesn’t miss those midrange shots he normally buries because he was worn down.
It’s a learning experience for our 23 and 22-year-old studs.

I feel great about Paolo but come on. Tatum owned the game last night. He took over when he had too.

[basketballRob]

some posts here really bring collective IQ to Down's level.

I still enjoy reading some of your posts

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[eyriq]

Paolo is closer to passing Tatum than I thought.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Passing him in what way? Certainly not on the basketball court in any capacity.

Paolo has been overall better than Tatum in this series.
Franz has been overall better than Brown.
Combined our duo is beating their duo.
The difference in the series is the support pieces (Jrue, White, Porzingis, Horford, Pritchard).

I’ve said it for over a year, Paolo is the next American MVP. Tatum will never win MVP as long as Paolo is healthy because starting next season Paolo will finish in MVP voting ahead of Tatum.

Paolo had a bad Game 4 because he was gassed the entire second half (thus the short misses). It’s not a fitness thing. He’s played a lot of minutes, it’s just the toll of all of the hacking finally caught up.
I am not ruling out Paolo winning Game 5 and bringing the series back.
We beat a championship team with two guys in Game 3, and would’ve won Game 4 if Franz hits an extra open 3 and Paolo doesn’t miss those midrange shots he normally buries because he was worn down.
It’s a learning experience for our 23 and 22-year-old studs.

Paolo has had a tremendous series and Franz has guarded Tatum and Brown extremely well. They've leveled up and have lots of runway for additional level ups in front of them.

A win in game 5 would be epic.

[Bergmaniac]

Losing the free throw rate battle when you are also completely outmatched from the perimeter is tough to overcome.

We are reliant on the whistle and it's not going our way.

We are just fouling a lot, that's not on the refs, it's the way we play. We were 29th in the league in opponents free throw rate while Boston were 1st in that category. We are using the good old "they can't call us for a foul on every possession" strategy. Sure, there were some missed calls when Boston was defending too, but I can't really complain when we were for example basically fouling Porzingis almost every time he posted up against a smaller player and usually got away with it.