Game Thread #1: Washington Wizards @ Orlando Magic 10/28 7PM ET - OPENING NIGHT - GO MAGIC!

Blue_and_Whte · Post #681 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:32 am

Def Swami wrote:Agreed with j_n. If the Magic continue to play defense like that every night, they're going to take a jump and be much more competitive this year. The shots will start to fall.

Bottom line. The defense carried us when the shots weren't falling and I think we can expect that moving forward. Whats not going to happen often are good offensive players like Harris and Fournier having bad games. Its the FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON and they're trying to gets used to a completely new system and no training camp isn't enough time for the to get used to the completely new system. A lot of coaches take the first few games to evaluate their team against other teams best players who are actually trying to win the game. Its not like preseason.

tooler · Post #682 » by **tooler** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:35 am

Immature Luigi wrote:https://youtu.be/mkaCBO4CeTI

Breakdown of the last couple minutes

Well, that explains things. Heh.

Blue_and_Whte · Post #683 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:38 am

OrlandO wrote:The Skiles effect.

I'm aware a couple of those plays resulted in fouls, but what I'm looking at are Vuc's effort and awareness. He's been way more active imo. I'm not expecting Bogut level leaps, but he should improve with Skiles' guidance. I don't know wtf vaughn was doing with Vuc for 3 years...

Vaughn was switching on everything and often times leaving vuc out on an island. Although Vuc is doing a better job putting his hands up which seems simple but makes a huge difference when someone is trying to shoot over you. Look at our "soft" center banging down low for rebounds and post defense. What a softie

JF5 · Post #684 » by **JF5** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:59 am

Immature Luigi wrote:https://youtu.be/mkaCBO4CeTI

Breakdown of the last couple minutes

Same sentiments but I felt they should've slowed it down and went into more time consuming sets in these situations.
Why were the Magic going for shots with 14 Seconds or more left on the Shot clock? That's not smart basketball at all. And why didn't Vucevic or Oladipo touch the ball down the stretch? Like it was just baffling. Usually when the Magic were able to come away with these sort of victories last season, slow methodical plays were their calling card. I mean if they get a good shot off or not they were able to kill time/momentum for their opponents to get back into the game. Its just a more logical strategy for a young team.

magicman112 · Post #685 » by **magicman112** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 4:43 am

drsd wrote:Another game were the opponent made more FTs than Orlando attempted. What is worse is the below-70% FT success rate. It is not a mystery why/how Orlando lost.

..

Yes, they left 5 or 6 points at the line which would have won the game.

KillMonger · Post #686 » by **KillMonger** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:00 am

Couple things that's bugging me, why is AG still on a minute restriction? i mean it was just a bruise right? The other thing is C.J watson, he's was pretty ass-tastic in the pre-season and it seems to be carrying on to the regular. Hopefully he'll be fine and it's just the first game yada yada but i hope that if he doesn't shape up skiles isn't scared to pull the trigger on Shabazz.

cedric76 · Post #687 » by **cedric76** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:55 am

Immature Luigi wrote:Couple things that's bugging me, why is AG still on a minute restriction? i mean it was just a bruise right? The other thing is C.J watson, he's was pretty ass-tastic in the pre-season and it seems to be carrying on to the regular. Hopefully he'll be fine and it's just the first game yada yada but i hope that if he doesn't shape up skiles isn't scared to pull the trigger on Shabazz.

CJ actually played ok

The Real Dalic · Post #688 » by **The Real Dalic** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:22 am

cedric76 wrote:
Immature Luigi wrote:Couple things that's bugging me, why is AG still on a minute restriction? i mean it was just a bruise right? The other thing is C.J watson, he's was pretty ass-tastic in the pre-season and it seems to be carrying on to the regular. Hopefully he'll be fine and it's just the first game yada yada but i hope that if he doesn't shape up skiles isn't scared to pull the trigger on Shabazz.

CJ actually played ok

Yep, he actually led the team in +- IIRC. I know that's not the best stat, but he was on the court when good things were happening.

Post #689 » by **SOUL** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:06 am

CJ Watson was ass. You can drag a carcass with 4 strong people.

People used that excuse with Willie Green last year when he'd be on the court, not scoring, not defending, but his teammates were doing well.

I have faith in CJ though. Way better than any of our recent backups, just hope he isn't cursed.

Last Guardian · Post #690 » by **Last Guardian** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:10 am

Zmill wrote:
OrlandO wrote:
Zmill wrote:If he's going to be our go to guy in the half court he really needs to get to the line more. 0 free throws tonight

Harris, Dipo and Payton combined for 49 fga and only took 4 free throws...

I never said any of those guys should be our go-to in the half court though . Not gonna harp on one game though, getting to the line is something I've wanted to see Vuc improve on for a while. It will be interesting to see if Skiles faces the choices of Vuc vs Dedmon throughout the season

Whether he gets to the line or not, he is still our best option in the half court.

Blue_and_Whte · Post #691 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:55 pm

SOUL wrote:CJ Watson was ass. You can drag a carcass with 4 strong people.

People used that excuse with Willie Green last year when he'd be on the court, not scoring, not defending, but his teammates were doing well.

I have faith in CJ though. Way better than any of our recent backups, just hope he isn't cursed.

Actually Willie was a good 4th quarter player. People just didn't care because they wanted the young guys to get burn.

CJ didn't play bad, he's just not hitting shots the he normally hits. Is not just about the box score.

Blue_and_Whte · Post #692 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:57 pm

Last Guardian wrote:
Zmill wrote:
OrlandO wrote:Harris, Dipo and Payton combined for 49 fga and only took 4 free throws...

I never said any of those guys should be our go-to in the half court though . Not gonna harp on one game though, getting to the line is something I've wanted to see Vuc improve on for a while. It will be interesting to see if Skiles faces the choices of Vuc vs Dedmon throughout the season

Whether he gets to the line or not, he is still our best option in the half court.

Dedmon is Nik's backup, Always has been and always will be. He's a back up center. The only choices Skiles will need to make is when to get his all star center back into the game.

Just Plain Mark · Post #693 » by **Just Plain Mark** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:26 pm

tooler wrote:
Immature Luigi wrote:https://youtu.be/mkaCBO4CeTI

Breakdown of the last couple minutes

Well, that explains things. Heh.

I was traveling so I couldn't watch the game and this is the first I've seen the last few minutes. The Magic clearly failed to execute on offense, but Skiles also deserves some criticism for two aspects of the end of the game offense: 1) allowing the team to put the ball in Hezonja's hands for playmaking - at this stage he should be a shooter; and 2) using Payton as an inbounder on all 3 of inbounds passes on the final possession.

I see the player and coach sides of the offense as fairly easily fixable going forward but its frustrating to imagine a win in that game if just one of those possessions had been executed even decently.

FloridaHoosier · Post #694 » by **FloridaHoosier** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:45 pm

I"m sure it's been mentioned, but why didn't Skiles just go ballistic when Victor's block was called a foul at the start of the 2nd half? That play would have been part of this year's highlight real, it was that well timed. Had he reacted more, maybe it would have set the tone for the rest of the game.

tooler · Post #695 » by **tooler** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:59 pm

Only explanation I can think of for that call was they called him for body contact before the obviously clean block. A dumb call that made the game less exciting, but that's NBA referees for you.

KillMonger · Post #696 » by **KillMonger** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:28 pm

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGBg_4jQsGg[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3w1hgRWXE[/youtube]

That payton stepback had me like

OrlDave · Post #697 » by **OrlDave** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:53 pm

OrlandO wrote:The Skiles effect.

Spoiler:

I'm aware a couple of those plays resulted in fouls, but what I'm looking at are Vuc's effort and awareness. He's been way more active imo. I'm not expecting Bogut level leaps, but he should improve with Skiles' guidance. I don't know wtf vaughn was doing with Vuc for 3 years...

Whoa whoa whoa... this can't be right. According to some in this thread (the usual suspects), who claimed to have watched the game, Vuc was turrrible on defense and he lost us the game single-handedly. And yet this appears like Vuc was actually very active and contributed to the team's overall defensive effort. My eyes are playing tricks on me clearly.

BadMofoPimp · Post #698 » by **BadMofoPimp** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:57 pm

Blue_and_Whte wrote:
Last Guardian wrote:
Zmill wrote:
I never said any of those guys should be our go-to in the half court though . Not gonna harp on one game though, getting to the line is something I've wanted to see Vuc improve on for a while. It will be interesting to see if Skiles faces the choices of Vuc vs Dedmon throughout the season

Whether he gets to the line or not, he is still our best option in the half court.

Dedmon is Nik's backup, Always has been and always will be. He's a back up center. The only choices Skiles will need to make is when to get his all star center back into the game.

Damned Straight!!! Vooch representin Magic this year!

the_hobo · Post #699 » by **the_hobo** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:59 pm

Where's the Thunder game thread?? I'm too lazy to make it.

Post #700 » by **Bensational** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:33 pm

Immature Luigi wrote:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGBg_4jQsGg[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3w1hgRWXE[/youtube]

That payton stepback had me like

Those are the two most exciting guys to watch play.

I love AG's tip in dunk which sent Beal spilling onto the floor - AG had the biggest grin on his face as he looked down on Beal tumbling over!

Also, that last shot of AG's was interesting to see him scream for 'And 1' as he walked away. I remember that from the actual game. I think that's the first time I've seen one of our players be so vocal about calling for the foul.