Game 23: Magic (12-9) @ Suns (9-13)

NTB · Post #1 » by **NTB** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 6:22 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674652607365824512[/tweet]

HOME STAND BEGINS WITH ORLANDO TODAY!! LET'S WIN ON BLEDSOE'S BIRTHDAY!!

Magic

Payton
Fournier
Harris
Frye
Vucevic

Oladipo/Nicholson/Hezonja/A.Gordon

Suns

Bledsoe
Knight
Tucker
Leuer
Chandler(?) or Len

Price/Booker/Warren/Teletovic

Matt1979 · Post #2 » by **Matt1979** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 6:25 pm

Really hope Chandler is back as Vucevic always goes to town against us. We need the big man back!!

jeff2020 · Post #3 » by **jeff2020** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 6:29 pm

Need to start off the very winnable 3 game home stand with a win. Not to mention the rest of December is favorable as well. We will know where this team stands at the end of December and would love see us as the 7th seed at the end of December. Hopefully the Bulls game was the turning point!

Post #4 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 6:37 pm

It's crazy they are 3.5 games ahead of us in the standings. They've been playing REALLY well though. Had a six game winning streak before losing by 2 to the Clippers in LA. But they've won 7 of 8.

Grots · Post #5 » by **Grots** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 6:58 pm

bwgood77 wrote:It's crazy they are 3.5 games ahead of us in the standings. They've been playing REALLY well though. Had a six game winning streak before losing by 2 to the Clippers in LA. But they've won 7 of 8.

the Skiles effect

You wouldn't want to disappoint this man, would you?

NTB · Post #6 » by **NTB** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:04 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/674664657840267264[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674660047650086912[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674655660148047872[/tweet]

Markieff is ill. What a surprise!? :lol:

Post #7 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:29 pm

Grots wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:It's crazy they are 3.5 games ahead of us in the standings. They've been playing REALLY well though. Had a six game winning streak before losing by 2 to the Clippers in LA. But they've won 7 of 8.

the Skiles effect

You wouldn't want to disappoint this man, would you?

No. No I would not. And while he wasn't necessarily a coach I liked much when he was with Phoenix, he's a guy I was thinking would be good now. Any guy who's gotten 30 assists in a game is going to emphasize passing A LOT. I know Hornacek does, but Skiles is certainly no nonsense.

Cutter · Post #8 » by **Cutter** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:31 pm

Markieff is out of here on Dec. 15th. These continued DNP's, whether Coaching Decision or Illness are just to coincidental. I predict there is a conspiracy to not play him on purpose because he is on the trade block. We played him at first to help him rebuild his trade value. That strategy backfired due to his poor play, so now we are sitting him on the bench waiting for tarde season to start so we can move him.

Book it.

Saberestar · Post #9 » by **Saberestar** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:31 pm

Markieff is ill? What a bad joke...is not even funny at this point.

Post #10 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:32 pm

NTB wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/TheMattPetersen/status/674664657840267264[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674660047650086912[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674655660148047872[/tweet]

Markieff is ill. What a surprise!?

Well, without Tyson once again, we need to take care of the boards, since Vucevic and Gordon crash them hard. That is key. I wonder if we will put Bledsoe on Fournier/Dipo since they are more of scorers, or on Payton, being the primary ball handler.

Matt1979 · Post #11 » by **Matt1979** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 7:42 pm

With Kieff and Tyson being out i wonder if the new PG will dress?

RaisingArizona · Post #12 » by **RaisingArizona** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 8:17 pm

I doubt Kieff plays another second in a Suns jersey.

NTB · Post #13 » by **NTB** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 8:29 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674686337438507008[/tweet]

Lol I love this team :lol:

Saberestar · Post #14 » by **Saberestar** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 8:52 pm

The Suns serenade Eric Bledsoe for his 26th birthday.
https://mobile.twitter.com/paulcoro/status/674652607365824512/video/1

Post #15 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 8:55 pm

The team seems to be in pretty good spirits after a tough road trip. They don't appear shaken, so hopefully we come out on fire and have string of wins on the way.

aIvin adams · Post #16 » by **aIvin adams** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 9:00 pm

in four years this game will be on hardwood classics.

game description on yer dvr: "Booker vs. Hezonja First Matchup"

Post #17 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 9:54 pm

A few quotes from Zach Lowe's recent article when talking about Orlando:

The team's new starting five, with Channing Frye in Oladipo's place, is slaughtering opponents with killer two-way play, and Oladipo has been dynamic as the lead dog on bench units that separate him from Elfrid Payton. Only the Warriors and Spurs, the league's two best teams right now, have put up fatter per-possession scoring margins since Thanksgiving.

The revamped lineup has opened the floor for both Payton and Oladipo. Payton can't shoot, and Oladipo has struggled badly most of the season. It was hard for Orlando to gain any traction with two enemy defenders clogging the paint. The Frye-Nikola Vucevic duo is one of the best shooting frontcourt's in the league, and Frye generally stays behind the arc -- sucking a big-man defender away from the rim. "It just gives us more balance," Harris tells ESPN.com, "and more spacing." Payton is getting more shots within the restricted area since the change, and he's draining 70 percent of them -- up from an ugly 43 percent before the lineup change.

the Frye-Vucevic combination has a long track record of awful defense, and the Magic in this stretch have faced mostly below-average offensive teams. Those teams have hit an icy 33 percent of wide-open 3-pointers, and they're getting a ton of those looks -- especially from the corners, where Orlando has allowed a league-high 9.3 attempts since the flip. What happens against better offenses?

Frye and Vucevic have no shot chasing small-ball lineups on defense. Orlando could punish those groups on the other end, but they may have to slide Aaron Gordon or Oladipo back into Frye's slot -- and suffering some spacing crunch.

Still, Scott Skiles has these guys rotating like mad men on defense, and they have the collective smarts to squeeze through tight pathways. Payton is a crafty zig-zagger, and the Magic are always hunting off-ball cuts. Ignore one of their perimeter guys to choke the paint, and you can bet that guy is zooming to the rim behind you.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14316675/running-league-nba-hits-quarter-mark

Matt1979 · Post #18 » by **Matt1979** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 10:06 pm

So basically knight, tele and Booker can have career nights on all the three point chances they should get.

Who is our best corner 3 shooter??

Let's see what Jeff does tonight.

Post #19 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Dec 9, 2015 11:04 pm

Matt1979 wrote:So basically knight, tele and Booker can have career nights on all the three point chances they should get.

Who is our best corner 3 shooter??

Let's see what Jeff does tonight.

It's weird, I noticed Booker shoots the most and by far the best (80%) 3 pointers from the top of the key from the charts posted earlier. He still has shot 50% from the corner. And of him, Leuer or Telly are good from there.

Knight shoots 53% from one side and 34% from the other side http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1257/brandon-knight/

Bledsoe 33% from one side and 12.5% from the other, so not him http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1103/eric-bledsoe/

Leuer hasn't shot many from there 0-1 from one side and 1-3 from the other, so percentage wise, worse than Bledsoe. He's best from the top of the key too 55% http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1274/jon-leuer/

Teletovic only likes 1 side - 45% from 1 side 5/11, and 0-2 from the other side http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1491/mirza-teletovic/

Tucker 40% from one side, 7.7% from the other http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1428/pj-tucker/

Warren 66% from one side and 33% from the other. http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/1849/tj-warren/

It looks like they all shooter better from one side than the other except Booker.

But Booker from both sides and Knight pretty good from both sides, and Warren, Telly and Tucker from one side.

Cutter · Post #20 » by **Cutter** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:47 am

Haha. On the Suns Pre-game show that is on right now Tom Chambers is suggesting that Knight come off the bench as 6th man, and Booker start at SG. Knight would still get over 30 minutes per game, and Booker could start at SG, then slide over to SF.

Eddie Johnson (I really love this dude), said the key for this to happen would be that Knight would have to accept the 6th man role. If he fights it and doesn't accept it he wouldn't be very good. But if he fully embraces the 6th man role off the bench, then both he and Booker could explode in their new roles.

It will eventually happen. Book it.