Game 42: Orlando Magic (17-24) @ Utah Jazz (25-16) - 9:00 PM ET

[PrimeThyme]

The starting lineup is looking good with Vuc and Payton back in it.

Problem is, now our bench looks like total arse because we have no real players who can score and keep the game competitive.

Maybe if Meeks became a starter and Fournier was our 6th man scorer it might help alleviate that a little? But Watson and Green shouldn't be seeing the court anymore and the FO should be the ones to acknowledge that and take the temptation out of the coach's hands.

And can someone wake Biz up to stop him just sleepwalking through games, please?

I would actually be all for that. Evan could be as much as a ball hog as he wanted to be in that 2nd unit. If Vogel sits him until he gets fully healthy he could have Evan in a sixth man role when he comes back and keep him there.

[rcklsscognition]

Fournier aggravated the same right-heel bruise that forced him to miss five consecutive games from Dec. 23-Jan. 2, and he did not play when the Magic faced the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Although there is no timetable for Fournier’s return, it seems highly unlikely that he will play in either of the remaining games on the Magic’s road trip, which ends on Wednesday.

“I was compensating a lot, so now it’s more than just the heel,” Fournier said. “It’s just the bottom of the foot, period. It’s frustrating, man. I could probably keep playing like this, but it’s not getting any better and I’m playing [at] like 60 percent [of my ability].”

[OrlandO]

Fournier aggravated the same right-heel bruise that forced him to miss five consecutive games from Dec. 23-Jan. 2, and he did not play when the Magic faced the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Although there is no timetable for Fournier’s return, it seems highly unlikely that he will play in either of the remaining games on the Magic’s road trip, which ends on Wednesday.

“I was compensating a lot, so now it’s more than just the heel,” Fournier said. “It’s just the bottom of the foot, period. It’s frustrating, man. I could probably keep playing like this, but it’s not getting any better and I’m playing [at] like 60 percent [of my ability].”

60 percent of his ability and we kept playing him? Either he selfishly lied to staff about his health or they're morons for letting him run around on an injury like that. I know we're desperate for wins, but come on... no player on this team is any use to us at 60%.

[PennytoShaq]

Fournier aggravated the same right-heel bruise that forced him to miss five consecutive games from Dec. 23-Jan. 2, and he did not play when the Magic faced the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Although there is no timetable for Fournier’s return, it seems highly unlikely that he will play in either of the remaining games on the Magic’s road trip, which ends on Wednesday.

“I was compensating a lot, so now it’s more than just the heel,” Fournier said. “It’s just the bottom of the foot, period. It’s frustrating, man. I could probably keep playing like this, but it’s not getting any better and I’m playing [at] like 60 percent [of my ability].”

60 percent of his ability and we kept playing him? Either he selfishly lied to staff about his health or they're morons for letting him run around on an injury like that. I know we're desperate for wins, but come on... no player on this team is any use to us at 60%.

It's neither. When you play sports you don't always know how hurt you are until during game time. It's a whole new gear and it's not like practice. He was probably feeling good in shootaround and practices and then felt it during games, but powered through it until it became obvious that he was not going to be effective enough.

No one is a moron or selfish. That's not really how it works.

[BCS]

Sad reality is we wouldn't have a bench problem if we kept harris and therefore didn't sign green.

AG would've been riding the bench.

[Def Swami]

They definitely brought back Fournier sooner than they should have. He never looked good running and seemed to be struggling to set his feet on his jump shots. He probably continued to play through pain when they brought him back leading to the compensation in the rest of his foot. Also sounds more like he suffered a stress fracture more than a heel contusion as was initially reported. Sounds more like a nastier injury than was led on. I kind of touched on this in the IR (which I apologize hasn't been updated in awhile), but bringing a player back too early for this kind of injury could lead to a longer rehab. Not sure of the full details, but hopefully he hasn't caused more damage to the foot that could lead to a longer recovery. The Magic are wise to just rest Fournier for the duration of the road trip and re-evaluate him back in Orlando.

[rcklsscognition]

Fournier aggravated the same right-heel bruise that forced him to miss five consecutive games from Dec. 23-Jan. 2, and he did not play when the Magic faced the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Although there is no timetable for Fournier’s return, it seems highly unlikely that he will play in either of the remaining games on the Magic’s road trip, which ends on Wednesday.

“I was compensating a lot, so now it’s more than just the heel,” Fournier said. “It’s just the bottom of the foot, period. It’s frustrating, man. I could probably keep playing like this, but it’s not getting any better and I’m playing [at] like 60 percent [of my ability].”

60 percent of his ability and we kept playing him? Either he selfishly lied to staff about his health or they're morons for letting him run around on an injury like that. I know we're desperate for wins, but come on... no player on this team is any use to us at 60%.

Vogel said he thought Fournier was fine, but the assistants told him they thought otherwise so he didn't play him.

[SOUL]

Vogel said he thought Fournier was fine, but the assistants told him they thought otherwise so he didn't play him.

Vogel is seriously worrying me lately.

[Bensational]

Our bench looks bad because we didn't play Mario enough and Evan was out. Meeks moves the ball, but he is not a starting SG. If you had him next to Mario off the bench, I think we are better. Not great, but better than whatever that was tonight.

Nah. Meeks looks A LOT better with that starting unit. Fournier slows it down and makes it a 2-3 man game. Meeks moves the ball and moves off the ball and helps clear room for EP to drive. Plus he knows how to make a simple pass on the fast break.

[OrlandO]

60 percent of his ability and we kept playing him? Either he selfishly lied to staff about his health or they're morons for letting him run around on an injury like that. I know we're desperate for wins, but come on... no player on this team is any use to us at 60%.

Vogel said he thought Fournier was fine, but the assistants told him they thought otherwise so he didn't play him.

lol That miscommunication tells me all I need to know about the situation.

[OrlandO]

60 percent of his ability and we kept playing him? Either he selfishly lied to staff about his health or they're morons for letting him run around on an injury like that. I know we're desperate for wins, but come on... no player on this team is any use to us at 60%.

It's neither. When you play sports you don't always know how hurt you are until during game time. It's a whole new gear and it's not like practice. He was probably feeling good in shootaround and practices and then felt it during games, but powered through it until it became obvious that he was not going to be effective enough.

No one is a moron or selfish. That's not really how it works.

I like how you tell me it's neither and then make up your own reasoning as if it's fact. It doesn't take five games to realize you're compensating and it's not getting better.... not when you're obviously playing like crap. You don't mess with foot injuries that are obviously limiting you, period.

[drsd]

Our bench looks bad because we didn't play Mario enough and Evan was out. Meeks moves the ball, but he is not a starting SG. If you had him next to Mario off the bench, I think we are better. Not great, but better than whatever that was tonight.

Mario was part of the reason Utah went on 12-0 run to start the 2nd quarter.

How does a player do -14 in only 4 minutes played???


..

[OrlandO]

Vogel said he thought Fournier was fine, but the assistants told him they thought otherwise so he didn't play him.

Vogel is seriously worrying me lately.

Fans have been saying he looked hobbled for three games now... to vogel he looked fine though. Completely oblivious.

Josh Robbins:

Fournier’s recent struggles were obvious to anyone who watched him play from Jan. 4 through Friday night’s win in Portland. He appeared reluctant to plant on his heel and often kept his weight on the ball of his right foot.

Vogel:

“I thought he was moving pretty well,” coach Frank Vogel said. “But some of the [assistant] coaches mentioned that they felt like he was not moving as well.”

[ChosenSavior]

With each game that passes, it is starting to become very clear to me why Vogel got canned with the Pacers. Our roster definitely has a ton of warts but I really feel Frank is oblivious to his own mistakes as a head coach and has trouble adapting to in game situations. It's even more glaring now that he does not have Paul George to bail him out.

The officiating was bad in the 2nd half but that 2nd quarter did us in. We had a chance to really put the Jazz away and he employed an all bench lineup with players who do not mesh well at all. Chemistry does take time to build but figuring out your best rotations should not be taking this long.

[OrlandO]

Green is -38 in the last three games. -38!

[OrlandO]

With each game that passes, it is starting to become very clear to me why Vogel got canned with the Pacers. Our roster definitely has a ton of warts but I really feel Frank is oblivious to his own mistakes as a head coach and has trouble adapting to in game situations. It's even more glaring now that he does not have Paul George to bail him out.

The officiating was bad in the 2nd half but that 2nd quarter did us in. We had a chance to really put the Jazz away and he employed an all bench lineup with players who do not mesh well at all. Chemistry does take time to build but figuring out your best rotations should not be taking this long.

That decision making isn't going to get better either. Search twitter and you will find an absurd amount of pacers fans making the same complaints about his over-confidence in bench players over the years - riding them too long, playing them against opposing starters, etc. I don't think he can help it... he's too much of an optimist and believes in every single player on his roster.

[Veyron]

Why CJ Watson even plays in NBA, pure hendicaped useless sad scrub.

[ChosenSavior]

With each game that passes, it is starting to become very clear to me why Vogel got canned with the Pacers. Our roster definitely has a ton of warts but I really feel Frank is oblivious to his own mistakes as a head coach and has trouble adapting to in game situations. It's even more glaring now that he does not have Paul George to bail him out.

The officiating was bad in the 2nd half but that 2nd quarter did us in. We had a chance to really put the Jazz away and he employed an all bench lineup with players who do not mesh well at all. Chemistry does take time to build but figuring out your best rotations should not be taking this long.

That decision making isn't going to get better either. Search twitter and you will find an absurd amount of pacers fans making the same complaints about his over-confidence in bench players over the years - riding them too long, playing them against opposing starters, etc. I don't think he can help it... he's too much of an optimist and believes in every single player on his roster.

Yeah just went through the tweets on when they were playing the Raptors and he was getting killed on there. He reacts too late in terms of managing the game. It's nice that he is an optimist and has a high level of confidence in his coaching ability but some humility would serve him great. To allow your bench to lose a 15 point lead in this game that quickly is asinine.

I'm still peeved that we are not playing the style he promised we were going to play when he was initially hired. He's the coach and all I can do is hope that he gets better and improve this team in the coming years but I will not stop criticizing him when warranted.

[ChosenSavior]

Just watched Elfrid's highlight reel from this game and I'm perplexed why Frank completely went away from the two man action between him and Vuc in the 4th. We were getting excellent looks from that action, basically an open shot for Vuc or a clear path to the paint whenever Vuc set a legit screen and wiped out the defender.

[The Other Ankle]

Couldn't watch, but looks like a pretty good showing against a quality team. All starters in the positive, all subs in the negative is pretty clear. Leading late in the fourth. EP tearing it up and AG with an efficient game. This is not a bad result.