Regular Season Game 54: Atlanta Hawks (15-39) at Orlando Magic (22-31) - 7:00pm ET

[BadMofoPimp]

Don’t care what anyone says, Bamba will be more than fine. In 14 minutes, his stat line is crazy.

7 pts (3/5 fg), 5 rebs, 2 blks, 1 stl and +3 (considering the rest of the bench was in the negative, this is amazing).

He has been good in this short stints, which is all we can really ask for given his role. Defensively, I think he's closing the gap with Vucevic.

C'mon, he's way better defensively than Vuc. All the numbers say it.

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Until Bamba can prove against starting level talent, he is not.

[Optimus_Steel]

It was a nice win but we cant take too much from this game. The Atl defense was horrid and we made 18 3's shooting it at a 47.4% rate, that is unlikely to happen again. We were down at one point in the 4th and we actually closed out the game well for a change, helps when you are hot from 3, just has not been the trend in weeks.

[drsd]

These five combined for 42 points on 14-32 shooting (with half as 7-16 on the three-ball).

They did. And good for them because it definitely helped the Magic win the game.

But don’t be fooled by one night’s results over bad process. Inevitably process will win out. If you watched the game you’ll know that sort of performance is completely unsustainable based on how the second unit actually got those buckets.

Literally every halfcourt set was Ross zooming off a screen or pin down into a contested jumper. He’s been pretty bad most of the year and has a torch game roughly once every 4-5 games. Luckily he was red hot last night.

Beyond that? The 2nd unit is completely reliant on forcing turnovers and long rebounds to create transition opportunities and then crashing the offensive glass on misses (the 2nd unit had 6 OREB). Obviously those are not things you can rely on game-to-game to keep you afloat offensively.

There’s just zero shot creation. It’s just not a lineup that is going to work often unless Ross has magically turned a corner and is going to start coming up heads with a lot more regularity than he has been this season.

For me I wonder if Clark and Ennis can provide enough clearance for Ross to be more of an asset. Certainly having Augustin back will relive pressure on Ross.


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[drsd]

It was a nice win ....

You had me at "Win".


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[Blue_and_Whte]

I thought Ennis played pretty well.

[zaymon]

These five combined for 42 points on 14-32 shooting (with half as 7-16 on the three-ball).

They did. And good for them because it definitely helped the Magic win the game.

But don’t be fooled by one night’s results over bad process. Inevitably process will win out. If you watched the game you’ll know that sort of performance is completely unsustainable based on how the second unit actually got those buckets.

Literally every halfcourt set was Ross zooming off a screen or pin down into a contested jumper. He’s been pretty bad most of the year and has a torch game roughly once every 4-5 games. Luckily he was red hot last night.

Beyond that? The 2nd unit is completely reliant on forcing turnovers and long rebounds to create transition opportunities and then crashing the offensive glass on misses (the 2nd unit had 6 OREB). Obviously those are not things you can rely on game-to-game to keep you afloat offensively.

There’s just zero shot creation. It’s just not a lineup that is going to work often unless Ross has magically turned a corner and is going to start coming up heads with a lot more regularity than he has been this season.

For me I wonder if Clark and Ennis can provide enough clearance for Ross to be more of an asset. Certainly having Augustin back will relive pressure on Ross.


..

Dj/Ross/Ennis/Clark/Bamba. Kind of 5 shooters, and one good ball handler. It has defense on the wing also. Thing thats holding it the most is passing. Clark and Ennis in the corners, Bamba above the break, Ross sprinting across the field and Dj with the ball. It could work to some extent.

[Rainwater]

Super favorable schedule in next few games

Detroit
Dallas ( might still be without Doncic)
Nets
Hawks
Minny
Spurs
Portland
Miami
Minessota

only 2 of 9 teams with winning record.

I don't think any of these games are easy, most of these teams are just as good as the magic. The magic themselves are a sub .500 team and couldn't even beat the hawks easily.

[The Real Dalic]

They did. And good for them because it definitely helped the Magic win the game.

But don’t be fooled by one night’s results over bad process. Inevitably process will win out. If you watched the game you’ll know that sort of performance is completely unsustainable based on how the second unit actually got those buckets.

Literally every halfcourt set was Ross zooming off a screen or pin down into a contested jumper. He’s been pretty bad most of the year and has a torch game roughly once every 4-5 games. Luckily he was red hot last night.

Beyond that? The 2nd unit is completely reliant on forcing turnovers and long rebounds to create transition opportunities and then crashing the offensive glass on misses (the 2nd unit had 6 OREB). Obviously those are not things you can rely on game-to-game to keep you afloat offensively.

There’s just zero shot creation. It’s just not a lineup that is going to work often unless Ross has magically turned a corner and is going to start coming up heads with a lot more regularity than he has been this season.

For me I wonder if Clark and Ennis can provide enough clearance for Ross to be more of an asset. Certainly having Augustin back will relive pressure on Ross.


..

Dj/Ross/Ennis/Clark/Bamba. Kind of 5 shooters, and one good ball handler. It has defense on the wing also. Thing thats holding it the most is passing. Clark and Ennis in the corners, Bamba above the break, Ross sprinting across the field and Dj with the ball. It could work to some extent.

You think MCW will be out of the rotation? I can't see it. But there's also no way Cliff will play 11 players either. I actually love MCW and think he provides a lot for us. Especially when it comes to his rebounding and defense.

[zaymon]

For me I wonder if Clark and Ennis can provide enough clearance for Ross to be more of an asset. Certainly having Augustin back will relive pressure on Ross.


..

Dj/Ross/Ennis/Clark/Bamba. Kind of 5 shooters, and one good ball handler. It has defense on the wing also. Thing thats holding it the most is passing. Clark and Ennis in the corners, Bamba above the break, Ross sprinting across the field and Dj with the ball. It could work to some extent.

You think MCW will be out of the rotation? I can't see it. But there's also no way Cliff will play 11 players either. I actually love MCW and think he provides a lot for us. Especially when it comes to his rebounding and defense.

I also like MCW. Hmm we dont know what will happen with Ennis, and Michael is propably better than Clark

[JojoSlimbiid]

Completely irrelevant but I like the headband look for Fultz. I'm never a fan of dreads/twist reaching guys eyes out there. Said as someone with dreads

[Last Guardian]

Surprisingly Ennis and Clark seem like valuable bench guys who are physically tough, energetic and even can shoot a bit. We have some real defensive potential if we get rid of the Hennigan guys.

[OrlandoSaban]

I was really rooting for Ennis to have a decent game because he wants to be on this team. I thought he did pretty well

[rusoopE]

He has been good in this short stints, which is all we can really ask for given his role. Defensively, I think he's closing the gap with Vucevic.

C'mon, he's way better defensively than Vuc. All the numbers say it.

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Until Bamba can prove against starting level talent, he is not.

Exactly and playing rested and all in in such lower minutes (than vuc) makes the numbers way better

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[The Real Dalic]

C'mon, he's way better defensively than Vuc. All the numbers say it.

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Until Bamba can prove against starting level talent, he is not.

Exactly and playing rested and all in in such lower minutes (than vuc) makes the numbers way better

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While I agree the short minutes help his numbers, let's not act like Bamba doesn't have the potential to be great there and that he hasn't looked great on that side. Especially lately. I think everyone knows that basketballrob hates Vuc and Fournier while praising Bamba at every turn. But I actually think he's right in saying Bamba is currently better than Vuc on defense right now. Jmo. I love Vuc too, so it's not a hater thing from me. Fournier's a different story for me though.

[zaymon]

Until Bamba can prove against starting level talent, he is not.

Exactly and playing rested and all in in such lower minutes (than vuc) makes the numbers way better

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While I agree the short minutes help his numbers, let's not act like Bamba doesn't have the potential to be great there and that he hasn't looked great on that side. Especially lately. I think everyone knows that basketballrob hates Vuc and Fournier while praising Bamba at every turn. But I actually think he's right in saying Bamba is currently better than Vuc on defense right now. Jmo. I love Vuc too, so it's not a hater thing from me. Fournier's a different story for me though.

Bamba makes so many mistakes, he fouls all the time and is easly moved by force. His glimpses are better tha Vucevic but right know i am quite certain Vuc is much better.

[yoyojw17]

Exactly and playing rested and all in in such lower minutes (than vuc) makes the numbers way better

Sent from my 5033A using RealGM mobile app

While I agree the short minutes help his numbers, let's not act like Bamba doesn't have the potential to be great there and that he hasn't looked great on that side. Especially lately. I think everyone knows that basketballrob hates Vuc and Fournier while praising Bamba at every turn. But I actually think he's right in saying Bamba is currently better than Vuc on defense right now. Jmo. I love Vuc too, so it's not a hater thing from me. Fournier's a different story for me though.

Bamba makes so many mistakes, he fouls all the time and is easly moved by force. His glimpses are better tha Vucevic but right know i am quite certain Vuc is much better.

Yeah... they aren't in the same ballpark as of now. But I can't wait till he overtakes him. I do believe his body has a lot to do with it. Vuc is a stopgap till Bamba is ready or at least close to it. Vuc won't be traded just for trade sake, but i'm sure he would be traded for the right price.

[drsd]

You think MCW will be out of the rotation? I can't see it. But there's also no way Cliff will play 11 players either. I actually love MCW and think he provides a lot for us. Especially when it comes to his rebounding and defense.

In the Hawks game, the Magic went to a non-conventional for them 10 man rotation. Coach Clifford has usefully gone 9-men deep.

But to answer your question, when Augustin comes back, even in a 10-man rotation, Carter-Williams and Clark will fight for minutes.
(( On a 9-man rotation, the are both deep-bench players )).


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