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Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ

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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#201 » by grumpysaddle » Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:42 am

Mulhollanddrive wrote:Imagine if Bridges was no.1 pick and had 5 points, 2 rebounds.

Why? He wasn't the number one pick. He didn't have a good game by his standards, but it was mostly the bench that laid out a big fat stinker tonight.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#202 » by Mulhollanddrive » Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:49 am

Is this the beginning of Ayton in a Big 3?

They had 69 points, 22 rebounds, 14 assists, 5 steals.

Okeke had to shoot 100% and score 17 points for them to win by 1, just a 1 in a 1000 chance.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#203 » by lilfishi22 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:14 am

Mulhollanddrive wrote:Imagine if Bridges was no.1 pick and had 5 points, 2 rebounds.

He'd get roasted accordingly
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#204 » by lilfishi22 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:15 am

Mulhollanddrive wrote:Is this the beginning of Ayton in a Big 3?

They had 69 points, 22 rebounds, 14 assists, 5 steals.

Okeke had to shoot 100% and score 17 points for them to win by 1, just a 1 in a 1000 chance.

There's been a few "beginnings" in Ayton's career. Let's hope this is a more permanent one
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#205 » by Gorilla Warfare » Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:55 am

lonea wrote:it's 1st quarter, the nets can comeback anytime

Gorilla Warfare wrote:Not a good look when you lose to one of the worst teams in the NBA then flip over to ESPN and see the Jazz are boat racing the Nets.


Update: Nets got boat raced.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#206 » by lilfishi22 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:08 am

Talking about the Nets, didn't this Alize Johnson guy get discussed on this board not too long ago?

He had a great game for the Nets
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#207 » by bwgood77 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:09 am

lilfishi22 wrote:Talking about the Nets, didn't this Alize Johnson guy get discussed on this board not too long ago?

He had a great game for the Nets


Yes, he was the most impressive big in the G league a number of teams were after. I was hoping we signed him with our open spot, at least to a 10 day to see what he looked like. Figures he goes to the Nets.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#208 » by Revived » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:26 am

Jdiddy701 wrote:Orlando is tough man. Don’t be fooled by their record, they’ve been depleted all season. Evan Fournier is a freaking stud, so underrated. Also, Vuc is one tough dude to guard. Sucks we lost but can’t with them all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They had lost 11 of their 12 games coming into this one. This is easily the 2nd worst loss of the season behind only the Washington game.

It’s crazy that the Suns have the 2nd best record with losses to teams like Washington, Orlando, OKC, Sacramento, Detroit etc. I think it speaks to how healthy the Suns have been compared to other teams.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#209 » by Revived » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:28 am

bwgood77 wrote:
lilfishi22 wrote:Talking about the Nets, didn't this Alize Johnson guy get discussed on this board not too long ago?

He had a great game for the Nets


Yes, he was the most impressive big in the G league a number of teams were after. I was hoping we signed him with our open spot, at least to a 10 day to see what he looked like. Figures he goes to the Nets.

Is he really a big though? Size wise he’s about the same as Bridges and Craig.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#210 » by bwgood77 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:37 am

Revived wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
lilfishi22 wrote:Talking about the Nets, didn't this Alize Johnson guy get discussed on this board not too long ago?

He had a great game for the Nets


Yes, he was the most impressive big in the G league a number of teams were after. I was hoping we signed him with our open spot, at least to a 10 day to see what he looked like. Figures he goes to the Nets.

Is he really a big though? Size wise he’s about the same as Bridges and Craig.


He's listed at 6'9, and averaged 13.5 rpg in the G league, along with 4.3 apg.

Maybe he's not a big, but he can rebound, at least in the G league...and in college he averaged like 11.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#211 » by Revived » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:39 am

bwgood77 wrote:
Revived wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Yes, he was the most impressive big in the G league a number of teams were after. I was hoping we signed him with our open spot, at least to a 10 day to see what he looked like. Figures he goes to the Nets.

Is he really a big though? Size wise he’s about the same as Bridges and Craig.


He's listed at 6'9, and averaged 13.5 rpg in the G league, along with 4.3 apg.

Maybe he's not a big, but he can rebound, at least in the G league...and in college he averaged like 11.

Oh is he 6’9? Basketball ref listed him at 6’7 but not sure it’s accurate.

Yeah I would’ve liked him for his rebounding alone. If he’s a good defender then that’s a bonus.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#212 » by Revived » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:44 am

Read on Twitter


This is a tough shot by Fournier and credit it to him.

But what the hell is Booker doing on this play? He tries to help but he’s in no position to even contest or draw a charge. He actually fouls Fournier and the refs probably would’ve called it if the shot missed. But more importantly, if Ayton’s contest worked and Fournier missed the shot then Booker’s man would’ve simply dunked it back in.

Booker’s individual defense isn’t awful, he tries hard enough to where it’s only slightly below average at this point. But his team defense is atrocious imo because he lacks any type of IQ for that end.

We all get on Ayton when he screws up and even though Booker got lucky and Fournier’s shot went in, he should still get heat for basically leaving his man wide open under the rim and not even contesting or stopping Fournier in any type of way.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#213 » by bwgood77 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:56 am

Revived wrote:
Read on Twitter


This is a tough shot by Fournier and credit it to him.

But what the hell is Booker doing on this play? He tries to help but he’s in no position to even contest or draw a charge. He actually fouls Fournier and the refs probably would’ve called it if the shot missed. But more importantly, if Ayton’s contest worked and Fournier missed the shot then Booker’s man would’ve simply dunked it back in.

Booker’s individual defense isn’t awful, he tries hard enough to where it’s only slightly below average at this point. But his team defense is atrocious imo because he lacks any type of IQ for that end.

We all get on Ayton when he screws up and even though Booker got lucky and Fournier’s shot went in, he should still get heat for basically leaving his man wide open under the rim and not even contesting or stopping Fournier in any type of way.


Looks like Book was kind of trying to box out. I'm not sure what he could have done. I mentioned Bridges earlier but that was a nice pick on him and Ayton played the switch and kept with him and contested about as good as you could have asked for.

And we still had an opportunity at the end, but fell short...Orlando played tough D on that last possession and the previous inbound though.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#214 » by lilfishi22 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:59 am

His man was already starting to cut baseline so he just followed him into the paint. By the time he got to the paint, he had the choice to either stay with his man or help contest, he chose the latter. But if we're gonna point fingers, we should probably look at CP3 too since he let his man by him into the paint. There were three Magic players in the paint then so if Fournier had missed, it would've been scooped up by someone else if not Booker's man.

I kinda thought the rotations were off in the second half. Dario was having another off night (week) so they played Ayton almost the entire 3rd quarter. They gave him a 3min of rest in the 4th but he played all the way to the end from the 9min mark. The guy looked gassed. On the 2nd night of a B2B, you have to go down your bench. Zero minutes for Frank or Smith
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#215 » by sunsbg » Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:03 am

Yeah, the usual play when Mikal goes over the screen(90% of the time), Ayton ends on his man. Booker was in no mans land, defending his assignment initially, just trying to help which is hard when someone comes at full speed at you.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#216 » by lilfishi22 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:06 am

bwgood77 wrote:
Revived wrote:
Read on Twitter


This is a tough shot by Fournier and credit it to him.

But what the hell is Booker doing on this play? He tries to help but he’s in no position to even contest or draw a charge. He actually fouls Fournier and the refs probably would’ve called it if the shot missed. But more importantly, if Ayton’s contest worked and Fournier missed the shot then Booker’s man would’ve simply dunked it back in.

Booker’s individual defense isn’t awful, he tries hard enough to where it’s only slightly below average at this point. But his team defense is atrocious imo because he lacks any type of IQ for that end.

We all get on Ayton when he screws up and even though Booker got lucky and Fournier’s shot went in, he should still get heat for basically leaving his man wide open under the rim and not even contesting or stopping Fournier in any type of way.


Looks like Book was kind of trying to box out. I'm not sure what he could have done. I mentioned Bridges earlier but that was a nice pick on him and Ayton played the switch and kept with him and contested about as good as you could have asked for.

And we still had an opportunity at the end, but fell short...Orlando played tough D on that last possession and the previous inbound though.

I think Bridges did the right thing staying with the shooter. Had he fell back to the paint to help and was successful in shutting down the drive, Vuc would've been wide open.

I dunno, in games like this I feel like there were collectively small mistakes in that last play and full credit to Fournier for hitting that tough contested layup but against a 15-win team like the Magic, we lost because we allowed them to stay in the game throughout and that gave them an opportunity to win.

Bad teams like this need to be put down early because in the clutch, any NBA team could hit a tough shot to win it but good teams don't let bad teams get that opportunity.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#217 » by bwgood77 » Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:17 am

lilfishi22 wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Revived wrote:
Read on Twitter


This is a tough shot by Fournier and credit it to him.

But what the hell is Booker doing on this play? He tries to help but he’s in no position to even contest or draw a charge. He actually fouls Fournier and the refs probably would’ve called it if the shot missed. But more importantly, if Ayton’s contest worked and Fournier missed the shot then Booker’s man would’ve simply dunked it back in.

Booker’s individual defense isn’t awful, he tries hard enough to where it’s only slightly below average at this point. But his team defense is atrocious imo because he lacks any type of IQ for that end.

We all get on Ayton when he screws up and even though Booker got lucky and Fournier’s shot went in, he should still get heat for basically leaving his man wide open under the rim and not even contesting or stopping Fournier in any type of way.


Looks like Book was kind of trying to box out. I'm not sure what he could have done. I mentioned Bridges earlier but that was a nice pick on him and Ayton played the switch and kept with him and contested about as good as you could have asked for.

And we still had an opportunity at the end, but fell short...Orlando played tough D on that last possession and the previous inbound though.

I think Bridges did the right thing staying with the shooter. Had he fell back to the paint to help and was successful in shutting down the drive, Vuc would've been wide open.

I dunno, in games like this I feel like there were collectively small mistakes in that last play and full credit to Fournier for hitting that tough contested layup but against a 15-win team like the Magic, we lost because we allowed them to stay in the game throughout and that gave them an opportunity to win.

Bad teams like this need to be put down early because in the clutch, any NBA team could hit a tough shot to win it but good teams don't let bad teams get that opportunity.


Ultimately I think very few teams in the NBA are "bad" if they are healthy. Obviously most every team has NBA caliber players and Orlando is not one that plays G league level, and their rookie (from the 2019 draft who was out last year) had his best game. Orlando actually started well but (I know this from fantasy), Fournier and Ross were both out for long stretches, especially Fournier. And of course Isaac is out and I think Gordon was too. They were playing Khem Birch a lot for a while, and he did well, but they are down at PG (Fultz also out) so have to play MCW, and have had to do patchwork at their guard scoring positions...so they have mostly relied on Vucevic and sometimes Gordon.

Even OKC, who is clearly in tanking mode, took the Lakers with AD and LeBron healthy to OT in 2 consecutive games. Any team can beat any other on any given night. The Wizards went on a run and beat some of the best teams. Minnesota has a bad record but also has several good to great players if healthy, but Towns was out for a long time, Russell out the season and Rubio had a bad stretch along with Edwards starting slow. I think Culver is out too.

Detroit has been bad, but they have some decent players..they just put together a weird team and Killian Hayes, who they were going to start, went down early...so they are relying on other rookies like Bey, and Josh Jackson along with Plumlee and Grant.

But I think mostly the teams that are truly bad, other than Detroit, are only teams that have been banged up. The Wizards can be tough when Beal and Westbrook are healthy and Bertans is on. Rui is decent. They did start Avdija for awhile but also have been missing Thomas Bryant the whole season.

Cleveland might actually be the worst, but did beat the Nets b2b, I think right after they got Harden and I think were playing all 3 stars. They have the worst pt differential other than the TWolves.

The only other team is Houston, but they were without Wood and almost always one of Dipo or Wall.

Now when some of these bad teams sell (if they do tomorrow), they will be worse...and of course the ones that continue to have injuries or guys out.

But this is about as healthy as Orlando has been all season outside of the beginning of the season when they were 4-0 and 6-2...though most all those wins were against not very good teams.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#218 » by Bogyo » Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:09 am

bwgood77 wrote:
Revived wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Yes, he was the most impressive big in the G league a number of teams were after. I was hoping we signed him with our open spot, at least to a 10 day to see what he looked like. Figures he goes to the Nets.

Is he really a big though? Size wise he’s about the same as Bridges and Craig.


He's listed at 6'9, and averaged 13.5 rpg in the G league, along with 4.3 apg.

Maybe he's not a big, but he can rebound, at least in the G league...and in college he averaged like 11.


I think we should have signed / tried a couple of 10 days after Jones was kicked off the team. This exact profile - or a C version of this profile - something we are still searching for at the deadline.

As for the game... f this :D Mikal and Cam shot like they were drunk, we tend to lose those, somebody put a stat up a while back how we win most all of the games when these 2 shoot league avg or better from 3, and lose most all when they shoot below it. Long season... While I can get pissed from time to time about these (like the washington and the sac game this year, those really stung me), I'm not really mad here... One shot here or there and we win a game where we played sht... Oh well... I do hope Dario gets out of his annual mid season slump soon, like he always does
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#219 » by RunDogGun » Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:35 pm

Mulhollanddrive wrote:We made 3 field goals in the last 7 minutes when up 100-96.

Thats just ridiculous really. It's tough to win games when doing crap like this. Suns are going to have a tough time in the playoffs when the defenses get even tougher and calls are nowhere to be found. Suns need to find the hot hand and feed that hot hand for all it has. Crowder was 5-7, Ayton was 8-12. Both should have taken 5 more shots each. Instead it was brick city from 5 other guys. Monty needs to step up. Losing to Minny last week and Orlando last night is simply unacceptable.
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Re: Game 43: Phoenix Suns (29-13) @ Orlando Magic (14-29) l Wednesday l 5:00pm l FSNAZ 

Post#220 » by Crives » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:03 pm

Why couldn’t the magic have traded Vuc, Gordon and Fournier yesterday?....

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