2020-2021 Regular Season Game 50: Orlando Magic (17-32) at Denver Nuggets (30-18)

[drsd]

Great effort tonight by the very short handed Magic. In the end, they ran out of gas to a very good team who will contend for the Western Conference Title. It was an exciting game most of the way and really about as much as you could have hoped for under the circumstances.

Now, The Magic get a few days off to get healthy and beat this damn flu bug. Cole Anthony will be back soon and hopefully Gary Harris too.

Gordon has not lost a game since being a Nugget.


..

[drsd]

With this loss:
Orlando is again in sole possession of being the 4th worst team.
Orlando is 1/2 game worse than the 5th worst Cavs
Orlando is 2 1/2 games better than the 3rd words Pistons.

[bigdogdylan5]

So Murray and Hampton did have some bad blood. Like on thats RJ air ball. Really rich coming from a guy who has had an awful season while everyone else on his team has taken leaps forward.

[KillMonger]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[RookieStar]

So Murray and Hampton did have some bad blood. Like on thats RJ air ball. Really rich coming from a guy who has had an awful season while everyone else on his team has taken leaps forward.

Wait they really had beef in their locker room before this trade happend?

[bigdogdylan5]

So Murray and Hampton did have some bad blood. Like on thats RJ air ball. Really rich coming from a guy who has had an awful season while everyone else on his team has taken leaps forward.

Wait they really had beef in their locker room before this trade happend?

Idk I didn’t hear anything before this game but the body language between the two seemed off to me and was weird all game and Murray was really giving him **** over airball

Watch on YouTube

[p0peye]

WCJ is really good young center. Hopefully his health won't be an issue.

[TunaFish]

So Murray and Hampton did have some bad blood. Like on thats RJ air ball. Really rich coming from a guy who has had an awful season while everyone else on his team has taken leaps forward.

Wait they really had beef in their locker room before this trade happend?

Idk I didn’t hear anything before this game but the body language between the two seemed off to me and was weird all game and Murray was really giving him **** over airball

Watch on YouTube

Not at all. They have known each other for a long time and are just being competitive. Here is a picture of them together when Hampton was in high school.

Read on Twitter

[bigdogdylan5]

Wait they really had beef in their locker room before this trade happend?

Idk I didn’t hear anything before this game but the body language between the two seemed off to me and was weird all game and Murray was really giving him **** over airball

Watch on YouTube

Not at all. They have known each other for a long time and are just being competitive. Here is a picture of them together when Hampton was in high school.

Read on Twitter

Ahh ok probably friendly ribbing then

[JTG_92940618]

Yeah, I think they're close hence Murray is being extra harsh.

Have a look at this video at about 0:50

Watch on YouTube

[JBSouthpaw]

Guys, the next game, we see Cole and Gary Harris!!! No more Randle, and hopefully Bacon. I think MCW should be healthy by then too.

MCW/Cole
Harris/RJ/Bacon
Ennis/Ross
Okeke/Otto
WCJ/Bamba/Birch

I'd like to see:
RJ/MCW
Harris/Cole/Bacon
Ennis/Otto
Okeke/Birch
WCJ/MO

I like MCW with Cole off the bench, want to see Cole in more of the combo guard role over lead ball handler.
Also like WCJ/Mo getting all the minutes at center, so might as well have Birch back up Okeke.

[basketballRob]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Okeke had 19 points, not 16.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[zaymon]

Carter/Okeke are propably our frontcourt for years to come. Wendell still only 21, bulls fans act like he was 25 or something. He was also surrounded with terrible defenders and lot of coaching changes. He needs to work on his 3 like Vooch and we are golden.
Hampton is a bundle of energy, like him. Propably a poor mans Zach Lavine with better defense ? We will have a lot of players who you hate playing against. MCW, Isaac, Okeke, Ennis and now we add Hampton, Harris and Carter lol. Clifford should be pleased next year.
Okeke with legit number two/Khris Middleton potential. Great balance, can twist his body and still a good shot. Could be a star.
Bacon is a nice player, but with his tunnel vision and no 3 point shot i would rather develop Hampton after Anthony and Harris are back.

[tiderulz]

What coaches could you see being brought over for the Magic at this stage?

I saw someone suggest Kenny Atkinson on a another thread, I’m a fan of that move

I'm hoping for juwan howard
After seeing what he's done with that michigan program, I'm sold

Howard being from U of M, do you see him leaving? he could stay there and become a legend.

[p0peye]

Teams probably don't know what to expect when they face us and that is a pitfall. We are a team of scrappy, solid defenders with chip on their shoulders who fight for minutes and contracts to prolong their NBA career a bit more. Very limited ceiling, but a threat to win some games down the stretch this season.

[MartinsIzAfraud]

****. pissy Cliff tonight in the presser. Like, how can you be that salty after a game like that.

rookie playing out of position
1 starter has the flu
backup C playing with the flu
backup PG playing with 1 hammy

c'mon man.

I guess it's to be expected that Clifford would be more pissed off after losing a game that he deemed "winnable" because of lack of attention to detail, real or imagined.

Read on Twitter

You see stuff like this where Clifford openly expresses his frustration with the few young players they have and it makes you wonder if he will want to keep coaching this team when they inevitably get even *younger* next season.

Think this is cliff’s way of also letting the FO know I’m not here for a rebuild. I fully expect a mutual parting of ways at the end of the year.

I’d give Kelvin Sampson a call again and say let’s make a deal.

[zuppafly]

I'm on the other side: I think Cliff is showing how to be the best rebuild coach we could have.
He is playing the young guys and he is making them accountable during the losses. We can argue that it's expected to loose these games, but it's up to the coaching staff to develop the players and make sure they become able to win and not make the mistakes we are doing.
Experience is worth zero if the players are not on their toes every single game. We will lose a lot of games, we will lose a lot of close games due to mistakes from young guys, I want to have a coach that is pissed because of these mistakes and pushes the young core to grow and learn to win games, not just fill the stat sheet.

[bigdogdylan5]

I think if Cliff wants to coach this team he has to find a way to walk the line of holding them accountable and not being too harsh. I get it no moral victories but damn he doesn’t have to be that harsh. You need to find the middle ground between of Cliff and Skiles and the bull JV was doing. I fully expect to see this lineup for the rest of the season so everyone needs to prepare themselves. Cliff has no patience for the youth judging by these press conferences.

MCW/Anthony
Harris/Ross/Ennis/Hampton (lucky if 10 mins a game)
Bacon/Ennis/Porter
Okeke/Porter/Birch
Carter/Birch/Bamba

[PrimeThyme]

I’d personally prefer to keep Clifford on board too. Ive been higher on him than most over the last few years && think he could play a critical role in WCJ’s development.

The only thing that gives me pause with Cliff is his handling of young guards. A somewhat turnover prone guard like RJ could find his way out of the rotation at any moment once we get some guys back && that’s just not going to be an option. He has to play.

Overall though, I actually think Clifford gets a really unfair rep when it comes to his development of young guys. He’s shown the willingness to give the young players who could actually play and that have talent on this team big minutes and pretty defined roles (Isaac, Chuma, Cole). Bamba just isn’t any good and isn’t capable of playing big minutes in the NBA.

I think Clifford will stay on. Harris/Ross will still be under contract next year, Isaac will be coming back, && I imagine we will have some cap space to play with too. We will be more competitive than people think, similarly to how we’ve been since trading everyone at the deadline.

Clifford squeezes everything out of a roster.

[thelead]

I’d personally prefer to keep Clifford on board too. Ive been higher on him than most over the last few years && think he could play a critical role in WCJ’s development.

The only thing that gives me pause with Cliff is his handling of young guards. A somewhat turnover prone guard like RJ could find his way out of the rotation at any moment once we get some guys back && that’s just not going to be an option. He has to play.

Overall though, I actually think Clifford gets a really unfair rep when it comes to his development of young guys. He’s shown the willingness to give the young players who could actually play and that have talent on this team big minutes and pretty defined roles (Isaac, Chuma, Cole). Bamba just isn’t any good and isn’t capable of playing big minutes in the NBA.

I think Clifford will stay on. Harris/Ross will still be under contract next year, Isaac will be coming back, && I imagine we will have some cap space to play with too. We will be more competitive than people think, similarly to how we’ve been since trading everyone at the deadline.

Clifford squeezes everything out of a roster.

I'm not the biggest Clifford fan but watching the bulls makes me really appreciate him