2021-2022 Regular Season Game 9: Boston Celtics (2-5) at Orlando Magic (2-6) - 11/03/21 at 7:00pm ET

[BlueBalls]

Didn’t see the game - what in the flippin hell happened in that 3rd quarter? Acts of terrorism? Kidnapping? They agreed to play blindfolded?

[thelead]

Didn’t see the game - what in the flippin hell happened in that 3rd quarter? Acts of terrorism? Kidnapping? They agreed to play blindfolded?

We went 1-12 from deep while also only taking 4 shots in the paint that quarter. It was the epitome of a bad team trying to play a modern game.

[Def Swami]

At some point Suggs is going to have to hit some of these wide open shots. To start the half, he missed an open 3, and open elbow jumper, and had a turnover in which he made the 3 but stepped out of bounds. Each possession in between, the Celtics scored. And the floodgates opened, and that was the game. The whole team played rather poorly and missed shots. But, if Suggs is going to be the starting shooting guard, he can't pull a Gary Harris every night when it comes to wide open jumpshots.

[thelead]

At some point Suggs is going to have to hit some of these wide open shots. To start the half, he missed an open 3, and open elbow jumper, and had a turnover in which he made the 3 but stepped out of bounds. Each possession in between, the Celtics scored. And the floodgates opened, and that was the game. The whole team played rather poorly and missed shots. But, if Suggs is going to be the starting shooting guard, he can't pull a Gary Harris every night when it comes to wide open jumpshots.

The shooting is concerning but there are a lot of other signs that he is nowhere near where we hoped for him to be (offensively). His handle is average at best but the thing that is really concerning me is the constant rejections at the rim. He is not getting by anyone and is not making the right read when bigs come to help in the paint. He is throwing awful shots up with little chance they go in. There is no creativity once he sees a big at the rim.

[basketballRob]

It was the same thing with Cole last season, he couldn't finish anything at the rim. Plus he was sub 30% for a while.

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[thelead]

It was the same thing with Cole last season, he couldn't finish anything at the rim. Plus he was sub 30% for a while.

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For sure and I'm still not ringing the alarms but there is no denying what we're all seeing right now.

[tooler]

Have we drafted a guard in the last 20 years that didn't struggle with shooting and finishing at the rim at first?

I try to be patient too. One day it'd be nice to have a fully-formed star rookie from game one. We can dream...

[fendilim]

It was the same thing with Cole last season, he couldn't finish anything at the rim. Plus he was sub 30% for a while.

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For sure and I'm still not ringing the alarms but there is no denying what we're all seeing right now.

True.

Here’s the thing I notice with Suggs though, he forces a lot of shots when he is clearly struggling with opponents’ size.

The difference with him and Cole is, Cole plays with the TURBO button pressed all the time. Suggs is more controlled with his pace, however.

Cole also has the ability to adjust mid-game. There were times last season when a certain move simply doesn’t work, either he gets blocked or opponents steals the ball from him. A few possessions after, he’ll try the same, but he’ll use his left hand instead, or he’ll be able to execute the same move but with different maneuver.

[89Magicfan]

So hopefully Suggs can develop the same way Dipo did?

[OrlDave]

Very happy I missed this one. Usually I'll go watch the recording, but with 32% shooting from the field I think I'll just quietly delete this one. Was it just a bad shooting night or was it the Celtic's defense?

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[JTG_92940618]

Very happy I missed this one. Usually I'll go watch the recording, but with 32% shooting from the field I think I'll just quietly delete this one. Was it just a bad shooting night or was it the Celtic's defense?

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I think it was both. Yeah, we missed heaps of shots but it kind of makes sense that we cooled off, and being inconsistent makes sense.

Boston also blocked a ton of shots and we got scared to drive to the rim. This killed our drive and kick game so we just kind of swung the ball from side to side but that resulted in a zero. In previous games, Cole would create a step-back three here and there but not this game.

[pepe1991]

Whole nba is shooting much, much worst than last year. We talk about 3% for 3 worst. Most speculate that players shot better without fans and no movment behind rim/glass.
Magic on other hand shot better than most. 6th best 3 point percentage.
We don't have roster compositon to shoot 45-50 threes a game on 37-39%.
Magic don't have any player who would be viewed as knockdown or elite shooter. Our hot shooting start will wear off sooner or later and we will go back on Earth, especially on road games against elite teams later in season.
This was ugly game. It's always ugly when team can't make shots and lacks offensive versitality to do much else.

[jezzerinho]

Whole nba is shooting much, much worst than last year. We talk about 3% for 3 worst. Most speculate that players shot better without fans and no movment behind rim/glass.
Magic on other hand shot better than most. 6th best 3 point percentage.
We don't have roster compositon to shoot 45-50 threes a game on 37-39%.
Magic don't have any player who would be viewed as knockdown or elite shooter. Our hot shooting start will wear off sooner or later and we will go back on Earth, especially on road games against elite teams later in season.
This was ugly game. It's always ugly when team can't make shots and lacks offensive versitality to do much else.

They also say a lot of players are struggling to adjust to the feel of the new ball.

[pepe1991]

Whole nba is shooting much, much worst than last year. We talk about 3% for 3 worst. Most speculate that players shot better without fans and no movment behind rim/glass.
Magic on other hand shot better than most. 6th best 3 point percentage.
We don't have roster compositon to shoot 45-50 threes a game on 37-39%.
Magic don't have any player who would be viewed as knockdown or elite shooter. Our hot shooting start will wear off sooner or later and we will go back on Earth, especially on road games against elite teams later in season.
This was ugly game. It's always ugly when team can't make shots and lacks offensive versitality to do much else.

They also say a lot of players are struggling to adjust to the feel of the new ball.

oh yea i forgot about it.
Molten ball is bit heavier as far as i know. I know when we play BB it feels different than Spalding balls

[JBSouthpaw]

glad to see there isn't too much panic on here. It looked like Boston made an adjustment to get up on all the players defensively, and it worked. Our guys panicked a bit in that 3rd Quarter.
Thought Bamba played pretty good, still gets pushed under the basket quite a bit on rebounds though.

[JBSouthpaw]

At some point Suggs is going to have to hit some of these wide open shots. To start the half, he missed an open 3, and open elbow jumper, and had a turnover in which he made the 3 but stepped out of bounds. Each possession in between, the Celtics scored. And the floodgates opened, and that was the game. The whole team played rather poorly and missed shots. But, if Suggs is going to be the starting shooting guard, he can't pull a Gary Harris every night when it comes to wide open jumpshots.

The shooting is concerning but there are a lot of other signs that he is nowhere near where we hoped for him to be (offensively). His handle is average at best but the thing that is really concerning me is the constant rejections at the rim. He is not getting by anyone and is not making the right read when bigs come to help in the paint. He is throwing awful shots up with little chance they go in. There is no creativity once he sees a big at the rim.

Agreed, such a bad sequence.
We were in the game, so I really was upset to see that, but it's going to take sequences like that to learn from so I settled down.
The team the 2nd half of the year would do that, but it mattered less because we weren't in the game.

FYI, I had to watch/listen to the BOS telecast, they were pretty complementary on our players.

[Skybox]

It was the same thing with Cole last season, he couldn't finish anything at the rim. Plus he was sub 30% for a while.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM Forums mobile app

For sure and I'm still not ringing the alarms but there is no denying what we're all seeing right now.

True.

Here’s the thing I notice with Suggs though, he forces a lot of shots when he is clearly struggling with opponents’ size.

The difference with him and Cole is, Cole plays with the TURBO button pressed all the time. Suggs is more controlled with his pace, however.

Cole also has the ability to adjust mid-game. There were times last season when a certain move simply doesn’t work, either he gets blocked or opponents steals the ball from him. A few possessions after, he’ll try the same, but he’ll use his left hand instead, or he’ll be able to execute the same move but with different maneuver.

It makes sense for a college player to have an adjustment period to the "shock and awe" of the average size, speed, and athleticism of the NBA personnel (vs. college)...there are no gimmes here. I think he'll be fine...this kind of thinking could also be a big sell for the G league in the coming years...it might make for a smoother transition to the NBA (like the top foreign leagues). American college hoops is very high level at the top of the rosters, but the other options offer more mature physical players...missing open shots is a concern, but it's also a different 3pt line, so there's an answer for every concern...for now.

[drsd]

TOs and FTs


Orlando was (yet again) +3 in TO differential. That spots 5 points.
If the Magic shoot 75% with their FTs, that's 3 points not earned.

That would have put the game at something like Boston 90 and Orlando 85. This was a closer game than the final score and the Magic need to tidy up TO differential and FT shooting to get wins from games like this.


..

[Bergmaniac]

Such a reversal to the mean in terms of shooting was bound to happen after the hot start, we were 7th in the league in 3pt percentage before this game on a huge volume, and we just don't have the roster to maintain this. And when Boston increased their defensive intensity after the break, we looked completely lost and resorted to chucking bad 3s one after another. But these things happen with an young team, especially when the schedule is that packed.

We are 29th in the league in 2pt FG%, BTW, we would need to improve on this and have a plan B for the nights when the threes are not falling.

[OrlDave]

They also say a lot of players are struggling to adjust to the feel of the new ball.

That and the new foul calling. Some players would flail to the basket, miss the shot but get a foul, now it's just a miss.