Emergency game thread Cavs @ Magic

[Dennis Reynolds]

Vic and AG really do care. Fournier as well. The rest of these guys just look like they are here for the check.

The only thing Fournier cares about is his contract. If he was really about the wins,he would actually play some smart BB once in a while.

It seems like he cares about the wins so he can get paid. Earlier in the season he seemed to genuinely angst-riddled that the team kept dropping close games against .500 squads. I think he is a nice rotation player nothing more. He certainly is not a smart player.

Because he knows nobody will spend big money on a guy who is padding his stats on a bad team.

[T-DOT KEEZY]

Vooch seems to be in it solely for stats and getting paid. It sickened me to see Vooch, Payton, and of all people Napier clowing around with Channing Frye at half court after a LOSS. VO looked pretty ticked. The man left it all on the floor. We can knock his limitations all day but the man brings his lunch pail to work every day.

[Dennis Reynolds]

I'm not doubting AG's work ethic and talent but when you get treated like scrub for years,you start thinking you are one. He can't learn how to read the defense and what to do in a split second by watching the tape. If it were that easy,we would all just watch the games,step on the court and play like world beaters.

[SOUL]

Eh.. even Vic is pretty buddy buddy post game after losses.. don't think people aren't annoyed by losses.. there just isn't really much to be annoyed by at this point in time.

[ChosenSavior]

Maybe it's because I follow the Spurs as well (I do live in San Antonio after all), but AG reminds me on how Kawhi used to be when he came into the league as a raw athletic rookie who had to earn his spot in the rotation by rebounding, playing elite defense and hit the corner 3 (basically be a Bowen clone). Kawhi dedicated himself to working on his game every offseason after his rookie year to turn himself into the player he is today. I really do believe AG can get to that point as well.

After this summer, this franchise needs a clear identity on what they want to be and build the roster to accommodate that style.

I agree as far as work ethic and do-it-all sort of player.

The difference is they had the luxury of being able to work Kawhi in and players that he necessarily didn't *need* to play over. We're sort of like "yeah, you're good.. but just watch our equivalent of Danny Green and a long two version of Matt Bonner shoot while you just do stuff"

I agree with you SOUL and that stems from excellent coaching which we obviously do not have. They have an established culture and set appropriate roles for the players there. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that Kawhi and AG are similar in a sense as an individual player. Kawhi had to put in tons of work on his game to ultimately become the #1 option he is with the Spurs now. I feel AG can get there as well if he puts the work in.

[SOUL]

And our scheme is just bad defensively.. Elfrid is a good defender who looks worse this year and even Watson isn't usually bad, Jennings is small and undersized but scrappy.. all of them get wiped out by screens because we don't bump or switch or call out anything. The defense isn't being played as a unit and has no real captain leading (a Sheed or KG type) and barking out positions. It doesn't matter how good individually Payton could be or how disruptive Oladipo could be or if AG is all over the court.. there are always breakdowns / overhelping occurring and it's annoying.

[EAS Law]

I'm just glad we didn't lose by 40

[OrlandO]

Oladipo in the last 20 games: 20.4 pts (15 fga @ 49% fg & 37% 3pt), 5.1 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.8 stl, .9 blk, 2 tov
Has he had a better 20-game stretch than this?

[magic22s]

The game was enjoyable, despite the loss. I am glad Oladipo had a career night. Go Magic!

[AdamTheGreek]

You can imagine that Vic got a lot of attention after the game. Vic had never scored that many points in his life before. You can see that Aaron and Evan were really down about the result.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ceLRyED1Fw[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7neFwtAI3Gg[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD2--u9iWPQ[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhCaAz69Qw[/youtube]

[OrlandoDream]

What a night for Dipo. He has been playing like an all star lately. Too bad he has nobody else to help him. We could have won it but just caved in 4th. On to the next one. Oh and f frye. Of course he goes off on us. That was the hardest part to watch.

[Def Swami]

Oladipo in the last 20 games: 20.4 pts (15 fga @ 49% fg & 37% 3pt), 5.1 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.8 stl, .9 blk, 2 tov
Has he had a better 20-game stretch than this?

He was pretty good post-all-star last year too. I don't remember if it was this good over the same stretch though.

[OrlandO]

Oladipo in the last 20 games: 20.4 pts (15 fga @ 49% fg & 37% 3pt), 5.1 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.8 stl, .9 blk, 2 tov
Has he had a better 20-game stretch than this?

He was pretty good post-all-star last year too. I don't remember if it was this good over the same stretch though.

Looks like he scored 20-21 points on 16-17 shots (44-46% fg) in January and March last season, but both months were followed by poor shooting months. So I'd say this recent play is the best stretch of his career. If he can play out the season with efficient scoring numbers that would be a good sign.

[shadrock]

Mario played terrible tonight. He didnt earn more minutes. For gods sake kets rest it on the Skiles hate. He did a good job tonight. When mario deserves more minutes he will get more. AG should be proof of that.

[the_hobo]

I'm just glad we didn't lose by 40

Fun fact - the last time that happened (January) Nicholson was taken out of the lineup after averaging, per 36, our 2ND most points and 4th most rebounds on our team, in December.

January, he was taken out and had his minutes severely reduced. We went 2-12 that month.

Skiles overreacted to that loss and it ended up removing us from the playoffs as a result. Nicholson was a staple player for us and was guiding our bench to positive outings. We would have made the playoffs.

Luckily, Aaron Gordon did emerge as our future star over time. I just wish it didn't come with the cost of missing the playoffs this year, and what is bound to be the eventual trade/release of arguably our best bench player (better than Smith, dedmon, ilyasova, hands down.)

[SOUL]

Mario played terrible tonight. He didnt earn more minutes. For gods sake kets rest it on the Skiles hate. He did a good job tonight. When mario deserves more minutes he will get more. AG should be proof of that.

Fournier played terrible.. 2-8.. bunch of fouls first half and turnovers and was rewarded with more minutes.

Mario in LIMITED first half minutes looked good.. shot 1-2, had 2-3 assists, looked nice with the ball.. just look at the comments?

Second half in 4 MINUTES 2 turnovers and a missed shot. Hardly "terrible" .. it's just a double standard right now.. there simply isn't enough opportunity to play out of that.

[shinoff2183]

I honestly didnt think evan did really bad on james, I mean it is lebron he isnt a scrub. James shot under 50 and had 4 to. I know evan didnt have him the whole game but damn. Now on offense he was horrid I agree with that.

[SOUL]

Strictly talking about his offense. Wasn't bad on leBron.. but I don't think they really went through LeBron much either.

[OrlandO]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQ4FiUZW2o[/youtube]

[ORL_on_FIRE]

Oladipo proving all the haters wrong.