OFFICIAL GAMETHREAD: Magic vs Wizards

[Soul Bro 1,419]

He's streaky. He'll shoot 30% one month and 39% the next. Hopefully he improves that streakiness so his low months are more reasonable.

Agree. I want him to succeed and the team to succeed!

[Optimist Prime 197]

I think this game showed great stride for the team. When Washington went on the 12-0 run, last year that would have ended it.

 

There were also a lot of good open shots that just didn't go down. I'm thinking Fourier in the corner to end the 3rd, and Hezonja's two air balls, specifically. Oladipo shot poorly from three, but any of them on their own, I'd be happy to see him taking.

 

Payton has increased confidence in his jumper, which is nice, but I hope it doesn't deter his taking it to the rim. Vuc seemed off on offense, not sure what it was. He just seemed timid. He generally did a good job challenging shots on defense, except the last one by Wall. AG really impressed with his energy getting rebounds.

 

Bad play to end the game. Only Tim Duncan can make that kind of shot a good shot.

[TheNameIsOrlando 310]

I think this game showed great stride for the team. When Washington went on the 12-0 run, last year that would have ended it.

 

There were also a lot of good open shots that just didn't go down. I'm thinking Fourier in the corner to end the 3rd, and Hezonja's two air balls, specifically. Oladipo shot poorly from three, but any of them on their own, I'd be happy to see him taking.

 

Payton has increased confidence in his jumper, which is nice, but I hope it doesn't deter his taking it to the rim. Vuc seemed off on offense, not sure what it was. He just seemed timid. He generally did a good job challenging shots on defense, except the last one by Wall. AG really impressed with his energy getting rebounds.

 

Bad play to end the game. Only Tim Duncan can make that kind of shot a good shot.

 

Pretty much....I know everyone was super excited for this game and really wanted a win but everyone good and bad should relax. I'd venture to say this was the bad side of our team and we will play games far above this level. In the end we will land somewhere in the middle which is probably exactly where we should be when all is said and done.

 

It's only been one game. We can can take very little from it.

[Spaceman 58]

This game went pretty much as I expected. Magic had some highlight dunks (Gordon), good and bad threes (Mario) Elf and Dipo played well but took too many shots, Nic and Tobias played pretty well but I would have liked a little more from them near the end of the game (Old Story). Refs? this team just has to play better so they don't matter any more.

 

The only real problem I had was Elfrids shot near the end of the game with the Magic having a 1 pt lead, not that he took it but that he took it too early in the clock without really trying to set something up. Teaching moment I hope. Any way it's just the first game and OKC won't be any easier. Great to have our team back on the floor.

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

I like the idea that Oladipo is the scapegoat even though he shot better than Payton, Fournier, and Watson, and only slightly worse than Vuc did(and Vuc is a big man).

 

I also really like the idea that if a whopping 2 of Oladipo's missed 3s had not rimmed out(putting his 3pt performance squarely at "league average"), we'd be talking about how spectacular his game was.

 

Also: I know everyone likes his defense, but there's no way you put Dedmon in at the end of the game. Not when they can just foul him immediately if they miss. His defense is above average, but he's just so, so bad on offense. Never seemed to know where to be, and demonstrating all the grace of a flatulent hippo.

[jjgator 164]

Did anyone else see eye patch Washington coach? That was weird.

 

I'm ashamed to admit I chuckled a bit when I first saw it. It isn't my fault though; eye patches are pretty much always scary or funny.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,032]

I would rate Skiles' performance with a B+

 

I loved the movement on both sides of the court and the rotations were OK.

 

I liked that he wasn't scared to have a rookie playing in crunch time even if said rookie had some horrible airballs trying to be the hero

 

Very few negatives but I think at least one of Gordon and Dedmon should've been kept for the final minutes (remember the Wizards started their 8-0 run when both came out, not saying it wouldn't have happened, but still..)

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I'm ashamed to admit I chuckled a bit when I first saw it. It isn't my fault though; eye patches are pretty much always scary or funny.

 

 

I know.

 

I told my friend he's probably the reason they're no longer the Washington Bullets.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,032]

I'm ashamed to admit I chuckled a bit when I first saw it. It isn't my fault though; eye patches are pretty much always scary or funny.

I laughed because it looked really silly. Eye patches are something you only see in comic book movies and things of that nature

 

Hope he doesn't have a serious disease or whatever

[Franchero MVP 391]

I would rate Skiles' performance with a B+

 

I loved the movement on both sides of the court and the rotations were OK.

 

I liked that he wasn't scared to have a rookie playing in crunch time even if said rookie had some horrible airballs trying to be the hero

 

Very few negatives but I think at least one of Gordon and Dedmon should've been kept for the final minutes (remember the Wizards started their 8-0 run when both came out, not saying it wouldn't have happened, but still..)

 

I definitely think at least Gordon should have been in. Wall breezed right by Payton, which I think had to do with his hamstring soreness, so we should have anticipated that and had better helper available.

 

Oh well, I'm sure we will get better as the season goes on. It's the first game. Not much to take away. It would just be nice to actually win these type of games so that we can at least be in the playoff race

[NittanyBuc 757]

Was at the game, had a blast. Solid attendance.

 

This team is so athletic and entertaining, can't wait to see what the future holds. The offense kinda blows, but now we're starting to see what we have to work with. I'm still pretty happy with how last night went because you can already see the improvement across the board, especially on defense. Washington isn't an elite team, but they're not pushovers either so I'm not upset over the loss. Still a young team and we're not past the growing pains just yet.

 

I also thought that the offense was pretty balanced in terms of touches, which will help down the road. Only thing that I wasn't a fan of was Harris not taking it right at Humphries. That's a mismatch that you have to take advantage of, imo.

[FloridaHoosierGirl 1]

At the game last night and it was the first time I was able to be there for opening night. Was so pumped and like several members of the team said, we were "disheartened" after. I know it's only one game and I'm not giving up on them, but it would have been great to get off to a better start. :svgsad: