Official Gamethread: OKC VS ORL

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

KD's "block" was a karate chop across oladipos chest. And the ref was right there. So ridiculous.

 

Nah. It wasn't oladipo. It was Rich Devos -- even with D12 I felt we got robbed on calls.

 

I was 11-14 at the time so I don't remember. Did McGrady get calls?

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

My stream was too blurry to see any missed calls, but I'll just say that this might've been a breakout game for Oladipo. Even when he had a terrible shooting percentage around the 3rd quarter and some people were complaining, I could see the determination that he was playing with and he came up HUGE for us.

 

I counted at least 5 of his misses that were pretty blatant fouls.

[Stu Bronsilino 313]

we're as good as the bulls and okc. contender status.

[Voodoo Man 99]

No one here gave our team a chance to win this game. People were thinking we'd be embarrassed. Anyone who gives this team grief tonight is insane. What an incredible effort by both teams.

You are probably right, but that 18 point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter does make this a tough pill to swallow. I will say that I am looking forward to the rest of the season though. We could easily be 2-0 right now.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

While super happy with the performance from our players, I would be lying if I said that this loss doesn't sting. It stings like hell :(

[Franchero MVP 391]

we're as good as the bulls and okc. contender status.

 

I'm really afraid these losses are gonna take a toll on us eventually. Especially if we go 0-6 to start the season. Almost doesn't count.

[JJZFL 623]

You are probably right, but that 18 point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter does make this a tough pill to swallow.

 

Exactly. Oklahoma scored a ridiculous 42 points in the 4th quarter. Only 3 were due to the lucky shot at the end.

 

This was a disappointing collapse. Good news is that it seems unlikely to occur against lesser teams.

[Franchero MVP 391]

Good news is that it seems unlikely to occur against lesser teams.

 

I'd like to believe this, I really would.

 

But I don't.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

It's interesting that all of our guys are meeting expectations so far

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

I don't know if this is a fluke, but if Payton keeps improving his shot at this rate... WATCH OUT

[~O~ 565]

That game was absolutely superb. We did everything right accept shoot at a high enough clip to win. The Magic let the Thunder back into the game at the 6 minute ark. It was the same mark they let the Wizards back into the game. The Magic have a problem late in games where they stop executing and get nervous. They need to maintain confidence during those critical moments of the game. After westbrook made that shot from halfcourt, no one had the confidence to shoot in overtime. Its a testament to how great the Magic can be that they were able to grind through that overtime period after being gutted to send it to double overtime.

 

Victor is doing everything right but shooting well from the three. Other than that, he does not draw fouls at a high clip on drives for obvious reasons stated and seen by many of you. Even last season. I believe victor is an all-star caliber player that is not getting his due and it shouldn't be a surprise.

 

The only issue with victor is that he needs to start making those threes. He had triple double tonight. I'm satisfied.

 

I'm satisfied with vuc as well. I feel he did not receive enough touches late in the fourth. I feel most of all..that his performances was wasted...and I feel bad we didn't win this game for Vucevic. He went all out and he should be proud of himself as well as his teammates.

 

The magic should have used more small ball late in the fourth quarter immediately as a counter to the Westbrook adam high pick and roll and BURST. Vucevic cannot be expect to stop westbrook on drives like that. Skiles finally went with the counter but it was too late.

 

Aaron Gordon should receive more minutes and should have stayed in later in the game. Everything collapsed wen both he and hezonja went to the bench. Aaron Gordon's capabilities of length and versatility gave Durant a tough time through out the game. He's also able to switch and still guard anyone on the court. Hezonja and Gordon have a great chemistry together coming into the game and I'm glad that's recognized by Skiles. Hezonja is not yet a competent enough defender but having Gordon on the floor with him almost negates that.

 

Fournier cost us more than anyone in my opinion. His expectation is mostly to spread the floor and he did not do that well all night. CJ watson continues to be unreliable at scoring open jumpers. He also didn't play with much energy at all.

 

We were shooting 61% at halftime. We ended the game shooting 44%. Most of it was vucevic being a juggernaut on offense. Everyone else was shooting respectable at that point.

 

Right now....the only problem overall with this team is overall shooting on open shots and execution past the 6 to 7 minute mark in the fourth quarter. That's it.

 

This team should make the playoffs easily if they can overcome these things that should be trivial with their capabilities.

[~O~ 565]

This is as bad as the GSW game last year...worse...

 

That fourth quarter was just Steph curry making 3 three point shots in a row to win them the game. That's just the heart of Curry which I learned in the playoffs. Its alright but at that moment..the magic did have a convincing lead.