Magic @ Portland - Friday, Dec. 20th at 10:00 P.M.

[TrueMagicFan07]

 

Moda Center - Portland, OR

Friday, December 20th at 10:00 P.M.

TV:  Fox Sports Florida 

 12-16,  4th in Northwest Division    |     12-16,  2nd in Southeast Division 

 

 

 

LET'S GO!

 

[JJZFL]

We have the same records, and Portland is at sea level.  Let’s win this one.   

Oddsmakers have Portland favored by 3.5.  

[Fultz4thewin]

8 minutes ago, JJZFL said:

We have the same records, and Portland is at sea level.  Let’s win this one.   

Oddsmakers have Portland favored by 3.5.  

McCollum always kills us because he's one of the best players in the league at shooting the shots our defense is designed to give up. 

If you go back through the years, sometimes Whiteside completely takes Vucevic out of games but sometimes doesn't. You'd think fultz will struggle attacking the rim while Whiteside is there but maybe Vucevic will pull him away. 

They have  Carmelo, Kent Bazemore, Anthony tolliver, and Gary Trent as guys who will try to defend Gordon and Isaac. That's exploitable on our side if Gordon starts to figure things out. Tonight would be a good night to get him going. 

If hezonja plays there's only two ways it can go. 1. He's dropping 30 on us 2. In an attempt to drop 30 on us he goes 2/14 from the field with 5 turnovers

 

So this is kind of an interesting matchup. 

[Just a regular Magic fan]

The key for me is,  Fultz is going to feed them, so they need to finish when they get an opportunity. He can't do it all. These guys fight the easy stuff and make scoring harder on themselves than they have too.

[ML6]

Last season, Lillard went 15/25 from 3 against us (60%).  Both Portland wins.

Year before that, 8/16 (50%).  Both Portland wins.

Even with Portland being worse this year, I don't see us winning unless Clifford switches up the coverage.  Dropping just doesn't get it done when the opposing PG is one of the best shooters in the world.  Can't give a guy like that good looks.

[TheNameIsOrlando]

1 hour ago, ML6 said:

Last season, Lillard went 15/25 from 3 against us (60%).  Both Portland wins.

Year before that, 8/16 (50%).  Both Portland wins.

Even with Portland being worse this year, I don't see us winning unless Clifford switches up the coverage.  Dropping just doesn't get it done when the opposing PG is one of the best shooters in the world.  Can't give a guy like that good looks.

Good thing we have a PG who fights through screens now. 

[ML6]

15 minutes ago, TheNameIsOrlando said:

Good thing we have a PG who fights through screens now. 

That should help, but we'll see.  The big is so vital to the coverage.  But yeah, Lillard might not shoot as many if he feels he hasn't gotten enough separation from Fultz.

[Fultz4thewin]

I think I would matchup like this on defense

Lillard-fultz

McCollum-Gordon

Bazemore-Isaac

Carmelo-Fournier

Whiteside-Vucevic

 

[fan for too long 2]

Think I would switch Isaac on melo. Don’t let him get going. Bazemore is less of a threat. 

[Fultz4thewin]

8 minutes ago, fan for too long 2 said:

Think I would switch Isaac on melo. Don’t let him get going. Bazemore is less of a threat. 

Exactly. It lets Isaac stay out of foul trouble and roam a bit more.  I think they would try to post up Melo on Fournier and Fournier is pretty good at defending against that as long as he prevents him from dropping into the low post early. 

And if we dangle that carrot for them they might pursue the perceived mismatch which would get them out of their normal offense and have their guards stagnate on the perimeter. 

 

[fan for too long 2]

33 minutes ago, Fultz4thewin said:

Exactly. It lets Isaac stay out of foul trouble and roam a bit more.  I think they would try to post up Melo on Fournier and Fournier is pretty good at defending against that as long as he prevents him from dropping into the low post early. 

And if we dangle that carrot for them they might pursue the perceived mismatch which would get them out of their normal offense and have their guards stagnate on the perimeter. 

 

Also stay guarding the 3 point line don’t sag off!! For a change. 

[TrueMagicFan07]

I don't know about that Carmelo-Fournier match up either. There have been games where the person Evan was guarding just dribbled around/right past him. He failed to cut them off. It happened several times.