2023-2024 General Game Thread

[All Eyes On Me 1,210]

Also, not an excuse tonight because we would’ve lost regardless, but Franz gets the worst whistle of any fringe star I’ve ever seen. 7 turnovers is bad, but he was getting hacked at all game. God I hate Miami 

[orlandoholic 134]

another game i won’t say too much except terrible effort. 

One thing, could be coincidence though. This is the first day in a while i have seen Fultz play without the kinesiology tape on his shoulder. And the first game he was confidently taking jumpshots and not avoiding them!!!!

coincidence??

somebody needs to ask!

[CTMagicUK 1,482]

Unserious basketball team. Didn't look close to a playoff team. Where's the effort on defense? The Heat are a horrible offensive team that just torched us. Then we looked clueless on offense. Every time we play against a zone we act like it's the first time we've ever seen it. Team is desperate for someone to give them some zip, some off ball movement, some pull up shooting, something other than wanting to post up or wanting to drive through a wall of bodies to the rim. 

Reffing was putrid though. Franz' lack of whistle is criminal. Bam Adebayo literally mauls dudes at one end but if you so much as touch Jimmy Butler it's 2 FTs. 

Markelle was fine individually but I still hope he's gone tomorrow. There was a play in the second half where Franz caught the ball in the corner, went to make the extra pass to the open guy next to him, saw it was Markelle and didn't then drove into a double team (was fouled but no call) and turned the ball over. And that's the problem, his teammates dont have confidence in him to do what a team needs it's guards to do in that situation. And that's not going to change because he had a game where he took 2, unbelievably wide open, corner 3s and made 1 of them.

Mosely needs to get into Paolo about his defense. It's just not good enough. He could legitimately be one of the best players in the world if he wants to be but the truly elite, winning players play at a high level on both ends. A team who's identity is defense and who win games by defense can't play 4 on 5 while Paolo complains about a no call. They can't have Paolo out there walking around, soft switching to get away from the ball, getting back cut, not stopping ball in transition, being late to close out. It's infuriating because he has all the tools to be good defensively and none of the desire. 

If a trade doesn't happen in the next couple of days I'll presume this front office is content with being a play-in team. 

[CTMagicUK 1,482]

On the bright side, a reminder to Jeff Weltman that this team is nowhere near equipped for a playoff defense just before the trade deadline might be a good thing.

[Jamesdin 40]

1 hour ago, CTMagicUK said:

Unserious basketball team. Didn't look close to a playoff team. Where's the effort on defense? The Heat are a horrible offensive team that just torched us. Then we looked clueless on offense. Every time we play against a zone we act like it's the first time we've ever seen it. Team is desperate for someone to give them some zip, some off ball movement, some pull up shooting, something other than wanting to post up or wanting to drive through a wall of bodies to the rim. 

Reffing was putrid though. Franz' lack of whistle is criminal. Bam Adebayo literally mauls dudes at one end but if you so much as touch Jimmy Butler it's 2 FTs. 

Markelle was fine individually but I still hope he's gone tomorrow. There was a play in the second half where Franz caught the ball in the corner, went to make the extra pass to the open guy next to him, saw it was Markelle and didn't then drove into a double team (was fouled but no call) and turned the ball over. And that's the problem, his teammates dont have confidence in him to do what a team needs it's guards to do in that situation. And that's not going to change because he had a game where he took 2, unbelievably wide open, corner 3s and made 1 of them.

Mosely needs to get into Paolo about his defense. It's just not good enough. He could legitimately be one of the best players in the world if he wants to be but the truly elite, winning players play at a high level on both ends. A team who's identity is defense and who win games by defense can't play 4 on 5 while Paolo complains about a no call. They can't have Paolo out there walking around, soft switching to get away from the ball, getting back cut, not stopping ball in transition, being late to close out. It's infuriating because he has all the tools to be good defensively and none of the desire. 

If a trade doesn't happen in the next couple of days I'll presume this front office is content with being a play-in team. 

I notice the Paolo effort on D. Call him on that, gave away too many points in the paint by not even giving an effort

[JJZFL 619]

11 hours ago, MAGICTIME22 said:

Franz with 3 turnovers and the team has 4. 2 points scored and almost halfway through the first quarter! You're right. Disgusting is the perfect way to describe it! 

The problem is that sooner or later these lousy starts catch up with you, as we saw last night.  It’s hard to play from behind all the time.  

[fan for too long 2 531]

Paolo has always given me Carmelo vibes. His effort on d is usually lackluster and his energy on offense is high. Don’t think on some nights he wants put the effort in.
 

Fans of the Magic can’t stand the Heat, but do the players, or coaches? This team is too young, maybe to know that? The coaches or management don’t emphasize the importance or meaning of beating them? Idk but it’s truly disappointing that the team just didn’t give a ****t. 

[All Eyes On Me 1,210]

14 minutes ago, fan for too long 2 said:

Paolo has always given me Carmelo vibes. His effort on d is usually lackluster and his energy on offense is high. Don’t think on some nights he wants put the effort in.
 

Fans of the Magic can’t stand the Heat, but do the players, or coaches? This team is too young, maybe to know that? The coaches or management don’t emphasize the importance or meaning of beating them? Idk but it’s truly disappointing that the team just didn’t give a ****t. 

JI had an interview before the game about how the team realizes the importance of the game and are locked in. just bad execution. Also a terrible team to play against on the last night of a long road trip when the officials are “letting them play”. Miami already goes with a “they can’t call every foul” mentality on defense, when the refs don’t call any, they’re super tough to beat.

I’m frustrated with Moseley’s lack of making small tweaks to the rotation. Goga shoulda got minutes in the first quarter when he realized we couldn’t get a board to save our lives. Black should be playing over Cole. Hopefully we have clarity on a direction tomorrow

[harryfromphilly 75]

5 minutes ago, All Eyes On Me said:

JI had an interview before the game about how the team realizes the importance of the game and are locked in. just bad execution. Also a terrible team to play against on the last night of a long road trip when the officials are “letting them play”. Miami already goes with a “they can’t call every foul” mentality on defense, when the refs don’t call any, they’re super tough to beat.

I’m frustrated with Moseley’s lack of making small tweaks to the rotation. Goga shoulda got minutes in the first quarter when he realized we couldn’t get a board to save our lives. Black should be playing over Cole. Hopefully we have clarity on a direction tomorrow

Among the many things that i dont understand, cole playing over AB has to be top of the list.

On another topic, Markelle makes a one line comment about his shooting in his after game presser.

But I really didnt understand what he was trying to say... sounded like "yeah, i can't shoot but i'm doing other things."

He cant have been that honest, could he?

[fan for too long 2 531]

3 hours ago, All Eyes On Me said:

JI had an interview before the game about how the team realizes the importance of the game and are locked in. just bad execution. Also a terrible team to play against on the last night of a long road trip when the officials are “letting them play”. Miami already goes with a “they can’t call every foul” mentality on defense, when the refs don’t call any, they’re super tough to beat.

I’m frustrated with Moseley’s lack of making small tweaks to the rotation. Goga shoulda got minutes in the first quarter when he realized we couldn’t get a board to save our lives. Black should be playing over Cole. Hopefully we have clarity on a direction tomorrow

Getting the young guys minutes in the first half of the season should have been used to integrate them into the rotations later on in the season. So when the so called starters were back healthy and struggling the young ones were ready for the task. AB and Goga and somewhat Caleb earned playing time.

Mosely’s like I got my starters and that’s all I need. Cole is really bad and Wendell and Mo are up and down like yo-yo’s. Also they don’t matchup well with big guys. 

[All Eyes On Me 1,210]

2 hours ago, fan for too long 2 said:

Getting the young guys minutes in the first half of the season should have been used to integrate them into the rotations later on in the season. So when the so called starters were back healthy and struggling the young ones were ready for the task. AB and Goga and somewhat Caleb earned playing time.

Mosely’s like I got my starters and that’s all I need. Cole is really bad and Wendell and Mo are up and down like yo-yo’s. Also they don’t matchup well with big guys. 

I haven’t dug into the advanced stats too much to know if it’s actually a thing, but the win-loss record when we were starting AB and Goga is better than when we’ve been starting Kelle and WCJ. Sample size is starting to catchup too

[All Eyes On Me 1,210]

Fun fact, 11 of our 24 losses are by 15+ points