2023-2024 Regular Season Game 65: Indiana Pacers (35-29) at Orlando Magic (37-27) - 6pm

[Knightro]

I think one thing that people don't *really* want to admit because of how fun it is to win more than you lose is that this season has been a bit of fool's gold.

The Magic have absolutely FEASTED on bad teams at home and on bad teams period.

They're 22-6 against the 12 teams under .500.
They're 15-22 against the 16 teams over .500.

(the only team they haven't played yet is New Orleans)

Eh, this seems a bit like those clickbaity titles "10 things you secretly DONT want to know about the ORLANDO Magic" Knicks and Heat also have bad records against + .500 teams, Cavs have only 1 more win but 4-5 less games I think.

Ironically, I thought we were better last year at taking games off of better teams but blowing games versus the bad ones, so I'll take it still. We're the 5th youngest team that was expected to fight for a play-in spot this year and now people are legit questioning whether we deserve to be in or should be a lotto team because we're probably not going to win a series.. which nobody thought we would going into this year.

We also have wins against the Celtics, Heat, Bucks, Suns, Minny, Denver x2, NY x3, Indy x2, etc. Not all terrible but a step in the right direction.

Miami and New York have also had WAY more injuries to their key players.

Including tonight, the Magic have just 17 games lost from their top 3 players (Paolo, Franz, Suggs)

Knicks have 41 games lost from Brunson, Randle and Anunoby. Way more than that if you consider Robinson one of their top 3 players.

Heat have 59 games lost from Butler, Adebayo and Herro.

[RichCollab]

Knicks scored 73 points tonight. Our 74 is no longer the lowest.

[Bensational]

You say you’re thinking big picture but you still seem to lack awareness of where the team is in its development timeline. They aren’t contending or ready for contender dressings. And if that player is just a short term fix how do you ensure there’s a suitable replacement for them when the team is ready to compete?

Answer this question for me...

Let's say the Magic end up winning 46 games this season.

Would you be ok with winning fewer games than that next season, or is your expectation for them to win more games than that?

Of course you want them to improve on their record year on year, but there’s plenty of context which can shape that and the interpretation of results, better or worse. Ie, injuries, player roles, minutes and development.

I set the bar at play-in this season. 46 would become the new floor next season, plus hopes of a 2nd round appearance. By the following season I’d be hoping for a team that can reliably fight for 50 wins in a season and fighting for 2nd round or CFs in the playoffs. But those results could be easily reframed depending on their post season performances.

I see us on a trajectory to be a contender but it has a 3-4 year runway leading up to it, and we’re only 1 year into that in my view.

[SOUL]

Miami and New York have also had WAY more injuries to their key players.

Including tonight, the Magic have just 17 games lost from their top 3 players (Paolo, Franz, Suggs)

Knicks have 41 games lost from Brunson, Randle and Anunoby.

Heat have 59 games lost from Butler, Adebayo and Herro.

Yeah, but nobody has ever given a **** about our injuries the last few years though so it's just part of the challenges of a grueling season. Our depth has helped us a bit early on when we thought it would sink us again.

[eyriq]

Knicks scored 73 points tonight. Our 74 is no longer the lowest.

LOL crazy

[Knightro]

Miami and New York have also had WAY more injuries to their key players.

Including tonight, the Magic have just 17 games lost from their top 3 players (Paolo, Franz, Suggs)

Knicks have 41 games lost from Brunson, Randle and Anunoby.

Heat have 59 games lost from Butler, Adebayo and Herro.

Yeah, but nobody has ever given a **** about our injuries the last few years though so it's just part of the challenges of a grueling season. Our depth has helped us a bit early on when we thought it would sink us again.

I'm not saying anyone feels sorry for anyone dealing with injuries. It's part of the game.

I was simply pointing out that it's factual that the Magic have been much healthier compared to many of the other teams they're competing against for the 4 seed (NYK, MIA, PHL).

[3ddman23]

These fg% are just inexcusable lately in this modern day nba. Wild stuff

[thelead]

These fg% are just inexcusable lately in this modern day nba. Wild stuff

I'm done with Cole. Franz though, we need to discuss this dude...

Over the last month (2/10-3/10 and 12 games) dude is 8/48 (17%) from deep. This is a massive slump and it is KILLING us. We got by the easy teams with him playing like this but it's not sustainable. Something has to give.

We could bring in prime Ray Allen tomorrow and it's not going to completely mask what's going on with Franz.

[eyriq]

27 losses
Knicks

28 losses
Magic
Sixers

29 losses
Pacers
Heat

Crazy

[richi_v25]

Knicks scored 73 points tonight. Our 74 is no longer the lowest.

Wtf why couldn't we play that knick team, nope instead they cashed in all their shooting tokens for our game.

[KillMonger]

Can't stop thinking about how we use certain players..... Caleb has shown to be less streaky this season..... Use him, he can't just be sitting in a corner it's a waste.... Sam merril Cleveland, soon as he's in the game they're running him around screens... They're using him he just isn't standing in a corner.....too much iso for paolo and Franz....dell can't set a screen to save his life and plays too small at times.... Gary being too timid.... Joe Ingles being cooked....

Looking back at the deadline I was saying I hope we make moves to be more liable playoff team. All teams have to do is pack the paint and our putrid offense will do the rest... Us not making a move then really put a ceiling on what happens to this team when the regular season is over

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

[SOUL]

Can't stop thinking about how we use certain players..... Caleb has shown to be less streaky this season..... Use him, he can't just be sitting in a corner it's a waste.... Sam merril Cleveland, soon as he's in the game they're running him around screens... They're using him he just isn't standing in a corner.....too much iso for paolo and Franz....dell can't set a screen to save his life and plays too small at times.... Gary being too timid.... Joe Ingles being cooked....

Looking back at the deadline I was saying I hope we make moves to be more liable playoff team. All teams have to do is pack the paint and our putrid offense will do the rest... Us not making a move then really put a ceiling on what happens to this team when the regular season is over

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

They also have Garland and DMitch to get into the paint and kick it out. Houstan either needs to be elite at running around screens (he's not) or the action has to be perfect with the defense cheating enough to exploit it.

Unfortunately, Franz and Paolo were a bit slow to read and react when it came to kicking it out. Their passing is good but the natural instinct part of it has to get better. What makes Jokic underrated is he is a good passer AND he knows how to make an easy pass.

[Jaxfann]

Very disappointing - the past few games we have been playing like a tired team overall and the past two games we definitely have had no clue how to score effectively when the opponents packed the paint.
If we don't sign a creative point guard who can dish and score, the rest of this season is going to be tough going.

[DaGawd]

knicks fan coming in peace.. but what the fk is wrong with franz??? he was one of the better players on my fantasy team for much of the season… now with fantasy playoffs starting he’s been a liability lately.. what gives!?

[ChosenSavior]

knicks fan coming in peace.. but what the fk is wrong with franz??? he was one of the better players on my fantasy team for much of the season… now with fantasy playoffs starting he’s been a liability lately.. what gives!?

Teams are playing him physical now on the perimeter and he has yet to adjust. He's been hesitant to shoot from the perimeter and when he does, his release point is all over the place.

Sum it up, he's playing at very low confidence at the moment IMO.

[DiplomaticMagic]

This team is going to get swept in the playoffs. Its a joke really.

That is if we make the playoffs, if we are the play-in, we'd probably lose.

This team lost every must win game this year and the effort has been just plain bad. I can imagine it being much worse in playoffs.

[pepe1991]

Miami and New York have also had WAY more injuries to their key players.

Including tonight, the Magic have just 17 games lost from their top 3 players (Paolo, Franz, Suggs)

Knicks have 41 games lost from Brunson, Randle and Anunoby.

Heat have 59 games lost from Butler, Adebayo and Herro.

Yeah, but nobody has ever given a **** about our injuries the last few years though so it's just part of the challenges of a grueling season. Our depth has helped us a bit early on when we thought it would sink us again.

I'm not saying anyone feels sorry for anyone dealing with injuries. It's part of the game.

I was simply pointing out that it's factual that the Magic have been much healthier compared to many of the other teams they're competing against for the 4 seed (NYK, MIA, PHL).

In thread about 3rd seed it was execlly my though but i said i won't post what i think because i don't want to jinx it.
Only injuried player whole year is Futlz and he is so bad that we are better off.

Knicks, 76ers, Heat , Cavs deal with whole lot, whole year long.
Knicks played games without whole starting 5 aveliable to them.
Mitchell & Mobley but especially Garland missed lot of games.
Bulls have three staters out, one whole year, Lavine near 3/4ths of season out (+ Pat Will).


Nobody cares about injuries, its part of a sport but our direct competition has been striked out. Especially 76ers who with Emiid were powerhouse and now they struggle to stay within top 8

[SHAQ32]

Franz is a bum

[KillMonger]

This team is going to get swept in the playoffs. Its a joke really.

That is if we make the playoffs, if we are the play-in, we'd probably lose.

This team lost every must win game this year and the effort has been just plain bad. I can imagine it being much worse in playoffs.

I mean realistically how far did you think this roster was going to go in a playoff scenario? For me when we made no moves at the deadline it squandered any hope of us maybe making some noise. This team as constructed just isn't viable for a series.... But for their growth they got to go through it, take the ass kicking to know they're not ready and what they need to do going forward

Sent from my [Hands] using RealGM mobile app

[ibraheim718]

knicks fan coming in peace.. but what the fk is wrong with franz??? he was one of the better players on my fantasy team for much of the season… now with fantasy playoffs starting he’s been a liability lately.. what gives!?

DaGawd is DaGawd. Did the Knicks trade Julius Randle at the deadline?