2023-2024 Regular Season Game 74: Memphis Grizzlies (24-49) at Orlando Magic (42-31) - 7pm

[ibraheim718]

8 games left. 43 wins in the bank.

Feels like a 4-4 finish will give the Magic the division and keep them above the play in.

Magic number for them is now 4. Portland, Charlotte, Chicago, Vs Bucks at home game 82 should get it done. I think Philly is out of the top 6 seeds and Miami has a rough stretch of Knicks,Sixers, @ Houston, @ Pacers, @Atl...they have to win 3 of those. If Indy loses one of these next 2 Nets game it would be hard for them to overtake the Magic. They could even catch Cleveland if they win 5 or 6 more.

Today's game looked like they figured out better action for Paolo.. he showed more variety in what parts of the floor he was operating from. Additionally, when he did try and attack off the dribble from out high he moved more east-west and he was quicker in his decisions. So if he found something and catches fire they could shut the door on Indy, Philly, and Miami and possibly still get to 3.

[SloNick Russia]

8 games left. 43 wins in the bank.

Feels like a 4-4 finish will give the Magic the division and keep them above the play in.

43 wins against bad teams

Yes, like historicly bad Denver team. By some wonder we have a tie break vs Knicks and Pacers as well, yet we only remember the ugly loses which came last.

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[Rainwater]

Love how Paolo was toying with the defenders tonight.

[drsd]

Boxscore thoughts.

Well: yes Orlando did win the FG% battle to win the game.



Orlando was minus-8 on offensive rebounds. And was marginally outrebounded overall.

But really the game comes down to two stats:
1) Orlando made 6 more FTs
2) Orlando made 10 more three-balls.


Seven Magicians scored in double figures. Nine Magicians made at least one threeball.

[Bergmaniac]

Very nice win, the team looked really determined to take care of business early after the 3 close losses and did it in spectacular fashion. The defense was spectacular when the starters played. Of course, it helped that the Grizzlies are so short-handed and missing their stars, but still, even against such a poor offensive team having a defensive rating in the 60s is very, very impressive in the current NBA. And our shooters looked more relaxed physically and made a lot of 3s, even Fultz did (but somehow ended with a poor TS% despite this). I would have liked to see Black gets minutes earlier, the game was effectively over in the 2nd quarter, so why waste minutes on Fultz who is a goner in the summer instead of a rookie who needs development minutes, but oh well, you can't have everything.

[Knightro]

8 games left. 43 wins in the bank.

Feels like a 4-4 finish will give the Magic the division and keep them above the play in.

Magic number for them is now 4. Portland, Charlotte, Chicago, Vs Bucks at home game 82 should get it done. I think Philly is out of the top 6 seeds and Miami has a rough stretch of Knicks,Sixers, @ Houston, @ Pacers, @Atl...they have to win 3 of those. If Indy loses one of these next 2 Nets game it would be hard for them to overtake the Magic. They could even catch Cleveland if they win 5 or 6 more.

Today's game looked like they figured out better action for Paolo.. he showed more variety in what parts of the floor he was operating from. Additionally, when he did try and attack off the dribble from out high he moved more east-west and he was quicker in his decisions. So if he found something and catches fire they could shut the door on Indy, Philly, and Miami and possibly still get to 3.

Feels like Milwaukee would rest guys in the season finale if they have the 2 seed clinched.

[Optimus_Steel]

It may have been said, but with win number 43, this is now officially our best season post-Dwight.

And honestly I'm just not worried about Franz or his shooting. It hasn't been a great stretch of games for him, and it hasn't been a good year shooting threes. But I don't actually believe he's a garbage 3pt shooter. He's had a bad year shooting it, but I'd be very confident in predicting this will be the worst year he ever has in his career in 3pt%. I mean, he was better than this as a rookie, and then improved from that in year 2. I really don't think he just "lost it" and that's it's gone forever now. Bad shooting can be contagious, and we're a bad shooting team.

I echo this! Franz will be fine just prob not by the end of this year.

[zaymon]

Life is good for Markelle, no pressure, no injury. He even had less hitch from 3 than from midrange. If we can build 20 point advantage in every game Fultz can lead Magic from distance. Injury narrative should be put to rest already, its not possible to defend it. Shame that he was never able to confront his own problems, now its too late.

[eyriq]

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[eyriq]

Life is good for Markelle, no pressure, no injury. He even had less hitch from 3 than from midrange. If we can build 20 point advantage in every game Fultz can lead Magic from distance. Injury narrative should be put to rest already, its not possible to defend it. Shame that he was never able to confront his own problems, now its too late.

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[JF5]

It's true that we've beaten up on bad teams for a lot of our wins. But hey, part of being a legitimately good team is consistently winning against teams you should beat. If you're not doing that, then are you really better than those teams? So, we are good enough now to take care of business against lesser teams, but not good enough to win consistently against good teams. But that's okay because we're still a work in progress.

Exactly.. if we were consistently beating good teams we'd be borderline contenders. Most other good teams have average to below average records against good teams unless you're like Boston.

Baby steps...