2023-2024 Regular Season Game 75: Portland Trail Blazers (19-55) at Orlando Magic (43-31) - 7pm

[richi_v25]

I'm ok with the one point win, against Memphis i was still butt hurt we lost to all the Cali teams but now we have a winning streak so GO MAGIC play the song!

[eyriq]

Is this the worse win of the season considering the point differential and the spread?

[pepe1991]

win is win, tougher game than expected but teams who lost 13 out of past 15, and like what, 10 in a row, including by 40 game before tend to be in desparation mode.

[DiplomaticMagic]

Man that was so close to being a nightmare

[jezzerinho]

Seems like Portland were better than most people thought, certainly me and seems like the Magic too. But they regained composure and just about squeaked it.

Nobody will remember how it was won. But a W is a W.

[Furinkazan]

fkn nasty

[drsd]

I'm ok with the one point win, against Memphis i was still butt hurt we lost to all the Cali teams but now we have a winning streak so GO MAGIC play the song!

A loss in this game would not only have been the worst loss of the season, but frankly one of the worst Magic losses ever.

This "win" has so many warning signs, but a win is a win.

[drsd]

Boxscore thoughts:

Orlando won the FG% battle and won the game.

The Blazers took 14 more FG attempts than the Magic. They won the offensive rebounding battle and crushed the Magic in the TO battle.

Orlando won this game because instead of FGs, the Magic got to the line a lot. And hit their charity shots. The 21 made FTs was 9 more than Portland. That offset the 4 extra FGs the Blazers made.

[drsd]

Congrats to Coach Mose on his 100th career victory as a head coach.

Hopefully next year they can get his all-time record closer to .500.

Post of the year!

[Bergmaniac]

Thankfully we pulled it off in the end, good thing Ayton is a mental midget. Paolo was awful and we clearly didn't take the game seriously enough. The bench outside of Isaak was quite horrible.

I wish this would convince Mosley to pull the plug on Fultz and shorten the rotation in preparation for the playoffs, at this point not only his jumper is gone but he's also clearly not as explosive as he was last season, he keeps trying to beat average defenders off the dribble and failing at it and his finishing at the rim has become much worse, it used to be a major strength of his game, now nights like last one where he misses several layups by a mile are becoming a regular occurence. Since the All-Star break he's shooting only 51.2 % in the restricted area and 35% in the paint outside the restricted area. Last year these numbers were 64.8% and 50.3% respectfully. He also hasn't shot a single free throw in the last 8 games in which he had taken a total of 43 shots, mostly in the paint.

[JoshuaPotter]

Thank goodness they're holding Simons out...he'd drill us.

No interview for him.....

He’s home in Longwood. Weltman brought take out

Always a good thing to attempt to court your future. I'm assuming it's Pho because there is some good Pho downtown.

[JoshuaPotter]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

[pepe1991]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

Scoot, Amen Thompson, Ausar, Jabari , Ivey... good reminders how dangerous rebuild through draft actually is, and how drafting for nothing but raw potential can easly lead toward nasty post draft hangovers.

Scoot needs to calm down ,let game come to him, pace himself, improve in just about everything to even become net neutral player.

Amen Thompson... Man... Man... He isn't playmaker. Like, he can't handle the ball even for average nba SF let alone point guard.

Ausar is even worst, guy has skillset or Kenneth Faried on offense ( with some nice defense at least).

[JoshuaPotter]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

Scoot, Amen Thompson, Ausar, Jabari , Ivey... good reminders how dangerous rebuild through draft actually is, and how drafting for nothing but raw potential can easly lead toward nasty post draft hangovers.

Scoot needs to calm down ,let game come to him, pace himself, improve in just about everything to even become net neutral player.

Amen Thompson... Man... Man... He isn't playmaker. Like, he can't handle the ball even for average nba SF let alone point guard.

Ausar is even worst, guy has skillset or Kenneth Faried on offense ( with some nice defense at least).

Totally fair.

I made this point in the Jett Howard rookie thread.

Unless your name was Wemby / Miller / Scoot I do not think you crack our rotation. It sounds like you might even remove Scoot from the list.

There is an argument for Cason Wallace, although on paper I see him getting the exact same minutes as Black. Cason has some serious offensive firepower on his team.

[bigdogdylan5]

Ok when do we start to panic about Paolo? It’s not just that he is playing bad but he is playing very lackadaisical. A couple really indefensible turnovers. Shot selection was tough. I keep saying this Paolo is not ready to lead this team into playoffs.

[pepe1991]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

Scoot, Amen Thompson, Ausar, Jabari , Ivey... good reminders how dangerous rebuild through draft actually is, and how drafting for nothing but raw potential can easly lead toward nasty post draft hangovers.

Scoot needs to calm down ,let game come to him, pace himself, improve in just about everything to even become net neutral player.

Amen Thompson... Man... Man... He isn't playmaker. Like, he can't handle the ball even for average nba SF let alone point guard.

Ausar is even worst, guy has skillset or Kenneth Faried on offense ( with some nice defense at least).

Totally fair.

I made this point in the Jett Howard rookie thread.

Unless your name was Wemby / Miller / Scoot I do not think you crack our rotation. It sounds like you might even remove Scoot from the list.

There is an argument for Cason Wallace, although on paper I see him getting the exact same minutes as Black. Cason has some serious offensive firepower on his team.

Outside of Wemby, Miller probably , as you said, Wallace, maybe George, but two guys probably would Jaime Jaquez and Brandin Podziemski. Maybe Livley? I didn't pay too much attention on rookies outside Victor & Miller ( and twins, but for negative reasons) , but whenever i watched Heat & Warriors, their rookies didn't play nor looked like rookies.


Jett's case is interesting due simple fact he is one of few rookies in recent history to pretty much spend whole rookie year in G league.

[Skybox]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

Ayton is so tantalizing but also nearly as frustrating as Bamba.

He's clearly underperformed his deal, but I've pondered deals where we take him and Simons. Ayton could be GREAT but he's had as many awful nights as good. He's still maintained strong ppg/rpg...maybe just disappointing because of what he could/should be.

Just for kicks: (we'd let Harris, Okeke, Fultz, Goga walk for cap space), I think we could re-up Ingles - but could go if needed
ORL sends: WCJ, Cole, ORL 24 frp(draft night), DEN 25 frp
POR sends: Ayton, Simons

POR might even consider this an upgrade at two spots (starting C and 3rd G/6th man) for literally less than half the price. Also, if Time Lord comes back, he can back up and even play next to WCJ - something he can't do with Ayton. 2 frps are just cherry on top. They might actually be better...WCJ, Grant, Murray, Sharpe, Scoot...WCJ can spread the floor and open things up for Scoot-who is looking like less of a shooter, but still dynamic scorer. Entire frontcourt can shoot from distance.

ORL goes all-in on young, expensive players and hopes they got it right. If Ayton can buy into Mose's mentality, and accept the Bill Russell role...we have a dominant team for a decade. Expensive, Top-heavy, but potentially dominant.
Simons, Suggs, Franz, Paolo, Ayton with Isaac, Mo, Houstan, Jett, AB, Ingles(?) off the bench. Also, crazy big lineups with Paolo at 3, Isaac, Ayton frontcourt. As we get better and tighten the rotation, guys like Kevon or Trevelin are fine in the cheap seats on the bench...that's kind of the way we're heading anyway with extensions coming. Mo Wagner could be a cap casualty...we all like him, but $8m for a 8th or 9th man gets tough when you start adding better starters... Maybe cap hell, but intriguing.

[Magicman125]

44-31 my favorite stat of the game.

Ayton and Scoot are going to be fun to watch long term.

Ayton is so tantalizing but also nearly as frustrating as Bamba.

He's clearly underperformed his deal, but I've pondered deals where we take him and Simons. Ayton could be GREAT but he's had as many awful nights as good. He's still maintained strong ppg/rpg...maybe just disappointing because of what he could/should be.

Just for kicks: (we'd let Harris, Okeke, Fultz, Goga walk for cap space), I think we could re-up Ingles - but could go if needed
ORL sends: WCJ, Cole, ORL 24 frp(draft night), DEN 25 frp
POR sends: Ayton, Simons

POR might even consider this an upgrade at two spots (starting C and 3rd G/6th man) for literally less than half the price. Also, if Time Lord comes back, he can back up and even play next to WCJ - something he can't do with Ayton. 2 frps are just cherry on top. They might actually be better...WCJ, Grant, Murray, Sharpe, Scoot...WCJ can spread the floor and open things up for Scoot-who is looking like less of a shooter, but still dynamic scorer. Entire frontcourt can shoot from distance.

ORL goes all-in on young, expensive players and hopes they got it right. If Ayton can buy into Mose's mentality, and accept the Bill Russell role...we have a dominant team for a decade. Expensive, Top-heavy, but potentially dominant.
Simons, Suggs, Franz, Paolo, Ayton with Isaac, Mo, Houstan, Jett, AB, Ingles(?) off the bench. Also, crazy big lineups with Paolo at 3, Isaac, Ayton frontcourt. As we get better and tighten the rotation, guys like Kevon or Trevelin are fine in the cheap seats on the bench...that's kind of the way we're heading anyway with extensions coming. Mo Wagner could be a cap casualty...we all like him, but $8m for a 8th or 9th man gets tough when you start adding better starters... Maybe cap hell, but intriguing.

Simons yes, Ayton no. I've seen enough to know he's not a fit for our team's culture. He does not stay engaged or try consistently. He's not been the same since the Suns lost to the Bucks in the finals, and even then he was inconsistent in effort.

[basketballRob]

Ok when do we start to panic about Paolo? It’s not just that he is playing bad but he is playing very lackadaisical. A couple really indefensible turnovers. Shot selection was tough. I keep saying this Paolo is not ready to lead this team into playoffs.

I think players go through stretches like this. Garland and Haliburton just went through long stretches. Franz is going through one now where he's played very similar to Fultz for the last month. His offensive game is so predictable.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[JoshuaPotter]

Ok when do we start to panic about Paolo? It’s not just that he is playing bad but he is playing very lackadaisical. A couple really indefensible turnovers. Shot selection was tough. I keep saying this Paolo is not ready to lead this team into playoffs.

Maybe year 4. We are in year 2.