Magic @ Portland, 01/11/2012 - Game Thread!

come on Mags, gimme a break. Why do you have reluctance to trying something different, especially when this lineup has played so well overall and in addition gives Nic a starting role which IMO he needs and deserves. Why the hesitance? We are trying to get this team playing the best it can so it can not only make the playoffs but give us our best chance to get out of the 1st round.

 

I'm hestitant because I think Camby is just as important to our success as Batum. So taking him out of the starting role; instantly makes us much smaller. I don't like seeing Wallace @ 4, where he could get tired out or into foul trouble. Yeah some games the small line-up will work; but in many cases our advantage with being sooo big is how we win games.

I want Batum to start, but not for the sake of playing Aldridge and Wallace out of their natural positions. Yes we get scoring, but our rebounding suffers greatly. Also, the other team will be driving to the basket more because they don't fear we have the shot blockers to challenge them.

 

There is a difference between pace and offensive sets. The pace we are at is great. when we are forced to play slower though, like last night for 3 quarters, we really struggle. The same thing happened in the first LAC game. If we aren't running, we are struggling to get good shots. It's the same half court offense from years past, but without one of the best players in the league to bail it out when it's not happening. There seems to be a lot of passing the ball around the perimeter, but without forcing the defense to move around enough to create easier scoring opportunities

 

I disagree. according to this great link "nic" gave me, the game flow was great for 3 quarters. We only had one quarter that was 33%. The others were 48%, 48% and 61%. I think if we shot 48% for any game, we win most of them. Orlando was just on fire; even when we contested their 3 point shooting. They shot 75% in the first, 50% in the second, 75% in the 3rd and 40% in the 4th. If Orlando is doing that; there isn't a team on the planet that can stop them.

 

Don't get me wrong, we lost the game because Orlando was insane from 3. Our offense gets bogged down int he half court. Last night Crawchuck was hitting his shot more than most nights, which causes that number to go up.

 

Yes I totally agree on that one. This is why I don't feel as bad losing this game like Clippers and Phoenix. Those games, our offense looked like shit. I thought our offense this game looked good. It was just Orlando played out of their mind from the perimeter. You can't win a game when the other team is shooting 60% from 3 and they shot more 3's than 2's the entire game. You can't score 2 and the other team score 3 and expect the game to be won.

 

The trouble with your logic is that they shot that well because the Blazers let them for roughly the first three quarters ... Yes, you can't stop somebody who is shooting that well when you aren't trying all that hard to stop them.

 

LMAO you should see Hollinger's response to this theory. LMAO he agrees with you.

 

This makes you LMAO?!

 

I'm laughing because the more I think about it, the more I think it's a silly argument.

 

Guys are going to take time getting into shape/rhythm. FG% is down league wide, almost half the teams in the NBA are shooting below 45%. We're already 10 games into a 66 game season and they're shooting awful. Felton, especially is shooting worse than he has his entire career. Getting to their mean requires them to play above their average for the rest of the season. Sorry, I don't see it. I do expect them to play better eventually, and they'll probably be playing near averages at seasons end; but the beginning stretch is going to drop their stats below what they're used to.

By the way, I think a big positive from last nights game was that we found our end game play. The Crawford/Aldridge high pick and roll was deadly. Reminds me of the Terry/Dirk two man game.

 

????

What's silly about the argument?

 

My argument being silly. The argument of letting the Magic fall in love with the 3, then bunker down in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

 

Oh, I thought you thought you meant challenging shots was silly.

 

Oh yeah, I agree then. I don't expect Felton and Crawford to get over their career mean and "restore" their averages, but I do think it's reasonable to assume they'll eventually get to their own average and hover around there.

As for Crawford and LMA on the high pick and roll I can't comment because I got really bored with the game in the third and turned it off. But hopefully there's something that can be mined there ... it also sounds like Nic played well with some extended minutes, maybe there's something to be gained there too.

 

They ran the high PnR during the last run in the 4th every play, and ended with points more often than not. Crawford is a lot deadlier on the PnR, since it seems Felton's passes up high tend to get tipped more often. (What's up with that?)

 

Seeing Crawford play great overall and have especially good chemistry with Aldridge made me want to see him in the starting lineup in place of Felton. We need more floor spacing from the starting unit. Then you could get Felton and Batum coming in together, they might be a better matched pair off the bench as well.

 

Actually I'm against it in fear of Aldridge falling back into the "Robin" role of this team. I also think the pace slows down and Nate will fall in love with ISO ball more. Felton may not "flow" offensively in terms of scoring, but he runs the offense going through Aldridge arguably better than anyone else on this team. In in the grand scheme of things, we need to focus on Aldridge being "Batman"

 

Crawford will never start as PG in the NBA. Lets put that to rest.