Game Day: Magic (18-20) @ Suns (14-23), Fri 1/10/20

[Split T]

Make some free throws

[iLLmatic]

How about a huge defensive stop with Booker doing most of it?

Booker wants this game bad.

I wanted it for him.

[Wally_West]

I really liked how DA took it upon himself to make sure Fournier didn’t get an easy 3.

[Flagrant Fowl]

How about a huge defensive stop with Booker doing most of it?

And Ayton backed it up on the next possession.

Well done by both of them.

[Danimal]

That was such a weird game
Booker came through in the end. Ayton helped hold things together later
Terrible final possession by Orlando.

[SunsRIt]

Great defense to close out the game!

[Danimal]

We really needed this one after our last melt Down glad we got it.

I’m going to go and eat some pudding

[Mori Chu]

Phewwwwwwwwwww. Great comeback; those two 3s by Booker at the end were clutch, as was Rubio's steal. Really proud of the guys for toughing out the win. Wish we hadn't let the Magic back in it, but good teams find a way to win close games like this, and that's what we did.

I still don't get the logic of bringing Ayton off the bench. He had 13 and 9 with 3 blocks, though he shot only 6/16, quite unlike him.

Evan Fournier is one of those guys I never really pay attention to, but here he puts up 28 points against us. Not bad. The Magic have a lot of "B-minus" guys and could really use a star to carry their offense. They feel like an incomplete team.

Here's the box score: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401161215

[Gladiator]

It shouldn’t be that hard to beat a short-handed Magic team but credit to them for finding a way when it was looking pretty rough late in the game.

[Split T]

Finishing with the lineup I would’ve started. Let’s see how they do.

+5 in 3 minutes...brings them to +35 in 30 minutes for the season I believe.

[Cap]

Booker 3, Booker steal, Booker 3, Booker with the D on Vucevic leading to the Rubio steal. What a clutch performance.

[Split T]

Great defense to close out the game!

Really was. Game ended like this:

Booker 3
Ayton locks up Fultz who throws it away, Booker steal.
Booker 3
Booker locks up Fournier, then holds off Vuc, Rubio steal
Rubio hits 1/2 FT
Ayton locks up Fournier, forces bad shot.
Oubre rebound, then hits 1/2 FT

If we don’t miss those free throws we finish about as perfect as possible.

[Mori Chu]

There were plenty of flaws in this victory. But you have to appreciate wins when you get them; getting the W is the most important thing. Young teams that have been rattled and beaten down need some wins to lift their spirits and give them hope for the rest of the season.

And it is fun to watch Devin Booker play arguably the best basketball of his career. We are so lucky to have a star like him on our team.

[Bucktastic365]

That little 5 foot floater Ayton just took is the exact play Ayton needs to throw down with authority. At worst he’ll get fouled. Defense isn’t set against him.

1000% agree.

[SDC]

if booker wants a spot at the tokyo olympics, he needs more of this kind of performance.

[Superbone]

Ayton has been pretty good defensively tonight. He’s hard to score against in the post.

Agreed. Book really turned it on towards the end of the half. He's not gonna let this team lose tonight if he can help it.

That was prophetic.

[Superbone]

Good finish to the half. We look our best when it’s through booker and ayton.

What was benching him meant to achieve?

A win?

[Superbone]

This is getting really hard to watch. Suns just can’t execute, keep wasting great defense.

At least they had great defense. That's what I've been wanting to see. That's why they won the game. Well, that and two big Bookers 3s in the last minute.

[Superbone]

Did Eddie really say that?

[SDC]

I hadn't really realized that Markelle Fultz is starting to find his way and is actually having a pretty decent season. Still a big disappointment as a former #1 pick, and he's shooting just 25.4% from 3, but I'm happy to see that he's starting to figure things out. I really felt bad for him given that he seemed to suffer some depression and doubts about himself as an NBA player.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... zma01.html

Ya I’m rooting for Fultz. He’s managing to be pretty good, even without a jump-shot. His size and speed are real weapons.

he's hitting 75% of his free throws. so the improvement is real.