The problem is our starting lineup isn't really the best rotation we can put out there. Dwight is awkward on offense. Ariza and Beverley are so limited on offense and DMo won't be as effective with Dwight on the court. I would immediately put TJones back into the starting lineup when he comes back because he seems to be a better fit with Dwight. Then DMo can be one of the best backup C's in the league and can be fed in the post with Dwight on the bench (who would not need to play more than 30 min a game).
The real reason is why doesn't Bev read the scouting report? He plays the same defense 100 mph on every single point in this league and it is getting irritating. Payton can't shoot worth a damn yet you see him constantly playing tight on a non-shooter and defending over the top of the pick instead of going under. Bev's defense in a nutshell is him fouling 0/7 Marble shooting a 3 pter right before the half.
Dwight had a really good game, which means of course we should ignore this. Dwight, pacing as a veteran in an 82 game marathon, working back to 100% and conserving on a sub-typical night for him had a near identical game to Vooch, a youngster on a 2-3 game flare up that everyone is already crowning the next NBA superstar to go back to back to back DPOY and carry Orlando to a Finals run. If anyone got trapped by this game, it's McHale. He took a risk by saving Terry for OKC, and testing out Shved. Shved needs to get tested out. Maybe some don't realize that. Morey needs to do due diligence. Coaches need to know what they have. If he wants it, and can prove it, then there's value to be had. Or we need to show him off a bit in a game we think we have enough buffer to do so, possibly a trap game. And Canaan is in the Valley to get showcased soon in a big game each year that draws a bunch of team scouts. We got killed by our team's collective effort on D, and TOs. That and our PGs. 4 assists and 0 TOs is better than 0 assists and 4 TOs, Bev. And Shved showcase is clearly not as good as Terry or Canaan. And that's more about his newness and unproven want-to. All forgiven if they can beat OKC tomorrow on a back-to-back. From the D to TOs, it looked clear to me the Rockets didn't have their heads in the game and if it's because all they were thinking about and caring about was tomorrow's game, and we get that win?, then ok.
Josh Smith and Corey Brewer were +10s tonight... The bench was good... The starters sucked the D, especially on defense.
Here we go again with a stupid dumb loss. Stupid turnovers and bad defense was the reason we loss tonight. Most of Harden turnovers were from players not moving around the court. We need to get a point guard that has better court vision and can get others involve.
Just to highlight how bad the defense was tonight, the Magic scored 120 points. They average 94.8 a game(and that's including tonight's total).
Started bad, but that's why there's 4 quarters. 23pts at an efficient 53%? What, like 7 dunks, 4 of which were alley-oops which charges our team? Shot 7 times from the line and didn't miss? Dwight Howard shot 7 Fts and didn't miss one. 8 boards. Some nice kick outs for 3pt assists, commanding the double team, recognizing it, then getting the ball kicked out? Forcing the D to foul him? Poor guy can't do wrong right it seems with fans.
FREE ISAIAH CANAAN. Patrick Beverley has been an epic disappointment this year. He's a decent 3-pt shooter, but that's it. He can't create and he won't even defend anyone this year. I don't get it, Terry is out, and STILL Canaan can't buy any minutes. Is he in the doghouse for some reason? Jesus. I don't even just want him to play backup anymore -- I want him to START. I think he is the best guard on this team other than James Harden. Also, I'm so damn tired of Josh Smith's 3s... He's still such a good player outside of that. Why is it so difficult for anyone to get him to stop shooting that crap? As for Dwight, at least he picked it up in the 2nd half, but he's clearly still not all there...
Loved Howard at the free throw line tonight. Wished we got it daily though. Besides turnovers we did good on offense. Teammates were feeding Howard, Dmo got some good touches, Harden did his thing, Smith had good passes. But our defense looked horrible. We allowed Orlando to win this game by giving them easy dunks and open 3s.
This team just needs discipline. Giving up 120 points just shows me Mchale once again has no control of this team and the team is just not mature enough professionally to truly do what it takes to be champions right now. It takes much more than the effort this team is giving from coaching staff to the players.
