Official Game Thread: Magic at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“Superstar sensation and "Tyler Herro" crooner Jack Harlow with us now. Jack, given this stifling Florida humidity, do you think Verstappen should have gone with the C5 tyres?”

 

Since UK actors slay the award-show ceremonies these days, a BBC interviewer flies out to L.A. to query attendees at the latest Red Carpet ceremony. A tall, curly-haired man approaches in dashing, glittery cherry-red attire, his championship sports bling-ring blinding the onlooking crowd with every twist of his wrist.

“Paolo! PAOLO! What’s your opinion on the odds Matthew Macfayden makes it two Emmys in a row…”

Patrick Mahomes stares at him, then at the camera, in bewilderment.

“…and what did you think of that bonzo Succession finale?”

“I… I’m not Paolo Banchero,” the KC quarterback explains. The face of the dour, doughy man clutching the microphone grows flush with disbelief, then disappointment, by the second. “Oh, bollocks! Okay… very well then, Rappaport, who in blazes do you profess to be today? And please, don’t try to convince me you’re some world-renowned sensation, like Jackson Mahomes.”

An alarm goes off. Paolo Banchero awakes from his slumber, steps into his slides, and heads to the kitchen in search of some freshly squeezed OJ.

Sports media does a great job of finding ways, on the daily, to immolate their respectability. Sure, it’s plausible that a media member from across the pond, already a fish out of water, is wholly unfamiliar with a five-star American hoops sensation, one about to transition from Big Blue-Chip Basketball U to, possibly, the first name called on the night of the next the NBA Draft.

But what made this scene at the Miami Grand Prix a viral springtime spectacle was the righteous indignation and dismissiveness the Sky Sports on-scene reporter, hunting for recognizable, accomplished celebrities, displayed in response to Banchero’s mistaken identity. It wasn’t Paolo going, “Who the heck do you think I am?” It was the interviewer acting like, “Who the heck do you think you are? What is this, cosplay? Silly Americans, psssh!”

For a kid expecting to be vexed over getting passed up by several teams atop the draft, while the naysayer predraft pundits were having their moment in the sun overanalyzing his game, the Formula 1 incident was an unexpected but more efficient source of race fuel, as Paolo starts his NBA engine in earnest.

He didn’t even need a fellow Seattle Rotary alum – new Atlanta Hawk Dejounte Murray – trying to show him up at Jamal Crawford’s Seatown super-summer pro-am, intending to ensure the newly-minted top pick of the Orlando Magic doesn’t grow too big for his teenage britches. No, Mr. Fish and Chips over here (his name is all the more irrelevant… Marvin Bungle something or other, whatever!) would do just fine.

Often, top picks from big schools like Paolo’s – OMG, it’s Zion! – are overnight celebrity sensations before they even log a full season in the league. For the time being, Banchero is determined to jog the memories of those yet to make his unique name one of the household variety.

“You see Paolo soar over Cory Joseph last night?”, one asks another family member over morning corn flakes. “Paolo who?” There’s ample time for Banchero to rectify that anonymity, one game at a time. He’ll get to do it tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, for an Orlando Magic team (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Bally Sports Florida) that has grown way too comfortable being the box of No Frills on the cereal aisle.

There’s no mistaking Orlando’s identity, as the NBA franchise with no tangible identity to speak of. They’ve lived off of, “Hooray, we survived the Dwightmare! The Vucevic years were pretty cool, eh?”, for far too long. Locked into a contract extension just last year, amid his team’s 22-60 finish, team prez Jeff Weltman is content spinning the wheel for the next Giannis to fall into his lap. If fans have to settle for Bol Bol coming off the bench in the interim, so be it.

Paolo produced a team-high 27 points in his formal debut in Motown on Wednesday night, in a battle with the Pistons of Merrimack-Monitor proportions. He and 2022 All-Rookie First Teamer Franz Wagner led the team with a whopping five assists each, but they also combined for 9 turnovers in the 113-109 loss. Orlando started strong with a 28-17 opening quarter, but couldn’t fully recover, despite Paolo’s 13 fourth-quarter points, after allowing 74 points to Detroit in the middle quarters.

So far, when you watch Banchero highlights, you’ll notice most of them are clearouts, or fastbreaks where nary a Magician is in the vicinity. That’s the early gameplan schemed up by second-year coach Jamahl Mosley, who has chosen to work Banchero into a roster essentially the same as last year by getting all those other guys out of the way.

Mosley has three 6-foot-10 guys in the starting lineup to feed, in Wagner, Banchero and Atlanta native Wendell Carter. There’d be a fourth 6-foot-10 guy, in future face of a supplements franchise Jonathan Isaac, but that’s neither here nor there. The guards, the healthy ones at least (Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, R.J. Hampton) haven’t mastered the dark arts of the pick-and-roll just yet, and the bigs, especially Banchero, struggle recognizing their role in such actions.

The Hawks can expect a bunch of halfcourt iso-actions, especially when guard Terrence Ross is in the mix, and go-it-alone transition plays where Orlando ballhandlers will penetrate as deeply into the paint as Atlanta allows, then figure it out from there. Guarding without picking up cheap fouls and boxing out will ensure the Magic’s offensive output (29^th in O-Rating last season) remains inefficient.

Atlanta’s most valuable newcomer, Dejounte Murray was the X-Factor in Wednesday’s opening night win over Houston, one which felt like could have been a deflating blown-lead loss last season under coach Nate McMillan’s watch, barring some historic shooting night from a perimeter shooter. The Hawks started out 0-for-8 from three-point range, and they weren’t much better (9-for-27 3FGs) the rest of the way. But they relied on crisp passing for inside scores (30 assists, 5 player TOs), and transition points off copious steals to exploit a fairly green Rockets team.

Orlando’s bigs will clog the paint, but they won’t challenge much beyond that area. John Collins was the one Hawk who has been money inside and out, and he can join forces with Murray and Trae Young to keep tempting the Magic forwards with mid-range shots and floaters. It will aid Atlanta’s cause to put this game away early, though, if they can find a hot hand or two from outside (get well soon, Bogi!). Failing that, and we might find the game on the line, late, in the eager hands of Paolo Banchero. If that is indeed your name, sir.

 

Hearts out to Hawks fans in Florida and PR recovering from hurricanes. Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

On the boo-boo report, Cole Anthony is questionable for tonight with a non-COVID illness. Markelle Fultz (broken toe), Gary Harris (recovering knee, like Bogi), Jonathan Isaac (sunk cost), and Moe Wagner (sprained mid-foot) round things out for the injured Magicians.

~lw3

[cam1218]

14 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

“Superstar sensation and "Tyler Herro" crooner Jack Harlow with us now. Jack, given this stifling Florida humidity, do you think Verstappen should have gone with the C5 tyres?”

 

Since UK actors slay the award-show ceremonies these days, a BBC interviewer flies out to L.A. to query attendees at the latest Red Carpet ceremony. A tall, curly-haired man approaches in dashing, glittery cherry-red attire, his championship sports bling-ring blinding the onlooking crowd with every twist of his wrist.

“Paolo! PAOLO! What’s your opinion on the odds Matthew Macfayden makes it two Emmys in a row…”

Patrick Mahomes stares at him, then at the camera, in bewilderment.

“…and what did you think of that bonzo Succession finale?”

“I… I’m not Paolo Banchero,” the KC quarterback explains. The face of the dour, doughy man clutching the microphone grows flush with disbelief, then disappointment, by the second. “Oh, bollocks! Okay… very well then, Rappaport, who in blazes do you profess to be today? And please, don’t try to convince me you’re some world-renowned sensation, like Jackson Mahomes.”

An alarm goes off. Paolo Banchero awakes from his slumber, steps into his slides, and heads to the kitchen in search of some freshly squeezed OJ.

Sports media does a great job of finding ways, on the daily, to immolate their respectability. Sure, it’s plausible that a media member from across the pond, already a fish out of water, is wholly unfamiliar with a five-star American hoops sensation, one about to transition from Big Blue-Chip Basketball U to, possibly, the first name called on the night of the next the NBA Draft.

But what made this scene at the Miami Grand Prix a viral springtime spectacle was the righteous indignation and dismissiveness the Sky Sports on-scene reporter, hunting for recognizable, accomplished celebrities, displayed in response to Banchero’s mistaken identity. It wasn’t Paolo going, “Who the heck do you think I am?” It was the interviewer acting like, “Who the heck do you think you are? What is this, cosplay? Silly Americans, psssh!”

For a kid expecting to be vexed over getting passed up by several teams atop the draft, while the naysayer predraft pundits were having their moment in the sun overanalyzing his game, the Formula 1 incident was an unexpected but more efficient source of race fuel, as Paolo starts his NBA engine in earnest.

He didn’t even need a fellow Seattle Rotary alum – new Atlanta Hawk Dejounte Murray – trying to show him up at Jamal Crawford’s Seatown super-summer pro-am, intending to ensure the newly-minted top pick of the Orlando Magic doesn’t grow too big for his teenage britches. No, Mr. Fish and Chips over here (his name is all the more irrelevant… Marvin Bungle something or other, whatever!) would do just fine.

Often, top picks from big schools like Paolo’s – OMG, it’s Zion! – are overnight celebrity sensations before they even log a full season in the league. For the time being, Banchero is determined to jog the memories of those yet to make his unique name one of the household variety.

“You see Paolo soar over Cory Joseph last night?”, one asks another family member over morning corn flakes. “Paolo who?” There’s ample time for Banchero to rectify that anonymity, one game at a time. He’ll get to do it tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, for an Orlando Magic team (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Bally Sports Florida) that has grown way too comfortable being the box of No Frills on the cereal aisle.

There’s no mistaking Orlando’s identity, as the NBA franchise with no tangible identity to speak of. They’ve lived off of, “Hooray, we survived the Dwightmare! The Vucevic years were pretty cool, eh?”, for far too long. Locked into a contract extension just last year, amid his team’s 22-60 finish, team prez Jeff Weltman is content spinning the wheel for the next Giannis to fall into his lap. If fans have to settle for Bol Bol coming off the bench in the interim, so be it.

Paolo produced a team-high 27 points in his formal debut in Motown on Wednesday night, in a battle with the Pistons of Merrimack-Monitor proportions. He and 2022 All-Rookie First Teamer Franz Wagner led the team with a whopping five assists each, but they also combined for 9 turnovers in the 113-109 loss. Orlando started strong with a 28-17 opening quarter, but couldn’t fully recover, despite Paolo’s 13 fourth-quarter points, after allowing 74 points to Detroit in the middle quarters.

So far, when you watch Banchero highlights, you’ll notice most of them are clearouts, or fastbreaks where nary a Magician is in the vicinity. That’s the early gameplan schemed up by second-year coach Jamahl Mosley, who has chosen to work Banchero into a roster essentially the same as last year by getting all those other guys out of the way.

Mosley has three 6-foot-10 guys in the starting lineup to feed, in Wagner, Banchero and Atlanta native Wendell Carter. There’d be a fourth 6-foot-10 guy, in future face of a supplements franchise Jonathan Isaac, but that’s neither here nor there. The guards, the healthy ones at least (Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, R.J. Hampton) haven’t mastered the dark arts of the pick-and-roll just yet, and the bigs, especially Banchero, struggle recognizing their role in such actions.

The Hawks can expect a bunch of halfcourt iso-actions, especially when guard Terrence Ross is in the mix, and go-it-alone transition plays where Orlando ballhandlers will penetrate as deeply into the paint as Atlanta allows, then figure it out from there. Guarding without picking up cheap fouls and boxing out will ensure the Magic’s offensive output (29^th in O-Rating last season) remains inefficient.

Atlanta’s most valuable newcomer, Dejounte Murray was the X-Factor in Wednesday’s opening night win over Houston, one which felt like could have been a deflating blown-lead loss last season under coach Nate McMillan’s watch, barring some historic shooting night from a perimeter shooter. The Hawks started out 0-for-8 from three-point range, and they weren’t much better (9-for-27 3FGs) the rest of the way. But they relied on crisp passing for inside scores (30 assists, 5 player TOs), and transition points off copious steals to exploit a fairly green Rockets team.

Orlando’s bigs will clog the paint, but they won’t challenge much beyond that area. John Collins was the one Hawk who has been money inside and out, and he can join forces with Murray and Trae Young to keep tempting the Magic forwards with mid-range shots and floaters. It will aid Atlanta’s cause to put this game away early, though, if they can find a hot hand or two from outside (get well soon, Bogi!). Failing that, and we might find the game on the line, late, in the eager hands of Paolo Banchero. If that is indeed your name, sir.

 

Hearts out to Hawks fans in Florida and PR recovering from hurricanes. Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

That first bit was classic. He is tall, that must be him! Thanks as always @lethalweapon3!

[lethalweapon3]

1 minute ago, cam1218 said:

That first bit was classic. He is tall, that must be him! Thanks as always @lethalweapon3!

Yes! The notoriously tall (all of 6-foot-2) Patrick Mahomes! Oh, those Brits. This why we rejected the metric system over here.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

We talkin' 'bout Paolo!

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

“Paolo who?”

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Terrence Ross is in the mix,

The human torch  

 

Awesome as usual lw3, you da man!

2K had a blowout Hawks by 40! Vegas got Hawks -10.

GO HAWKS!!!! Let’s go 2-0!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

JHol on AHol - he has/had an obsession with ketchup - put it on EVERYTHING - even Waffles. His siblings call him The Bull.

AHol on JHol - open hook, plays the guitar, made a rap song in college.

[REHawksFan]

Let's go!!!

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1st Hawks bet:

 

Trae 5+ threes

Collins 3+ threes

Dejounte 10+ assists

 

$4.50 to win $291

 

Let's get it done.

[MaceCase]

Wendy already rocking the Cartiers?  Oh he ready for postgame

[MaceCase]

Everyone got a shot but Clint

Banchero stylin on Johnny

[MaceCase]

Dre got confidence, he called that for himself off rip.

[Bonkers]

Dre looking good!

 

I love how he's getting the rebound and goin up the court...no more stopping to find somebody to pass it to!!

[LucastheThird]

Hunter is going to make that contract look like a steal by the All Star break.

[MaceCase]

Prison ball

[LucastheThird]

Teams are so focused on Trae and Murray, that JC and Hunter need to eat early to relieve some of that pressure off of them. 

[Dnice]

They're going to have more than 9 turnovers tonight, looking sloppy. 

[MaceCase]

How did John not only catch that but flush it?

[LucastheThird]

JC!!!!