1. To put it kindly, it was rough night on Saturday for the Orlando Magic. The Boston Celtics, without all-star Kemba Walker, dismantled the Magic with relative ease very early on. Initially, it appeared as though the team might close the quarter having only made one field goal, the second made basket didn’t come until Al-Farouq Aminu scored his first point of the game with 3:13 left in the quarter. The offense was abysmal, but the defense was a cataclysmic disaster for most of the night, and although the game was slightly more competitive through the final three quarters (thanks in part to Terrance Ross dropping 21 points), the Magic were never able to really cut into the Celtics monumental lead and lost 100-75. A constant point of discussion from Coach Clifford was the sloppy ball moment and the teams struggle to score points in the half court. “We haven’t had great ball movement once we’ve broken the lineup. We scored a ton the first night off our defense and then in the other two games, in the half court once we’ve broken the lineup we haven’t score a lot. It doesn’t mean we’re not capable of it, it just means like most teams our defense is further than our offense”.
2. Mo Bamba, while looking more confident on the offensive end, still looked lost and disengaged on defense. Often times he was late to rotate, or straight up would take a page right out of the Nikola Vucevic playbook and not step up and challenge a shot at all. Bamba has heaps of potential and it’s still only pre-season, but going forward this team needs him to help anchor that 2nd unit’s defense. There were some bright spots for Mo, however. His added muscle looks to be doing wonders for him, as he was far more effective at boxing out his opponent and getting good positioning for rebounds.
3. Markelle Fultz is still trying to find his rhythm. Having only played 33 games thus far in his career, it is no wonder why Markelle often times still looks like a rookie. That’s not a bad thing, however. Anyone expecting more than this was always delusional. There is still a hitch in his shooting mechanics, he gambles a bit on defense, there is an indecisiveness and hesitation before he attempts a jumper, and he sometimes plays a bit out of control. Yet there is still so much to get excited about when watching Fultz play. He pushes the tempo, he is a willing passer, an active defender and he knows how to use his body and his athleticism to get to his spots. While still looking very wet behind the ears (I sincerely apologize for that phrase) he has a certain maturity about the way he plays. This is a young man who had to relearn how to shoot a basketball, has had a nightmare of a career thus far and is working hard each day to get better. It’ll take time, but Markelle seems eager to get to work and is willing to the little things that contribute to winning basketball games. Markelle was candid during a post-game about his performance thus far in preseason: “I’m just happy to be on the court trying to help my team compete and help them win. I feel like I’m getting more comfortable even though my shot isn’t falling. I’m doing other things, I’m still learning the defense. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before things start to click, not just for me but for the team.”
