April 2, 2025 • 17 mins
Dante and Jake recap the Magic's win yesterday over the Spurs. They discuss Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's performance last night and Cole Anthony's return to the floor.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jane jem.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Step back over, Durrance, shot up, Carro drills it and
the foal.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Change for a three point play. Big time bag came
tort headed.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Back the way, a steal by Franz Fonder to.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Run out the fog and got my to it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Fronz Fonner and the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm like, if this is your daily destination for all
the latest on the Orlando match.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Over the windwn Now back to Kalon.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
He's gonna try another three, take out another one forty
seconds man Carol Jumper.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Whoo. Magic Insiders is presented by International dimon and.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome every one of those Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center Market.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
He went to the Magic Market til last night. Chim
san Antonio. Very difficult back to back.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Uh, you lose a heartbreaker the night before against the
Los Angeles Skippers where you couldn't muster any offense, and
then Contavious called well, Pulp himself makes as many three
as you made in the game before, So it is
hard to figure out this Orlando Magic team. But I
like what I saw last night, and everybody connects hal.
It was a little nerve wracking at times. You were
down much of the first three quarters. Then you found
(01:13):
a way to pull away in that fourth quarter. So
the magic take down the San Antonio Spurs one sixteen
to one oh four one five. Make it you get
twenty four points from Franz Wagner, twenty four points from
Pallo ban Caro ben Carol also gets you ten rebounds
in four assists. He had five turnovers, but I want
to point it out all five of those were in
the first half when you're trying to when there was
some frustration, you're trying to figure out this San Antonio defense.
(01:36):
Not a single turnover in the second half, and not
a single turnover for Fronz the entire game, and he
had seven assists and five rebounds. I thought those two
were masterful, especially in the second half.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So a terrific performance from them.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And then when you get twenty three points from Contavious
Caldwell Pope, he was outstanding. He was eight of eleven
from the floor, seven of nine from three, and I
believe Jake, if I'm not wrong, he is ten for
his last twelve from three in the last two games.
Because I don't think he missed a shot. In the
previous game. He was four of four and three of
three from beyond the arc. KCP pouring it on here
(02:11):
certainly since the All Star break. We'll have more on
that here in just a moment, but your thoughts, Jakes.
As now, Paulo and Franz have gone nine consecutive games
where they've each scored twenty points in the same game.
That is a new franchise record. And I think this
duo continues to do things that we haven't seen before,
or do things that haven't been done since.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Shaq and Penny. That is pretty elite company.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, you're talking about one of the best young duos
in the league, if not the best young duo in
the league.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Question, we're getting used to it right now.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
It's important to remember they're still early in their development
of learning how to play together. I mean, this thing
could really take off and be something special very soon,
because it's well on its way.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
I don't know about you, Dante.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I sorry.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know, over the course of an eighty two game season,
we've got a whole bunch of topics and bring up
a whole bunch of ideas and predictions on every pregame show,
and I spent much of yesterday, the various pregame shows
that I did yesterday, discussing how anything we play a
team like San Antonio that right now, at this point
of the season, wants to sort of junk it up,
(03:12):
get up and down, you know, a whole bunch.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Of threes up.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
We do a good job of dragging them down and
bringing them to our level, making them play magic basketball.
Then we come out and shoot sixteen threes in the
first quarter, made seven of them. We made seven of them.
But I'm sitting there going, Okay, I don't know. If
this is gonna be one thirty five to one thirty,
then we're not. We're not imposing our will on San
Antonio the way that we want to. And so it
(03:36):
felt like we were playing with fire a little bit
against a team that, frankly, you know, shooting threes.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
It was Champenni. They got a whole bunch of guys.
But Sell didn't even do that great a job last night.
He's killed the magic in the past.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Harrison Barnes is getting rolling again, and so I'm going,
if we're gonna be a three point shooting competition, We're
gonna lose, So it's a little nervous, but certainly you
come through in the second half. Contavious called well Pope
who knew he was the secret weapon in a three
point shooting competition. He was awesome, I told him at
the end of the night, or at least I said
on the on the broadcast, save a couple for Thursday seven.
(04:10):
He was absolutely outstanding. But we have we've seen him
trending up word shot over forty percent from three in
the month to March.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
So you did enough, You defended well enough. Certainly down
the stretch.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You give up forty four points in the second half
lockdown when it was necessary.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
And now you move on to Washington.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, and it's interesting with Contavious Caldwell pop because you
know he's not getting the shots that he got in
previous years. Right, he was getting ten point eight field
goals per game with Washington, Right, Okay, that is what
it is. Moves to Denver, you know he's going to
take less of a role. It's eight point three. Last
year was seven point seven, and this year it's seven
point two. He's not getting These guys need opportunities to
(04:47):
get shots up. And that was the concern when you
signed him was are we going to be able to
free up enough shots for him? Can we get the
guy nine or ten shots a game? You see what
he does, what he can get nine or ten shots
per game. Now, all of a sudden, he's up to
thirty four and a half percent and from three, right
the guy is on an absolute tear. We're talking a
quarter of the season since the All Star Break. Twenty
games since the All Star Break, he is forty five
(05:08):
point eight percent from three. That's twenty that's a span
of twenty that's a quarter of the season. He's up
to almost forty six percent from three, and he's only
getting six point seven shots per game. He's getting one
less shot a game than he had all of last year.
And he's got to make the most of those opportunities.
And he's done that. So yes, we can all agree.
It was a rough start shooting the basketball. There were
(05:28):
still a few wide open looks, but I think he
got to a point where if I'm only going to
get five or six shots a game, I got to
make two or three of them. And I think there
was a lot of pressure that he was putting on himself,
and I think now since the All Star Break, they're
they're finding him even less. He's at six point seven,
down from seven point two. And he said, you know what,
when I get my opportunities, I gotta let it fly.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I can't be bothered, I can't be concerned. I can't
worry about it. Let the chips fall where they may.
In my goodness, he's one of the hottest players in
the NBA, one of the hottest shooters in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah mean, I mean, meanwhile, he's a career thirty six
point seven three point shooter.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Dante He's at thirty four point three. So it's exactly
abject disaster. Like one good month has gotten him back
on track, exactly. And and I think people.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
The Magic lost Jase And I said this last week,
the Magic lost Jalen Suggs, and the defense is still.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
About as good as anybody's in the league. I mean,
I think.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
It's it's really important to wrap her head around how
important he's been on that end. And when you lose
Jalen Suggs, it's not just about Jalen disrupting and all
the stuff that he does.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
It's about you, night in and night out. You've got two.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Maybe three ball handlers on every team that somebody's got
to crawl into them and defend. And the other starting
spot has been some combination of Corey, Joseph, Cole, Anthony
and a very young Anthony Black. Casep is checking the
best ball handler and the best bard on the opposing
team night in and night out. And the defense is
not as good, of course as it was with Jalen Suggs,
(06:56):
but it is not falling off a cliff and Casep
deserves so much credit for that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well, he's and he's getting asked to knock down threes,
and he's only getting seven shots a game. He may
go in an entire half and not get a shot
up because that's just kind of the flow of the offense.
So he's being asked to make the most of these
shot opportunities when he gets them, and that can't be easy.
That that certainly can't be easy when you when you
think about what is expected of him moving forward. Now,
(07:20):
when KCP move gets fifteen points in a game, this
team is eight and three. So when he gets to
fifteen that that seems to.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Be the mark. They're eight and three.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And again it's a lot of that is just providing
that secondary or that, in this case, that third scoring
punch that that you haven't been able to get much.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And you get, you know, you get similar You get
similar production from Corey Joseph, who has just been so
steady since he's moved into that starting lineup. But two things,
you know you got. You got to give Caleb Houston
his credit here because he is he is He's been
asked to come in and knock down shots and he
doesn't get a ton of shots as well most nights.
He got eight of them last night, hit four threes.
(07:58):
I mean, if you can get four out of eight
from Caleb Houston every night, this team is going to
be incredibly dangerous. But he's starting to find a rhythm
and getting Cole Anthony back. You know, I watched him
come in and knock down his first couple of shots.
He knew he was feeling it. I took some ill
advised ones, but there was kind of heat checked shots
that he took in the first half. But he's trying
to feel his way back and then you start thinking, okay,
(08:18):
if you can and again, this is one game the challenge,
and we'll talk about this in the next segment, the
challenge is to not make.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Five threes eighteen seven.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Threes, you know, and then and then come back and
make eighteen again last night. The challenge is to have
some kind of friggin consistency from beyond the arcs. You
have these giant peaks and valleys. But if you start
looking at it and you say, okay, if we can
get consistent play from Caleb Houston off the bench, now
we don't know, he has not been asked to play
a role like this in his NBA career, and when
(08:48):
he was quite quite honestly didn't deliver. He is Now
can that be sustainable the final five games of the
season and on into the playoffs? Well, that will remain
to be seen. And can you know Cole Anthony coming
back casep's red hot.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
You know?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, Now, are you starting to find the momentum that
you do so desperately need.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Yeah, and hopefully some consistency off the bench.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I mean, the part of what the injuries have done
is it's obscured everybody's role and we're still at a
point where you know, night in and night out its
matchup base. But you know you're getting swings in minutes
from guys. Look, Caleb Houston missed his first four threes
last night a month ago.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
That means he's.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Probably not going to play twenty five minutes that night.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, coach mo Or might be out three games.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
He missed three or four games exactly. And now he's
earned he's earned the right to stick. Dude, Caleb to
turn twenty two in January.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I mean, he is still a baby, and so we
got to think about the fact that his first considerable
extended minutes and consistent, like night in and night out,
even if you missed your first flour, you're gonna hang
in there, you better make your next four.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
And he did that last night. So I think you look,
is it?
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Is it a lot to expect twenty minutes a night
from Caleb and and into the postseason play a major role,
Maybe because he is still very very early on in
his development, but certainly the last month has proven that
he's worth a couple more looks. And there's just nobody
on the team really who can knock down four or
five threes with kind of the ease that he can.
Another part about Cole that I thought about last night,
(10:14):
Dante was rebounding. I mean, we talk about Steven Adams
and with zoobots, how important it is. It's a five
man job. It's a team rebounding, and Cole brings such
an edge as far as the backcourt goes in that
regard five rebounds. You know that's not gonna while anybody,
But I thought Cole was fantastic last night. He looked
comfortable and I thought he played a big role as
(10:34):
far as as far as winning that game went, I
was I was worried that we were gonna need to
play him twenty six to twenty eight minutes last night.
I was wondering what the what the cap was, But
coach kept him at nineteen. So hopefully he's good to
go for the rest of the way and with some
fresh legs for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well that's that's what we got to see.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We're going to see how this is all going to
play out, and hopefully he gets the opportunity. Caleb Houston,
Contavious Caldwell, Pop Hopefully all of these guys get an
opportunity and still continue to deliver because you need them.
And you look at three point percentage since the All
Star Break, and if you look at three three point
attempts per game since the All Star Break. Right, so
(11:11):
you've got to go back to February twentieth, if you
go to a minimum of three three point attempts per game.
Caleb Houston leads the NBA at fifty three point eight
fifty three point eight percent, right, So, and a guy
like that, And what we've established now, Jake, is you
don't have to come out and get four threes. But
now are we establishing the threat of making a three.
(11:34):
This is all we've ever asked for from the entire season,
right from the entire season, from all these guys that
shoot threes.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So it's not just him, it's Caleb b Just fool them.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Just fool them into thinking it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yes, Just make it so they can't leave you wide open.
Just make that So now what happens, Well, now you
got to respect that. And now it opens things up
for Polo and Franz so they could give there's no
surprise that it's nine consecutive games. They've it's gone for twenty.
You have to respect some of the shooting now, and
that is huge. And the guy that is twelfth and
(12:06):
three point percentage since the All Star Break again minimum
three point three to three point attempts is contavious called
well Pope. So again that's taking some of the pressure off.
You just have to be a threat, and that's what
those guys are doing right now. More coming your way
on Magic Insiders when we return in a moment. Orlando
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(12:29):
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Speaker 1 (12:47):
This is Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic. You're listening
to Magic Insiders with Dante.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
And Jay on the Magic's flagship station ninety six to nine.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
The Games.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Welcome back everyone in his Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center Marketelly J. Chavin Magic Back at It tomorrow.
They're going to visit the Washington Wizards and we will
have that game for you at six thirty on one
oh four point five FM. One oh four point five FM,
our sister station, The Beat. Congrats to UCF who moved
on in their tournament. Nice win over Oregon State. So
(13:16):
they will be playing on ninety six nine on Thursday,
and we'll slide over to one oh four point five
FM pregame show at six thirty and six thirty on
FanDuel Sports Network. Get you our call of the game.
It's brought to you by Glip from Rees Glip from
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Visitclip dot com to learn more. Jake, you are now
(13:38):
seventh in the Eastern Conference. I want to get your thoughts,
your call the game. With that win and the lost,
I mean, well, how about the help we got from
the Portland Trailblazers. What are you doing Portland?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
They have no idea if they want to win, don't
want to win. Chauncey Billups wants to win. They've been
fun to watch here down the stretch. We ran into
that buzz saw twice. They swept the season series against
your in the Magic Will they go into Atlanta and
take down the Hawks?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I mean that was incredible last night.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So a big win for Portland and that now puts
the Magic in seventh percentage points ahead of Atlanta. Atlanta
place tonight, so we'll be watching that as well. You're
now two games clear of Miami in two and a
half up on the Chicago Bulls. What make you, Jake Chapman,
of this Eastern Conference standing situation?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Well, first and foremost, I can't figure out.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They're like, you know me, I love advance analytics, and
so I'm just always looking at who's got the best
net rating over the.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Last ten games or whatever. These aren't advanced analytics, they're
very simple analytics. But I'm a big net rating guy.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Toronto and Portland have been two of the best teams
in the league post All Star break, and yet they're
either on a five game winning streak or a five
game losing streak. You talk about they can't figure out
if they're coming or going. Toronto is you know they're
not going to do anything. Portland the same way. But
I kind of like what I'm seeing from both of
those teams. They certainly have talent, and both those teams
have been really good defensively post All Stars.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So Jake real quick. I mean, I mean Jake real quick.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And credit to NCI billis because I love the way
that team plays and this is what the play in
scenario has done. They're two games behind Phoenix. Portland is
twelfth in the West. There are two games behind Phoenix.
They're three and a half. Uh, three and a half
from the play in I mean, so they're at least
they're at least gonna take this thing down to the wire,
which I think is cool.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Well, and there's there's a chance.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean that Sacramento team, we didn't get too much
of a chance to talk about it. I mean, I
don't know what's going on there, but there's some uh,
there's there's some something's in the water, I think in Sacramento.
So yeah, maybe the bottom does drop out for that team.
And then of course you got Phoenix in the mix
in the Western Conference. No, I think Chauncey's done a
great job with Denny Abdio. Was he bawled last night? Uh? Yes,
I think they've done a good job with the with
(15:40):
the roster, and I like the idea that okay, we're
not gonna make the.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
Postseason everything, you know, let's see if we can get
Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
They've got young talent, and you know, it feels like
us two years ago, where it's like, if nothing else,
these games are are a good experience for our young talent.
We're kind of putting something together. Even if we come
up a little short. We're playing to win late in
the season in playoff type games and that's important.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And listen, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago all have very easy schedules
down the stretch. And again it's easy on paper. That
was thought to have been a layup for Atlanta last
night didn't go that way, so you got to play
the game. But you look at maybe possibly getting help
here down the stretch some of the harder games that
these teams have. Miami is at Boston tonight, so can
you get some help from the Celtics who have won
(16:23):
nine in a row. We need them to make it
ten in a row because Miami's won five in a row.
I mean, they got some good stretches here for Boston
and Miami, so that's gonna be a big game. Can
you get help from Boston? And then Atlanta at Dallas.
Dallas isn't terribly scary, but you know Dallas is playing
much better basketball. After they beat the Orlanto Magic, they
went to Chicago and beat a red hot Bulls team
(16:44):
that had won nine out of eleven. I mean, so
they're playing terrific and then and then it's not believable
to me.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
It's unbelievable to me.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
But you know, but Dallas is very much battling for
their playoff lives right trying to stay half a game
up on Sacramento, two games up on Phoenix. That's a
big game for them. Can we get lucky? Can we
get lucky with Dallas because Atlanta's on the second night
of a back to back, and can we get Boston
to stay hot against Miami tonight?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
D correct me if I wasn't. Trey Listen is questionable
for last night. He's got some sort of a nagging injury.
I think he was seven of twenty from the field,
second night of a back to back.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
I don't know. We'll see that.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Good point, Good point, Dallas. You know we can speak
to what Dallas can do. Who knows that they want
to win that game. I have no idea what Dallas
wants to do, period, But if they go out and
play play a game like they played against US and
they absolutely could could knock Atlantof for the second time
of two nights.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
We'll see, we'll see how it all plays out, and
we'll recap it for you tomorrow at three o'clock right
here on ninety six nine in the game The Magic
and the Wizards tomorrow will start you at three o'clock
with Magic Insiders, and then we'll get you ready for
the Magic and the Whiz.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Have a great night, everybody,
You're listening to Magic Insiders with Dante Marctelli and Jane jem.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Step back over, Durrance, shot up, Carro drills it and
the foal.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Change for a three point play. Big time bag came
tort headed.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Back the way, a steal by Franz Fonder to.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Run out the fog and got my to it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Fronz Fonner and the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm like, if this is your daily destination for all
the latest on the Orlando match.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Over the windwn Now back to Kalon.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
He's gonna try another three, take out another one forty
seconds man Carol Jumper.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Whoo. Magic Insiders is presented by International dimon and.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome every one of those Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center Market.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
He went to the Magic Market til last night. Chim
san Antonio. Very difficult back to back.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Uh, you lose a heartbreaker the night before against the
Los Angeles Skippers where you couldn't muster any offense, and
then Contavious called well, Pulp himself makes as many three
as you made in the game before, So it is
hard to figure out this Orlando Magic team. But I
like what I saw last night, and everybody connects hal.
It was a little nerve wracking at times. You were
down much of the first three quarters. Then you found
(01:13):
a way to pull away in that fourth quarter. So
the magic take down the San Antonio Spurs one sixteen
to one oh four one five. Make it you get
twenty four points from Franz Wagner, twenty four points from
Pallo ban Caro ben Carol also gets you ten rebounds
in four assists. He had five turnovers, but I want
to point it out all five of those were in
the first half when you're trying to when there was
some frustration, you're trying to figure out this San Antonio defense.
(01:36):
Not a single turnover in the second half, and not
a single turnover for Fronz the entire game, and he
had seven assists and five rebounds. I thought those two
were masterful, especially in the second half.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So a terrific performance from them.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And then when you get twenty three points from Contavious
Caldwell Pope, he was outstanding. He was eight of eleven
from the floor, seven of nine from three, and I
believe Jake, if I'm not wrong, he is ten for
his last twelve from three in the last two games.
Because I don't think he missed a shot. In the
previous game. He was four of four and three of
three from beyond the arc. KCP pouring it on here
(02:11):
certainly since the All Star break. We'll have more on
that here in just a moment, but your thoughts, Jakes.
As now, Paulo and Franz have gone nine consecutive games
where they've each scored twenty points in the same game.
That is a new franchise record. And I think this
duo continues to do things that we haven't seen before,
or do things that haven't been done since.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Shaq and Penny. That is pretty elite company.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, you're talking about one of the best young duos
in the league, if not the best young duo in
the league.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Question, we're getting used to it right now.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
It's important to remember they're still early in their development
of learning how to play together. I mean, this thing
could really take off and be something special very soon,
because it's well on its way.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
I don't know about you, Dante.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I sorry.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know, over the course of an eighty two game season,
we've got a whole bunch of topics and bring up
a whole bunch of ideas and predictions on every pregame show,
and I spent much of yesterday, the various pregame shows
that I did yesterday, discussing how anything we play a
team like San Antonio that right now, at this point
of the season, wants to sort of junk it up,
(03:12):
get up and down, you know, a whole bunch.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Of threes up.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
We do a good job of dragging them down and
bringing them to our level, making them play magic basketball.
Then we come out and shoot sixteen threes in the
first quarter, made seven of them. We made seven of them.
But I'm sitting there going, Okay, I don't know. If
this is gonna be one thirty five to one thirty,
then we're not. We're not imposing our will on San
Antonio the way that we want to. And so it
(03:36):
felt like we were playing with fire a little bit
against a team that, frankly, you know, shooting threes.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
It was Champenni. They got a whole bunch of guys.
But Sell didn't even do that great a job last night.
He's killed the magic in the past.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Harrison Barnes is getting rolling again, and so I'm going,
if we're gonna be a three point shooting competition, We're
gonna lose, So it's a little nervous, but certainly you
come through in the second half. Contavious called well Pope
who knew he was the secret weapon in a three
point shooting competition. He was awesome, I told him at
the end of the night, or at least I said
on the on the broadcast, save a couple for Thursday seven.
(04:10):
He was absolutely outstanding. But we have we've seen him
trending up word shot over forty percent from three in
the month to March.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
So you did enough, You defended well enough. Certainly down
the stretch.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You give up forty four points in the second half
lockdown when it was necessary.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
And now you move on to Washington.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, and it's interesting with Contavious Caldwell pop because you
know he's not getting the shots that he got in
previous years. Right, he was getting ten point eight field
goals per game with Washington, Right, Okay, that is what
it is. Moves to Denver, you know he's going to
take less of a role. It's eight point three. Last
year was seven point seven, and this year it's seven
point two. He's not getting These guys need opportunities to
(04:47):
get shots up. And that was the concern when you
signed him was are we going to be able to
free up enough shots for him? Can we get the
guy nine or ten shots a game? You see what
he does, what he can get nine or ten shots
per game. Now, all of a sudden, he's up to
thirty four and a half percent and from three, right
the guy is on an absolute tear. We're talking a
quarter of the season since the All Star Break. Twenty
games since the All Star Break, he is forty five
(05:08):
point eight percent from three. That's twenty that's a span
of twenty that's a quarter of the season. He's up
to almost forty six percent from three, and he's only
getting six point seven shots per game. He's getting one
less shot a game than he had all of last year.
And he's got to make the most of those opportunities.
And he's done that. So yes, we can all agree.
It was a rough start shooting the basketball. There were
(05:28):
still a few wide open looks, but I think he
got to a point where if I'm only going to
get five or six shots a game, I got to
make two or three of them. And I think there
was a lot of pressure that he was putting on himself,
and I think now since the All Star Break, they're
they're finding him even less. He's at six point seven,
down from seven point two. And he said, you know what,
when I get my opportunities, I gotta let it fly.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I can't be bothered, I can't be concerned. I can't
worry about it. Let the chips fall where they may.
In my goodness, he's one of the hottest players in
the NBA, one of the hottest shooters in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah mean, I mean, meanwhile, he's a career thirty six
point seven three point shooter.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Dante He's at thirty four point three. So it's exactly
abject disaster. Like one good month has gotten him back
on track, exactly. And and I think people.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
The Magic lost Jase And I said this last week,
the Magic lost Jalen Suggs, and the defense is still.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
About as good as anybody's in the league. I mean,
I think.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
It's it's really important to wrap her head around how
important he's been on that end. And when you lose
Jalen Suggs, it's not just about Jalen disrupting and all
the stuff that he does.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
It's about you, night in and night out. You've got two.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Maybe three ball handlers on every team that somebody's got
to crawl into them and defend. And the other starting
spot has been some combination of Corey, Joseph, Cole, Anthony
and a very young Anthony Black. Casep is checking the
best ball handler and the best bard on the opposing
team night in and night out. And the defense is
not as good, of course as it was with Jalen Suggs,
(06:56):
but it is not falling off a cliff and Casep
deserves so much credit for that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well, he's and he's getting asked to knock down threes,
and he's only getting seven shots a game. He may
go in an entire half and not get a shot
up because that's just kind of the flow of the offense.
So he's being asked to make the most of these
shot opportunities when he gets them, and that can't be easy.
That that certainly can't be easy when you when you
think about what is expected of him moving forward. Now,
(07:20):
when KCP move gets fifteen points in a game, this
team is eight and three. So when he gets to
fifteen that that seems to.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Be the mark. They're eight and three.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And again it's a lot of that is just providing
that secondary or that, in this case, that third scoring
punch that that you haven't been able to get much.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And you get, you know, you get similar You get
similar production from Corey Joseph, who has just been so
steady since he's moved into that starting lineup. But two things,
you know you got. You got to give Caleb Houston
his credit here because he is he is He's been
asked to come in and knock down shots and he
doesn't get a ton of shots as well most nights.
He got eight of them last night, hit four threes.
(07:58):
I mean, if you can get four out of eight
from Caleb Houston every night, this team is going to
be incredibly dangerous. But he's starting to find a rhythm
and getting Cole Anthony back. You know, I watched him
come in and knock down his first couple of shots.
He knew he was feeling it. I took some ill
advised ones, but there was kind of heat checked shots
that he took in the first half. But he's trying
to feel his way back and then you start thinking, okay,
(08:18):
if you can and again, this is one game the challenge,
and we'll talk about this in the next segment, the
challenge is to not make.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Five threes eighteen seven.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Threes, you know, and then and then come back and
make eighteen again last night. The challenge is to have
some kind of friggin consistency from beyond the arcs. You
have these giant peaks and valleys. But if you start
looking at it and you say, okay, if we can
get consistent play from Caleb Houston off the bench, now
we don't know, he has not been asked to play
a role like this in his NBA career, and when
(08:48):
he was quite quite honestly didn't deliver. He is Now
can that be sustainable the final five games of the
season and on into the playoffs? Well, that will remain
to be seen. And can you know Cole Anthony coming
back casep's red hot.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
You know?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, Now, are you starting to find the momentum that
you do so desperately need.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Yeah, and hopefully some consistency off the bench.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I mean, the part of what the injuries have done
is it's obscured everybody's role and we're still at a
point where you know, night in and night out its
matchup base. But you know you're getting swings in minutes
from guys. Look, Caleb Houston missed his first four threes
last night a month ago.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
That means he's.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Probably not going to play twenty five minutes that night.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, coach mo Or might be out three games.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
He missed three or four games exactly. And now he's
earned he's earned the right to stick. Dude, Caleb to
turn twenty two in January.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I mean, he is still a baby, and so we
got to think about the fact that his first considerable
extended minutes and consistent, like night in and night out,
even if you missed your first flour, you're gonna hang
in there, you better make your next four.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
And he did that last night. So I think you look,
is it?
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Is it a lot to expect twenty minutes a night
from Caleb and and into the postseason play a major role,
Maybe because he is still very very early on in
his development, but certainly the last month has proven that
he's worth a couple more looks. And there's just nobody
on the team really who can knock down four or
five threes with kind of the ease that he can.
Another part about Cole that I thought about last night,
(10:14):
Dante was rebounding. I mean, we talk about Steven Adams
and with zoobots, how important it is. It's a five
man job. It's a team rebounding, and Cole brings such
an edge as far as the backcourt goes in that
regard five rebounds. You know that's not gonna while anybody,
But I thought Cole was fantastic last night. He looked
comfortable and I thought he played a big role as
(10:34):
far as as far as winning that game went, I
was I was worried that we were gonna need to
play him twenty six to twenty eight minutes last night.
I was wondering what the what the cap was, But
coach kept him at nineteen. So hopefully he's good to
go for the rest of the way and with some
fresh legs for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well that's that's what we got to see.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We're going to see how this is all going to
play out, and hopefully he gets the opportunity. Caleb Houston,
Contavious Caldwell, Pop Hopefully all of these guys get an
opportunity and still continue to deliver because you need them.
And you look at three point percentage since the All
Star Break, and if you look at three three point
attempts per game since the All Star Break. Right, so
(11:11):
you've got to go back to February twentieth, if you
go to a minimum of three three point attempts per game.
Caleb Houston leads the NBA at fifty three point eight
fifty three point eight percent, right, So, and a guy
like that, And what we've established now, Jake, is you
don't have to come out and get four threes. But
now are we establishing the threat of making a three.
(11:34):
This is all we've ever asked for from the entire season,
right from the entire season, from all these guys that
shoot threes.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So it's not just him, it's Caleb b Just fool them.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Just fool them into thinking it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yes, Just make it so they can't leave you wide open.
Just make that So now what happens, Well, now you
got to respect that. And now it opens things up
for Polo and Franz so they could give there's no
surprise that it's nine consecutive games. They've it's gone for twenty.
You have to respect some of the shooting now, and
that is huge. And the guy that is twelfth and
(12:06):
three point percentage since the All Star Break again minimum
three point three to three point attempts is contavious called
well Pope. So again that's taking some of the pressure off.
You just have to be a threat, and that's what
those guys are doing right now. More coming your way
on Magic Insiders when we return in a moment. Orlando
Magic App users get exclusive early access to shop the
new Magic collab with Lefavra. This collection celebrates the heart
(12:29):
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for in store pickup only. More Magic Insiders when we
return in the moment.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
This is Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic. You're listening
to Magic Insiders with Dante.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
And Jay on the Magic's flagship station ninety six to nine.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
The Games.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Welcome back everyone in his Magic Insiders presented by International
Diamond Center Marketelly J. Chavin Magic Back at It tomorrow.
They're going to visit the Washington Wizards and we will
have that game for you at six thirty on one
oh four point five FM. One oh four point five FM,
our sister station, The Beat. Congrats to UCF who moved
on in their tournament. Nice win over Oregon State. So
(13:16):
they will be playing on ninety six nine on Thursday,
and we'll slide over to one oh four point five
FM pregame show at six thirty and six thirty on
FanDuel Sports Network. Get you our call of the game.
It's brought to you by Glip from Rees Glip from
Ring Central. We think the way you work with secure
meetings and messaging on any device with Clip by RingCentral.
Visitclip dot com to learn more. Jake, you are now
(13:38):
seventh in the Eastern Conference. I want to get your thoughts,
your call the game. With that win and the lost,
I mean, well, how about the help we got from
the Portland Trailblazers. What are you doing Portland?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
They have no idea if they want to win, don't
want to win. Chauncey Billups wants to win. They've been
fun to watch here down the stretch. We ran into
that buzz saw twice. They swept the season series against
your in the Magic Will they go into Atlanta and
take down the Hawks?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I mean that was incredible last night.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So a big win for Portland and that now puts
the Magic in seventh percentage points ahead of Atlanta. Atlanta
place tonight, so we'll be watching that as well. You're
now two games clear of Miami in two and a
half up on the Chicago Bulls. What make you, Jake Chapman,
of this Eastern Conference standing situation?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Well, first and foremost, I can't figure out.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They're like, you know me, I love advance analytics, and
so I'm just always looking at who's got the best
net rating over the.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Last ten games or whatever. These aren't advanced analytics, they're
very simple analytics. But I'm a big net rating guy.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Toronto and Portland have been two of the best teams
in the league post All Star break, and yet they're
either on a five game winning streak or a five
game losing streak. You talk about they can't figure out
if they're coming or going. Toronto is you know they're
not going to do anything. Portland the same way. But
I kind of like what I'm seeing from both of
those teams. They certainly have talent, and both those teams
have been really good defensively post All Stars.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
So Jake real quick. I mean, I mean Jake real quick.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And credit to NCI billis because I love the way
that team plays and this is what the play in
scenario has done. They're two games behind Phoenix. Portland is
twelfth in the West. There are two games behind Phoenix.
They're three and a half. Uh, three and a half
from the play in I mean, so they're at least
they're at least gonna take this thing down to the wire,
which I think is cool.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Well, and there's there's a chance.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean that Sacramento team, we didn't get too much
of a chance to talk about it. I mean, I
don't know what's going on there, but there's some uh,
there's there's some something's in the water, I think in Sacramento.
So yeah, maybe the bottom does drop out for that team.
And then of course you got Phoenix in the mix
in the Western Conference. No, I think Chauncey's done a
great job with Denny Abdio. Was he bawled last night? Uh? Yes,
I think they've done a good job with the with
(15:40):
the roster, and I like the idea that okay, we're
not gonna make the.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
Postseason everything, you know, let's see if we can get
Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
They've got young talent, and you know, it feels like
us two years ago, where it's like, if nothing else,
these games are are a good experience for our young talent.
We're kind of putting something together. Even if we come
up a little short. We're playing to win late in
the season in playoff type games and that's important.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And listen, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago all have very easy schedules
down the stretch. And again it's easy on paper. That
was thought to have been a layup for Atlanta last
night didn't go that way, so you got to play
the game. But you look at maybe possibly getting help
here down the stretch some of the harder games that
these teams have. Miami is at Boston tonight, so can
you get some help from the Celtics who have won
(16:23):
nine in a row. We need them to make it
ten in a row because Miami's won five in a row.
I mean, they got some good stretches here for Boston
and Miami, so that's gonna be a big game. Can
you get help from Boston? And then Atlanta at Dallas.
Dallas isn't terribly scary, but you know Dallas is playing
much better basketball. After they beat the Orlanto Magic, they
went to Chicago and beat a red hot Bulls team
(16:44):
that had won nine out of eleven. I mean, so
they're playing terrific and then and then it's not believable
to me.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
It's unbelievable to me.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
But you know, but Dallas is very much battling for
their playoff lives right trying to stay half a game
up on Sacramento, two games up on Phoenix. That's a
big game for them. Can we get lucky? Can we
get lucky with Dallas because Atlanta's on the second night
of a back to back, and can we get Boston
to stay hot against Miami tonight?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
D correct me if I wasn't. Trey Listen is questionable
for last night. He's got some sort of a nagging injury.
I think he was seven of twenty from the field,
second night of a back to back.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
I don't know. We'll see that.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Good point, Good point, Dallas. You know we can speak
to what Dallas can do. Who knows that they want
to win that game. I have no idea what Dallas
wants to do, period, But if they go out and
play play a game like they played against US and
they absolutely could could knock Atlantof for the second time
of two nights.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
We'll see, we'll see how it all plays out, and
we'll recap it for you tomorrow at three o'clock right
here on ninety six nine in the game The Magic
and the Wizards tomorrow will start you at three o'clock
with Magic Insiders, and then we'll get you ready for
the Magic and the Whiz.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Have a great night, everybody,
Hosts And Creators
Dante Marchitelli
Jake Chapman
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