ESPN reacts to Orlando Magic crush Atlanta Hawks 120-95 in play-in to face Celtics in playoff series

ESPN reacts to Orlando Magic crush Atlanta Hawks 120-95 in play-in to face Celtics in playoff series

the Hawks in this playing game. Window Carter Jr. the rebound in the fourth and one. Carter, he finished with 19 points on n eight of 12 shooting. And then how about Paliban Carro almost had a triple double in this game. The spin with the left. Yeah, I’m that guy. Palaban Carol with 17 n and seven. And you know who wasn’t happy? uh Trey Young because towards the end of the game he’s kicking the basketball. He’s also taunting the ref a little bit. Got ejected two technicals as Trey Young and the Hawks. Yeah, they didn’t do what they need to do on this night. And with that, we bring in CBS Sports NBA insider Bill Ryder and CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez. And Bill, um, I think you owe an apology to the Magic because earlier on HQ, you said you didn’t believe in them. You said, “Yeah, them winning 10 of their last 14 games didn’t really mean that much to you because it was all against, you know, bottom tier teams, but instead they make one hell of a statement in this game. Cole Anthony, Anthony Black were great.” So, what made you or what did you see from Orlando that proved you wrong in this game? I’m not going to be like Trey Young here. I’m gonna be a good sport, Chris. And I’m glad you asked. I want to do the right thing. I want to take my fifth amendment right to stop speaking and let John Gonzalez do the rest of the second. No, I mean, look, the the the Magic were remarkable. And the thing that I always give John a hard time for because he’s a big magic guy and he’s like watching this year is their inability to go and to get buckets and to create offense for themselves. We know what they are on defense. we saw at critical parts of that game, especially when Atlanta started to push back in that third quarter, but it was that first half offensive outpouring from from Orlando. I I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t know that their their secondary guys were going to be so critical to what they did. And this is the thing about a oneame playoff or whatever you want to call this thing, an automatic game seven. If you have more intensity, if you have a good shooting night, if you play at a higher level, you get to move on to the playoffs. Congratulations to them. My apologies to all of Orlando. I won’t go to Disney for the next two or three years. I’m not welcome and I’m wishing you the best in your next round series against the Celtics. Yeah, you’re definitely not uh going to be betting against them um for the next series. Well, maybe you will uh cuz the Celtics are really good. But before we get to their matchup against the Celtics, John, they scored 61 points right in the first and second quarters combined. And one of the reasons that I thought they did so well was the the playmaking ability of Palen Carroll. Was that something that really stood out to you or was there something else? Yeah, Peliban Carroll’s playmaking ability was important for them, but it was a weird night for Orlando. As Bill mentioned, they got out to a hot start offensively. I don’t think anybody expected them to score 60s something points in the first half. Bill and I, Bill likes to tease me about Orlando being an awful offensive team, even though I like Orlando, and they are. They’re 27th in offense this season, but it wasn’t so much Paulo Ben Carroll scoring the ball as Cole Anthony and Anthony Black being their best offense. So yeah, Paulo was a good distributor, but I again those two guys off the bench being your best offense just goes to Bill’s general overarching point that this is not a good offensive team. Now they do match up well with the Hawks because they’re so much bigger and stronger. And that is something that Paliban Carroll obviously has. But I don’t think we can look at this team and go, man, Orlando really figured out their offense. They’re going to be aces against the Celtics. I suspect they’re going to have some problems in the next round. Okay. So I’m glad you brought up the Celtics, Bill. Do they have any shot of shocking the defending champs here? Because as John pointed out, and you alluded to it, um their offense still, you know, doesn’t look that fluid. They just found, you know, the right time to have their two bench players just really go off from deep. Chris, I don’t know if you’re a Vegas guy. I am. And the old thing is don’t throw good money after bad, but I I don’t like that rule. I’m going to throw good money after bad. I’m just going to recycle my take from earlier. No, they have this time I’m right. The Magic have zero chance. It will be a sevename series, right? So, there’s not going to be a one-off and they don’t have the benefit of playing an Atlanta Hawks defense that was porous and pathetic in a game that was critical. The Magic are really interesting. They play really good basketball on the defensive end. They do have a couple stars. Pon Carol is the main guy who can go out there and create their own shots and go into isolation and do some things. But, I think the Celtics team, and I know John may take exception to this because the Thunder are so good. And look, the Cavs are good. I still think Boston’s the best team in the NBA. They’re certainly, for my money, the best team in the Eastern Conference. And I think what Orlando has earned, and they earned it against Atlanta, is probably a four or five game series in which they go up against a very different kind of basketball team than that Trey Young le Hawks team we just watched them play. Yeah, Bill’s right. It’s going to be a really tough slo for the Magic. Look, again, the Magic have really good size and athleticism, and as Bill noted, they’re a fantastic defensive team, second defense, second best defense in the NBA this season. But offensively, they’re so challenged outside of Paulo Ben Carro and Fron Vagner. Yeah, sure. Cole Anthony and Anthony Black had one good game tonight. I suspect they’re not going to be able to duplicate that against the Celtics in a sevename series. I think this thing is a sweep. The only reason I’m not picking them in three games is you have to apparently win four. Otherwise, the Celtics could be home sooner rather than later. Uh Godspeed to the Magic. They’re going to be the sacrificial lamb to the basketball gods in the next round. Yeah. Uh, nobody is expecting the Magic to uh, give the Celtics any type of fight and I completely understand why, but it would be hilarious if they were able to pull off a shocker. Now, the Atlanta Hawks, a dreadful night on the offensive end, right? Trey Young gets ejected. He’s clearly frustrated. So, now they have to look forward to playing the Heat or the Bulls. When you look at those matchup, potential matchups, Bill, uh, what do you think are their chances to winning? I mean, I took Atlanta earlier, so my my recency by self-loathing is to automatically just take whoever wins the the eight seed game and gets a chance against I but I think the Bulls are kind of interesting because they’re fun and they’re just playing with house money, but this is an Atlanta team and we talked about this Chris before this game and I know they’re constructed differently than they were in the past, but Trey Young Elise is a guy who’s been to a conference finals, who’s capable of some really big performances and he had a really good third quarter. I thought Atlanta, in fact, I was sending you text messages. sort of gloating way too soon, which is, you know, noted. Don’t do that. But Trey Young has it in him if he can act with some class, not get himself kicked out of a game, be a leader, things he didn’t do at the end of that game. And you gotta I don’t love the way that he can ported himself. But on the basketball court, I still think Trey Young is probably the best player that’s going to be on the floor, whether they play Chicago or they play the Miami Heat. The Heat have basically given up the ghost. The Bulls are like fun. They’re interesting, but they’re not that good of a basketball team. They’ve been fun of late. I still think Atlanta’s the best team that remains. I think Trey Young should be capable of doing over the course of an entire game what he did in the third quarter and that is maybe propel his team as a as a mediocre team over a relatively probably bad basketball team to go and play the one seed. I also took the Hawks in this one game which goes to show you that anything can happen in one game. Sure, yeah, the Hawks could end up beating either the Heat or the Bulls, but it is one game and you’re going to need Trey Young to be fully dialed in and he obviously wasn’t tonight. Trey Young’s had a really interesting season. He went from a score first, shoot first, worry about me all the time guy to this year being a really good distributor in setting up his uh his teammates. He didn’t do that as well tonight and his shot wasn’t falling. And he was frustrated and decided, yo, this is a terrible night for me. So, let’s get ejected with four and a half minutes to go just because I don’t want to be here. All of that needs to change in the next game. Even if it is the Miami Heat who have not been playing well after moving on from Jimmy Butler, Tyler Hero, and Bayio, just not enough to really buoy that team. I’m with Bill. We’ve been talking about this a lot on the pod. The Bulls have been fun and interesting. Mattis Bzelis and uh Josh Giddy and Kobe White. Those guys, look, I I don’t know that they can stop anybody, but at least they’ve got some offense. So, if it ends up being the Hawks and Chicago, that would be a go-go game where the Hawks could get out and run. Chicago could get out and run. I think it would be a lot more fun than anything we saw tonight. But one game, Chris, anything can happen in one game. That’s right. All it takes is one game. And yeah, I wouldn’t mind seeing a game that’s like 125 120 between the Bulls and the Hawks. So, it’s going to be fun to see what version of Atlanta that we get, especially from Mr. Trey Young, Bill Ryder, John Gonzalez. Always appreciate the inside, fellas. And here’s a look at the NBA playin slate for Wednesday. The Heat on the road against the Bulls. The Bulls one-point favorites. Mavericks, they’re in the playin going up against the Kings. Kings favored by four and a half in that one. Celtics favored against the Magic Minus 8,000. [Music] [Music] That’s what’s here. No big [Music] Hallelujah.

ESPN reacts to Orlando Magic crush Atlanta Hawks 120-95 in play-in to face Celtics in playoff series