NBATV national broadcast sneaky high on Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic’s win over the Boston Celtics was part of NBATV’s Players Only broadcast. And the analysts came away with glowing reviews of the team.

NBA analysts rained praises on the Orlando Magic in one of their few nationally televised games of the season Monday night against the Boston Celtics.

The three-person crew of Greg Anthony, Candace Parker and Steve Smith called the game on Players Only Night on NBA TV, giving a national perspective on the Magic at this early stage of the season. All three spoke highly on Nikola Vucevic, Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon.

Nikola Vucevic ultimately stole the show with his offense. The crew called for the Magic to feed him the ball more and let him become their closer. Anthony said Vucevic is playing at an All-Star level, and Parker thinks he needs to score 20 and 10 every night to give the Magic a chance.

Vucevic led all scorers Monday night with 24 points on 11-for-18 shooting, hitting one of his two 3-pointers and grabbing 12 rebounds.

After the game, he spoke with the NBA TV crew and talked about his diverse offensive game. He elaborated on his ability to play inside and out: to post up, pick-and-pop and shoot outside jumpers.

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Nikola Vucevic said coach Steve Clifford wants him to play both inside and out. And that is just the way he likes to play.

The NBATV crew also spoke highly of Jonathan Isaac. They echoed he has great potential and just needs more experience and additional weight. Anthony said Isaac has a chance to be on the level of fellow sophomore Jason Tatum when he is fully developed.

Isaac had a career night with 18 points and 12 rebounds. He was very active offensively and defensively throughout the game. Isaac was a pest in passing lanes and had a few good closeouts, showing his ankle is healthy.

He knocked down some open jumpers on offense, shooting 2 for 4 from three. In the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Isaac had an open 3-point look, but he pumped fake, took a couple dribbles and nailed the higher percentage jumper to give the Magic a five-point lead.  Itw as a big confidence-building moment for him.

Isaac had four offensive rebounds. On one possession, he came out of nowhere and snagged an offensive rebound from the Celtics, he then tried to lay it back in and missed, but grabbed his own rebound and finished with a ferocious slam.

Isaac played big in the paint and was money on his open jump shots. The crew seemed to think Isaac is better suited as a power forward in the NBA. But his position is still up in the air as is Isaac’s overall development.

His fellow starting forward Aaron Gordon was impressive defensively, taking the onus of guarding the Celtics’ wings. He was able to stay in front of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Gordon’s lateral quickness will allow him to guard any small forward in the league.

The NBATV crew praised Gordon on some of his defensive efforts where the Boston wings still made baskets, but he was right in their faces. It was a strong game for him on that end.

Gordon did not have the best offensive game with 13 points, but he did not force the issue on the break. That is a good sign because last season he had a tendency of bulldozing his way into traffic and turning the ball over.

It appeared some of those issues boiled over as Clifford was shown on the broadcast yelling at Gordon heading into a timeout as Gordon was dribbling and sizing up his man. It is still a learning process for Gordon.

In one play in the game, Gordon calmly dribbled outside the 3-point line and drained a corner three. Anthony talked about Gordon’s improved shot and growing confidence in his jump shot.

My biggest takeaway from the NBATV crew is they view Vucevic as perhaps the team’s best player. He is the most skilled offensively and has the most experience of the Magic players. They compared him to Zach Randolph because he is always at the right spots and a highly efficient player.

Orlando certainly impressed and gave the crew plenty to talk about.

Vucevic and the Magic made the most of its national televised game. If the Magic keep playing like they did against the Celtics, the playoffs are not that far of a stretch.