Short Version: This was a bit of a tough one because the team started so slowly and then couldn't muster the effort to get over the hump once they cut the deficit...against a team on a back to back. Not sure if it was the players or the coaching that had guys making such poor defensive decisions but good shooters were left open, Oladipo was played tight all game and RoLo had no answers for Vucevic (who has come a hell of a long way over the course of his NBA career). We really seemed to miss KOQ, as Seraphin really didn't have much for us. That said, Lance Thomas took full advantage of the space Orlando gave him and Melo is stringing together good shooting performances at a closer proximity than earlier. Galloway and Grant are both starting to get back to quality play as well. This is about to be a hell of a 10 game stretch (Orlando counting as the first stop), but at least some players are showing improvement.
Melo: The guy can't put together a perfect statline, there's always a blemish. It had been his shooting but this time it was the 5 TO's. He's REALLY sharing the ball and getting others involved and picking his spots well though. The Magic timed his pump fakes for steals and jump balls when he drove on a few occasions but otherwise he was a real force. He drove more often than many games this season, which makes his FTA's a head scratcher. His defense on Harris was a bit come and go, but he was also limping around on a bum ankle for a while out there. 23, 6 asts, 4 boards on 10-17 shooting...a nice game but not a great one.
KP: Someone needs to tell the kid to step inside the line and shoot 20 footers until he gets his rhythm back. He was 1 for 6 from 3 point land and they weren't bad looks for the most part. Fisher seemed opposed to playing him at the C with Vucevic eating people's souls out there, but I'd have liked to see it since no one was stopping the guy anyway. Defensively, KP had two chase down blocks against fast breaking guards; that's a feat for a 7'3 trailer. He also seemed to be establishing a no fly zone in the paint right as he got pulled from the game late. He was a presence on the boards as well. Maybe it's a coincidence but I noticed he throw a handful of one handed passes that looked pretty similar to Okafor's passing style (Okafor's obviously on another level as a passer but the mimicry would be a nice sign). 3-12 from the field hurts, but 9,8,1 with 4 blocks while limited to 25 minutes is alright.
RoLo: In games where RoLo establishes deep post positions, he tends to be a more productive offensive player...but even though he did so early, we fell back to basic system mechanics that drew him out 20 feet with his back to the basket for hand offs or screens. He really fought on boards and honestly, his post defense on Vucevic wasn't that bad. He did get hurt by Vuc knocking down 20 footers like they were nothing though, RoLo concedes jumpers to bigs but in a couple of recent ones it hasn't worked out well. 12, 8, 2 with 2 blocks...The 6-6 and 0 TO's are promising on the end of the floor where he's had some issues.
Calderon: He hasn't been able to get his jumper off lately. Both his TO's came off of system based passes that the defenders likely knew were next in the step by step process we sometimes fall into. He put up a poor back-ups numbers in basic back-ups minutes. 4,2 and 2 with a dose of "what happened to aggressive Jose" slipping into my mind.
AA: I'm not gonna get overly upset at the guy having a bad shooting night after he's been closer to a first option than a second or third the past few games...but I do feel it's a much different game if he gets going. 4,5 and 3 on 2 of 8 shooting...I'm not sure I remember a single post up from him, which limited his attempts to catch and shoot territory with less creative play than I'd seen in previous games. He did contribute solid rebounding and assist numbers, but I'd have liked to see him get more opportunities in spite of the poor shooting numbers. I didn't mention this on Jose's breakdown, but you can apply a defacto "needs to defend the three point line better" to every guard listed btw.
Lance Thomas: He balled out, no two ways about it. Dude's sneakers had the NBA jam glow all night as he sprinted with the ball, without it, defensively and any time he wasn't pump faking instead. The only down side on his full speed motion all game long was a couple of fumbled passes. Other than that he was 9-9 for 24 points. I really wish the guy would fight for more boards, but his defense and passing were both good to compliment the scoring.
Galloway: Still hasn't had the big breakout game like he was putting up early in the season...but he's close to back. The three point stroke still isn't back fully, but he's starting to get buckets. 10,4 and 3 on a solid night. My big criticism for him was that he decided to try and smother Victor Oladipo...a 27% shooter from three. Oladipo is the one guy you can leave open and he was the one guy we didn't let shoot.
Grant: Up and down defensive game thanks to the same complaint I mentioned above (3 point defense), but overall an outing that was strong enough for Fisher to leave him in until he hesitated on some open jumpers. He put up 6,2 and 1 in 14 mins which is nothing to write home about but solid thanks to a couple of steals he added to the mix. He needs a personal shooting coach and some zen books about self-confidence.
Seraphin: Help defense was completely lacking, which meant 8 minutes was all he got out there for and his stat line reflects it. We missed KOQ sorely in this one.
Sasha: Just let Early get this guy's 5 minutes and tell him to run hard...because Sasha plays as hard as he can but that's all he's giving you with any consistency.
D-Will: Had 5 points in ten mins and was actually kinda playing his game, as in really flying up and down the floor. He took it to the rack a couple of times but the refs were letting a lot of contact go (both ways, not an indictment of the reffing but it did hamstring a key strength of Williams' game). 5 points and 2 boards in 10 mins where you figure he might have gotten a longer look if not for the Lance Thomas explosion in the third.
Fish: KOQ was out, so he had to go with Seraphin but man did I not expect to see Sasha and KS out there together ever again. He did the "ride the hot hand" thing in this one but it didn't work out. So Lance Thomas got extended minutes with KP being chanted for and Grant wound up out there long enough to lose momentum when I think a lot of fans would like to see Galloway in. I think it would have been a good idea to give KP a try at Center late; a strategy that would have meant fronting Vucevic and trying ball denial since the Magic would be working the shot clock down and need quicker passing. By and large our guards shot poorly, so there's not much he could have done to improve that. The KP chants are gonna stand out to people, but I understand the logic of trying to ride the hand of a guy who brought your team back when all of its go-to guys were floundering (not really Melo but his ankle was HIT).
Random: So is Evan Fournier an SG to keep an eye on at this point? He has an intriguing skill set, he's young and he'll be an RFA...he's probably a lock for a matched contract, but he's really played well this season.
Grant getting Galloway's minutes to finish the game 
