Victor Oladipo keeps his promise
Aggressiveness pays off with 24 points in first game after removal from lineup
and doesn’t let emotion affect his play against the Knicks. The result? Magic win, 100-91.
As tipoff approached Wednesday, Victor Oladipo vowed he wouldn’t let a demotion from the starting lineup adversely impact his play. He kept his promise. Oladipo came off the bench and provided a critical secondhalf spark and led the Orlando Magic to a 100-91 victory over the New York Knicks.
In 26 minutes, Oladipo played more aggressively on offense than he has at any point this season. He scored 18 of his seasonhigh 24 points in the second half Porzingis returns to Orlando for first time since pre-draft workout.
and went 13-for-15 from the foul line.
Just how much more aggressive was he? Consider this: Oladipo hadn’t attempted more than four free throws in any previous game this season.
Oladipo’s scoring outburst helped the Magic withstand a 28-point game from their longtime tormentor, Carmelo Anthony, and an eight-point, sixblock performance by rookie
Kristaps Porzingis.
Oladipo received some support from point guard Elfrid Payton, who scored 12 points and dished out 11 assists.
Coach Scott Skiles informed Oladipo of the lineup change on Tuesday, moving Oladipo from the starting shooting-guard spot to the bench and Channing Frye from the bench to the starting power-forward spot. The moves enabled Evan Fournier to shift to shooting guard and Tobias Harris to shift to small forward, their natural positions.
Skiles wants more balance between the first and second units and wants to smooth the team’s peaks and valleys during games. Adding Frye to the starting lineup also should improve the Magic’s spacing and create more space for teammates to drive and more space for Nik Vucevic to operate down low.
Vucevic scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
In some ways, Skiles acknowledged, the decision is not fair to Oladipo.
Skiles and his assistant coaches have preached the value of defense to the entire team, and the team has responded, entering Wednesday holding opponents to 42.7 percent shooting. No one, Skiles said, has played better oneon-one defense and team defense than Oladipo.
But Oladipo now finds himself coming off the bench.
The Magic (7-8) played some of their best defense of the season against the Knicks (8-8).
The Knicks endured an 8-minute, 30-second stretch bridging the first and second quarters in which they didn’t make a basket. Anthony finally ended the Knicks’ drought by making a jumper with 7:21 to play in the second quarter, cutting the Magic’s lead to 30-23.
During the first half, the Magic limited the Knicks to 29.3 percent shooting, the Knicks scored just 35 points, the lowest first-half total for any Magic opponent this season.
Yet the Magic’s early third-quarter struggles continued. The Knicks opened the second half by making six of their first seven shot attempts and cut Orlando’s 46-35 halftime lead to 55-51 on a jumper by Porzingis over Frye.
Oladipo re-entered the game with six minutes remaining in the period, and he gave the Magic an immediate lift. The team ran several pick-and-rolls with Oladipo handling the ball at the top of the key, and he drove into the lane aggressively.
Late in the third quarter, Oladipo grabbed a rebound off a missed jumper by Kyle O’Quinn and immediately sped down the court. Oladipo knifed into the lane, absorbed a foul by O’Quinn and scored on a layup before he fell to Amway Center’s parquet floor. Oladipo made the ensuing free throw to extend Orlando’s lead to 67-57.
A short while later, Oladipo sank a pull-up jumper after both Jason Smith and Andrew Nicholson set screens for him near the top of the key. The basket put Orlando ahead 70-59.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Porzingis almost turned the game in the Knicks’ favor. He blocked a dunk attempt by Oladipo, and on the Knicks’ ensuing possession, Jose Calderon sank a 3-pointer to cut Orlando’s lead.
But on the Magic’s next trip down the court, Oladipo drew a foul on Sasha Vujacic and sank both attempts, extending the lead to 78-70.
With around five minutes remaining, Oladipo sank a 3-pointer to put Orlando up 86-74.
The long jumper capped a satisfying night for him.
jrobbins@orlando sentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/ magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.