Isaac gets assist with jersey
The Orlando Magic recorded 22 assists in their 116-109 season-opening victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but the biggest assist of all came from someone who’s never played a minute in the NBA.
the Magic’s longtime equipment manager and traveling secretary, helped rookie forward
during Isaac’s regular-season debut.
Isaac felt so excited for his first official NBA game that he forgot to put on his jersey before he left the locker room around 6:40 p.m. He just jogged onto Amway Center’s court in a warm-up jacket. When the time arrived for Isaac to enter the game, Isaac discovered his oversight, and Powell made sure the jersey was brought to Isaac from his locker.
“I was on the bench and I completely forgot my jersey,” Isaac said, a grin on his face as he recounted the story. “And luckily Sid got it for me.”
Powell’s assist paid dividends for the Magic.
In 17 minutes of playing time, Isaac scored four points on efficient 2-of-3 shooting, collected eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
“He’s a good basketball player and he’s NBA-ready defensively,” coach
said. “Quite frankly, we keep talking about [how] he’s NBA-ready defensively, [but] he has a good feel for the game offensively, too. He can dribble, pass and shoot. He has a good feel for shot selection. He exercised that tonight, and he had a good opening night.”
Isaac also provided one of the game’s best hustle plays.
With 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Isaac dove to the parquet floor to collect an offensive rebound. When
missed a subsequent shot a few seconds later, Isaac grabbed another rebound and scored on a putback dunk.
The basket put the Magic ahead 97-80, their largest lead of the game.
In June, the Magic drafted Isaac sixth overall out of FSU.
At 6-foot-10 and 210 pounds, Isaac needs time to fill out his body. But team executives, coaches and teammates have praised him for his maturity, desire to learn and smarts.
Isaac turned 20 years old on Oct. 3, so everything is new to him, as it is for most rookies. When he was introduced along with his teammates before tipoff Wednesday, he looked up into the Amway Center stands and smiled, gazing out at all the fans inside the cavernous arena.
Isaac had some butterflies, and his nerves didn’t dissipate even after he scored on his first shot attempt, a putback layup with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter. Several minutes into the second quarter, he airballed a 3-pointer from the right corner.
But that airball didn’t matter to him. Neither did leaving the jersey in his locker.
His team won, and he helped.
“I’m super-excited, man,” he said. “It’s definitely what I thought it would be.”