ORLANDO, Fla. — Victor Oladipo showed the Nets why he was the second overall pick in the draft Sunday night.
The 6-foot-4 guard from Indiana was terrific, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench to lead the Magic to a 107-86 win over the Nets inside Amway Center.
“My teammates kept telling me to be aggressive,” Oladipo said, after scoring 14 of his 19 points after the break. “The greatest thing about the NBA is it’s a long game. Both halves are like two games, so there’s no telling how you’re going to play in the second half. I just try to stay focused and just come in there and play hard.”
Oladipo also had the highlight play of the night, stealing the ball from Deron Williams at midcourt, racing ahead all by himself and throwing down a 360-degree dunk that gave the Magic an 82-61 lead and all but ended the game.
If the rookie was star-struck going up against the Nets, he sure didn’t show it.
“I just go out there and play basketball,” Oladipo said. “I’m competitive just like they are. … I want to win just as bad as they do.
“Eventually, I want to be a potential Hall of Famer just like them. So, in order for me to get there, I just have to go out there and play hard.”
Oladipo still is a work-in-progress, as his seven turnovers would suggest. Nevertheless, the potential is clearly there, and he had little trouble getting to whatever spot on the floor he wanted throughout the game.
“He’s a talented rookie,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s everything that he’s been built up to be, and his future is very bright.
“When you’re talking about a guy with his talent, you’re trying to keep him out of the lane, and he definitely got in the lane and made some great plays.Once a scorer or an athletic guy like that gets going with easy baskets, then the jump shot seems easier, too, so he had his way tonight.”
Before the game, Kidd said Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko would see their playing time increase from the 27 minutes Williams played and 12 Kirilenko did in Friday’s 101-100 win over the Heat.
Nevertheless, at least in part because the Nets were blown out, that didn’t happen. Williams finished with nine points and seven assists in 27 minutes, and Kirilenko had three points and four rebounds in 11 minutes.