By JOSH NEWMANSpecial to ZAGSBLOG NEW YORK – Orlando Magic rookie sensation Victor Oladipo had never played at Madison Square Garden before taking on the Knicks on Friday night. As far as rookie debuts at The World’s Most Famous Arena go, Oladipo’s 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks were tame, but it was not without its memorable moments. Early in the first quarter of a 121-83 Knicks win, Raymond Felton whipped a pass to Carmelo Anthony, who was cutting to the hoop. As Anthony rose for what looked like a shore dunk, Oladipo, who is four inches shorter than Anthony, met him at the rim and rejected the dunk attempt. That play was sandwiched in between two long Oladipo 3-pointers, the second of which gave the Magic their largest lead of the game at 15-5 just over four minutes in. “I’m just trying to help my teammates out and trying to make plays on the ball,” Oladipo said. “Sometimes, you might get scored on, you might get dunked on but it’s just a matter of if you’re going to do it or not.” Oladipo came into Friday night after going for the first triple-double of his career with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 126-125 double-overtime loss at the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday evening. The game featured arguably the two best rookies out of the 2013 NBA Draft to this point in Oladipo, the No. 2 overall pick, and fellow-point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who went 11th. As this season heads towards the quarter-pole, the race for Rookie of the Year appears to be shaping up as Oladipo vs. Carter-Williams. “He’s always been good to me, he’s a good player and he’s going to continue to keep getting better,” Oladipo said of Carter-Williams, who is averaging 17.7 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. “The sky’s the limit for him. I pay attention to all those guys because they’re in my draft class. I want them all to do well, so I’ve pretty much watched a good handful of them this year. I wish them all them best.”
The strong efforts at the Sixers and Knicks were a continuation of Oladipo’s maturation as a point guard, a position he had never played in his life until the Magic told him before Orlando Summer League that they wanted to try him there.
Averaging 13.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists through 18 games entering Friday, it appears Oladipo is taking to his new responsibilities just fine.
“There’s a lot that comes with the position,” Oladipo said. “It’s just something you have to learn, really. You have to learn how to come off of ball screens and make sure people are in their right places. There’s nothing in particular that’s hard to figure out, you just gotta figure out the whole thing. Everything is difficult, so you just gotta get used to it.”
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