The Magic took on the visiting Brooklyn Nets at home in Orlando Sunday night. The talented Nets were expected to be a tough matchup for the young Magic. The Brooklyn Nets pummeled the Magic last season in all four matchups, winning by an average of 19.7 points a game. Not to mention they added a few all star players this off season, including Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. However, the Orlando Magic have already shown strong signs of improvement from last season’s team over the first few games of the season. Needless to say, the Magic fans weren’t writing this off as another easy home win just yet.
As soon as the game started, the Magic team revealed just how much they had improved since the last time these teams met. They played more collectively and with much more energy than they have shown in the last couple seasons. A significant amount of this new found energy can be attributed to their fierce rookie, Victor Oladipo. Oladipo finished the game with 19 points. He scored 14 of these points in the second half of the game. Victor also ignited the crowd with a steal leading to a solo fast break, finished off with an amazing 360 dunk. Other solid performances throughout the game came from Aaron Afflalo and Nikola Vucevic. The energy also showed on the Magic defense, which held the Nets to only 86 points in the game. The new and improved Orlando Magic have made an early statement to the rest of the NBA this season, proving that they can easily compete with the best of teams and that they are a force to be reckoned with.