Orlando Summer League: Isaac leads Magic to win versus Miami Heat

The Orlando Magic’s greatest enemy in their Summer League premier on Saturday was nervous energy, including Jonathan Isaac’s first-game jitters. On Sunday, however, they reversed their fortunes in a big way, roaring out to a 21-0 start and riding that lead to a 81-68 win over the Miami Heat. Isaac stood out on both ends of the court, using his length to lock down a variety of players on defense while flashing a solid midrange jumper, including when he hit the 4th-quarter-winning shot to secure the Magic an extra point in the Summer League standings. He led all scorers and rebounders with 15 and 13, respectively, while Derrick Walton Jr. put together his second straight solid performance with 12 points on very efficient 5-7 shooting, including sinking both of his 3-pointers.

Isaac once again played a short stint in the first quarter before asking out like the previous game, but like yesterday he found his second wind and played with high energy throughout the rest of the game. Some of his highlights included switching onto and blocking point guard London Perrantes, hitting a one-legged 15-foot jumper from the left, throwing down a thunderous put-back on a missed 3-pointer, and of course his quarter-winning stepback jumper at the end. He was matched up against Miami’s own first-round pick Bam Adebayo at times, and was part of containing him to 4-16 shooting.

Derrick Walton Jr. and Marcus Georges-Hunt were the other big-time contributors for Orlando, especially on offense. MGH was the lead scorer throughout much of the game, and crucially he was aggressive drawing fouls, getting to the line five times. Walton continues to look like the Magic’s best pick-and-roll player, consistently making good decisions with the ball in his hands and knocking down timely shots. When the Heat made their comeback effort in second and third quarters, Walton stepped up to settle the team and restore order.

Wesley Iwundu had the highlight play of the game, defending on one end and scoring on the other. In a fast break situation, he rose up to pin the Heat’s shot to the backboard, then raced up the court to receive the pass on the other end for the acrobatic layup.

Defensively, the team was much improved from their first game together, working on the same page and switching in a timely fashion to contain the Heat’s penetrating attack. While they did commit a lot of fouls and send the Heat to the line 28 times, they made up for it by holding them to 30% shooting, a reversal of Saturday afternoon’s fortunes.