Orlando, FL — After a disappointing loss on Saturday evening to the Sacramento Kings, the Magic couldn’t bounce back and they fell to the Golden State Warriors tonight 101-93.
With Gary Harris remaining sidelined due to an ongoing injury (right plantar fascia strain), Orlando inserted Markelle Fultz into the starting lineup for the first time since Feb.13 versus Oklahoma City.
Tonight’s contest got off to an interesting start where Golden State’s Draymond Green was ejected less than four minutes into the game. According to the Pool Report by NBA Officials, it was stated that “After a prolonged diatribe, Green directed egregious profane language towards a game official.” This was Green’s first time being ejected since his 16-game indefinite suspension back in January.
Orlando got off to an extremely rocky start shooting from the field as they shot a porous 3-22 (13.6%) from the field, 0-8 from three, and just 5 of 11 from the charity stripe. Golden State did a great job of sharing the wealth in that first period with eight assists, Klay Thompson chipped in seven points, and the Warriors were getting downhill at will. Orlando dug themselves into a first-quarter hole down 27-11 that they had to scratch and claw their way out of to get back into the contest.
Cole Anthony and Jonathan Issac came off the bench and provided that spark for this Magic team that they desperately needed to begin the second quarter of play. What was a double-digit lead for the Warriors quickly faded after Orlando opened up on a 12-2 run that featured two three-pointers each by both Cole Anthony and Jonathan Issac. Golden State wouldn’t allow the Magic to inch much closer as they continued to maintain their lead and they led Orlando at halftime 45-37.
A very similar story to begin the third period for the Magic as the starting unit looked out of rhythm and wasn’t playing their brand of basketball. Orlando in that third period did a good job of being aggressive and getting downhill to the rim. Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero had some tough takes to the rim, and Wendell Carter Jr chipped in a nice two-handed slam as well. The Magic’s bench continued to do a lot of the heavy lifting for this team in that third period as Cole Anthony knocked down two more shots from deep, and Golden State would lead Orlando 72-66 going into the fourth quarter.
It was an incredible fourth period from start to finish and it was kicked off with Andrew Wiggins knocking down back-to-back triples for the Warriors before Cole Anthony and Anthony Black came back with threes of their own. Orlando, who had been trailing all game long cut the deficit down to just four points with 6:57 remaining as Golden State led 82-78.
After Klay Thompson knocked down a three-pointer with just over four minutes remaining in the game to extend Golden State’s lead to eight points, Orlando would make a late rally. Franz Wagner had a driving layup followed up by a Jalen Suggs three and a Cole Anthony turnaround shot that made it a one-point Warriors lead with just over two minutes remaining. Golden State wouldn’t allow Orlando to take the lead as they closed the game out on a 7-0 run and a dagger step-back three-pointer from Steph Curry.
For the Magic, Cole Anthony finished the night with a team-high 26 points all while shooting 10-17 from the field and shooting a season-high 5 of 8 from deep. The Magic as a whole struggled to shoot as they shot a modest 36-85 (42.4%) from the field, 10-32 from three, and a horrible 11-21 (52.4%) from the free throw line.
“We shot 52%, that’s not good, I can say that.” Jamahl Mosley when asked about the team’s poor shooting from the free-throw line tonight. “I can say that it’s a level of concentration when they step to the free throw line, not thinking they’re going to make the shot and they step in you know, wanting to step in with confidence or concentration and knock them down.”
Orlando did a great job defensively holding the Warriors to 101 points on the night but struggled to keep them out of the paint as they scored 54 points in the paint tonight. I asked Paolo Banchero about the team’s defense performance on the inside tonight and he stated,
“I think we contested a lot of shots at the rim. They’re a great shooting team, got some good shooters, so you want to get them off the line, and that opens up driving lanes. I think that’s what you live with, you know, they scored 101 which for that team is good defensively, we just couldn’t find it offensively.”
Orlando after dropping their second consecutive game the Magic are now back to the fifth seed in the East and are sitting with a record of 42-30 on the season.The team was visibly frustrated after a disappointing loss tonight and they will now look forward to playing host to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday evening at the Kia Center.
