Each having stalled a recent slump with a nail-biting victory in its last game, the Orlando Magic and Golden State Warriors seek a winning streak at the other’s expense when they meet Monday night in San Francisco.
The contest is a rematch of a 121-113 Magic home win Nov. 18 in which superior depth allowed Orlando to overcome a combined 67 points by Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III.
Even with Jalen Suggs (bruised hip), Franz Wagner (sprained left ankle) and Moe Wagner (recovering from torn ACL) out of action, the Magic showed off their depth in a 128-127 overtime win at Utah on Saturday. Desmond Bane led six players in double figures with 32 points.
Meanwhile, the Warriors leaned heavily on the Curry-Butler dynamic to pull out a 119-116 home win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, with Curry going for 28 points and Butler 25.
Suggs, who has missed the first two games of Orlando’s four-city Western swing, might return to face the Warriors. While backcourt mate Bane would love to see that happen, he realizes Orlando has enough quantity in its roster to overcome even key absences.
“Our standards travel,” Bane assured reporters at the start of the trip in Denver, where the Magic fell 126-115 on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter who is playing, who is in the rotation. We have a clear identity and a clear recipe for what it takes to win games. We have to put it out there on the floor regardless of who is playing.”
The Magic featured a different look in Utah than they had two days earlier in Denver. Jett Howard chipped in with 12 points off the bench against the Nuggets, then watched as fellow reserve Noah Penda put up a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double in Utah.
The triumph Saturday was just Orlando’s third in its last seven games. The Magic haven’t had a winning streak since a three-gamer bridging November and December.
The Warriors can relate. Their win over the Suns snapped a three-game skid. Golden State has won consecutive games — a modest two-game run — just once since reeling off three straight victories in the middle of November.
The most pleasing aspect of Saturday’s win was that it ended not only a losing streak but also a string of close setbacks. They were beaten by a total of 13 points in the three defeats, and entered the Phoenix game with a 5-10 record in “clutch” games, which are defined as contests with no more than a five-point difference in the score at some point of the final five minutes.
Curry saved 11 of his 28 points for the final five minutes against the Suns in a close game that was sitting at 117-116 for Golden State before Curry’s clinching layup with 5.7 seconds left.
Butler believes the Warriors, who have lost nine of 14, aren’t far from turning things around.
“Continue to play basketball the right way, I’m a firm believer in that,” Butler assured the media after Saturday’s win. “We play hard, we play for one another, and we’re gonna be just fine. It’s not as bad as it looks — couple possessions here and there, couple turnovers here and there — but that’s just the game. That’s been our season thus far.”
