Hobbled Golden State Warriors Beat Orlando Magic Soundly

Mar 18, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Steve Blake (25) high fives guard Klay Thompson (11) after a play against the Orlando Magic during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

On a night where the Warriors didn’t have defensive specialists, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, they were still able to get the best of the Orlando Magic, beating them soundly by a final score of 103-89. Although they played fairly sloppily, they were able to fight it out and take the Magic’s primary scorers completely out of the equation.

The only downside to this night? Portland beat Milwaukee: doesn’t seem like much of a downside, but the Warriors are trying to catch up to them, so every loss counts. It was an overtime game, by the way.

Arron Affalo, who is averaging 19.5 points per game on the season, was stifled into a 2-for-7 night with a miserable 4 points thanks to defensive specialist Klay Thompson. Nikola Vucevic was the only one for the Magic who had a stand-out night. He finished 7-for-14 from the field with 15 points, starting off 7-for-9. Although the Magic shot 45% from the field, the Warriors still held them to 89 points by forcing 16 turnovers.

Other than the excelling defense, the story of the game was Marreese Speights, who came off the bench to fill in some time in place of the injured Andrew Bogut. Jermaine O’Neal, probably due to rest, did not get any playing time today. Speights, however, did just fine with 13 points, eight rebounds, a steal and a block.

In the first quarter, the Warriors were keeping their composure well, and executing well. Thompson continued his magical stint since the All-Star Break, and Stephen Curry joined him with another spectacular night. These two combined for 43 total points to follow up their great game in Portland. After leading by 3 at the end of the first, the Warriors took off and tried to leave Orlando in the dust. Reckless turnovers and bad decision making, however, kept them around.

It wasn’t until the third quarter when they outscored the visitors by 11, opening the door for a blowout. In the final quarter, Curry, who had 23 points, didn’t play all that much, and the Warriors were able to grab the solid win.

This was more of a laid back game for the Warriors, as they fought hard against the Blazers Sunday night in a game that came down to the final shot.

The Dubs now get another day to relax, and come back to play the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Think it’ll be an easy win? The Bucks just barely lost to Portland in OT, so the Warriors are going to have to storm out of the gates. The time to start the hot finish to the season is now.