The Orlando Magic outlasted the Golden State Warriors and used a game-ending 17-4 run to win their 16th game of the season with a 126-118 victory. The Magic trailed by as many as six in the fourth quarter and were down five with just five minutes to play. Golden State looked gassed in the fourth quarter and that was to be expected. Golden State played with just eight players and one of those players played just five minutes. Plus, Orlando is arguably the deepest team in basketball.
The Magic won their fifth game in a row and for the 1oth time in their last 11 games.
Orlando played three quarters of awful defense (the Warriors scored 33, 31, and 36 points in the first three periods) before holding the Warriors to just 18 fourth quarter points. The Warriors, after building a 114-109 lead, went cold and made several stupid mistakes in the last five minutes. At one point, the Warriors turned the ball over three times in four possessions, including traveling calls on both Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. After going down five, the Magic got a layup from Anthony Johnson and 3-pointers by Mickael Pietrus and Vince Carter after the Warriors missed two layups in a row. Vince Carter then drew a foul and hit both layups. On the next possession, he attempted to post up but was triple-teamed. Carter kicked it out to a wide open Mickael Pietrus, who hit a 3-pointer to give the Magic an 8-point lead and put the Warriors away.
Orlando got out to a 40-24 lead and it looked like the rout was on. Golden State answered with nine straight points and the Magic led by just nine after one.
The Warriors had 25 free throw attempts in the second quarter and that allowed the Warriors to hold Orlando to an 8-point lead. Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy received a technical at the conclusion of the first half for apparently arguing the free throw disparity.
The Warriors took over the third quarter, outscoring the Magic 36-25. Dwight Howard picked up his fifth foul with 5:52 to play with the Magic nursing a five-point lead. Orlando fell apart after that. The Magic had five turnovers in the quarter while the Warriors did not turn the ball over once in the quarter.
Vince Carter was the story of the second half for the Magic. Carter scored seven fourth quarter points and made big plays down the stretch to give the Magic the win. One particular play that showed just how important Carter is came with the Magic holding a 119-114 lead. Carter posted up, but had three Warriors run at him. He kicked the ball out to a wide open Mickael Pietrus, who hit a dagger 3-pointer. Carter didn’t get a lot of shots, but was very efficient. He was seven-of-13 from the field but earned several trips to the free throw line and was a perfect 12-of-12 there. Carter finished the game with 27 points and seven assists.
Dwight Howard didn’t put up the same numbers that he did in his last four games, scoring 17 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, but the Magic are just a much better team in every aspect of the game when he is on the court, which explains why his +12 was the second-highest +/- on the team tonight. Howard was very careful to not pick up his sixth foul in the fourth quarter and was still effective. Dwight has to learn how to remain in the game when he is in foul trouble and he took a big step in developing that part of his game tonight.
Matt Barnes was excellent off of the bench tonight. He provided great energy and was very efficient. He scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Mickael Pietrus was also excellent tonight. He got the Magic going tonight by making two early 3-pointers and finished the Orlando comeback with two more 3-pointers. He hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 114 and hit another one a few possessions later to ice the game. Pietrus had great energy tonight and his chasing down loose balls kept the Magic afloat late in the third quarter. Pietrus also had four rebounds and four assists, posting his best stat-line of the season.
Van Gundy once again tinkered with Orlando’s lineup. Brandon Bass came in at Power Forward when Rashard Lewis left the game. Bass wound playing nine minutes, scored four points and grabbed four rebounds. Ryan Anderson, who is usually the first Power Forward off of the bench, received a DNP-Coach’s Decision. Stan Van Gundy explained this to the media after the game.
"“Corey Maggette was at the four when it was time to sub for Rashard and I just thought that would have been a virtually impossible matchup for Ryan. I thought Brandon had better quickness to play him.”"
This is how it should be for the Magic. If Bass is the better matchup, play Bass. If Anderson is, play Anderson.
Fouls really plagued the Magic tonight. Free throw shooting kept the Warriors within striking distance in the second quarter. The Warriors shot 83.3% (30-of-36) from the line on the night. Not only did the Magic give the Warriors 30 points and bail out Golden State on some bad possessions, but they had to limit the minutes of Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat, who each picked up five fouls. Vince Carter also was just one foul away from fouling out. Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus also picked up four fouls.
Luckily for the Magic, the Warriors faced the same problems and the Magic took advantage. Orlando had their best free throw shooting night of the year, going 36-of-41 (87.8%) from the line. Vladimir Radmanovic, Monta Ellis and C.J. Watson all picked up five fouls for the Warriors while Stephen Curry and Anthony Randolph picked up four fouls a piece.
Orlando’s defense was awful. They allowed the Warriors to make 47.2% of their shots (42-of-89) and hit 30 free throws, but the Warriors were just four-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line. Golden State finished with an eFG% of 49.4%.
Anthony Randolph was excellent for the Warriors. He had to play Center due to the ineffective play of Mikki Moore and finished with a career-high 28 points and 13 rebounds. He also had five assists and held his own against Orlando’s big men.
Monta Ellis went off again. He finished the game with 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting.
Luckily, the Magic played well on offense.
The Magic, as usual, had a good night from downtown, but they were very streaky. Orlando made eight of their first nine 3-point attempts, but then went cold. They heated back up in the fourth quarter, making three key 3-pointers down the stretch. Orlando finished 12-of-26 from beyond the arc (46.2%). Orlando’s eFG% was 60.8% and they had 25 assists.
Orlando out-rebounded the Warriors, but because of foul trouble, it wasn’t by the margin you’d hope. They had 38 boards to Golden State’s 32 and were actually out-rebounded on the offensive glass, 10 to seven.
Orlando had 16 turnovers, but made it a wash by forcing 15 of their own.
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Game Notes:
- Golden State had 25 fastbreak points to Orlando’s 13.
- Orlando had 40 points in the paint to Golden State’s 30, but you’d like to have seen a bigger advantage considering Golden State’s lack of any kind of inside presence.
- C.J. Watson, who the Magic attempted to acquire during the offseason, finished with 17 points on six-of-10 shooting.
- Jason Williams scored all 12 of his points in the first quarter.
- Williams left the game with a bruised left elbow in the second quarter but quickly returned and wound up playing 37 minutes.
- Monta Ellis played all 48 minutes while Stephen Curry played 46. Rashard Lewis was the only Magic player to log over 40 minutes (42).
- Lewis finished with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists.
- Corey Maggette was one-of-five from the field but managed to score 11 points after going nine-of-11 from the free throw line.
Final Thought: The defense was awful, but after falling behind late, the Magic are just happy to get a win.
Next Up: The Magic will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers Tuesday night.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)