7. Dethroning the champs
Feb. 28: Magic 103, Warriors 96
Over the years, the Orlando Magic have had some close calls against the Golden State Warriors. Earlier in the year, the Magic opened up a 16-point lead over the Warriors in Oakland and seemed poised to steal a game from the defending champions. Then Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant happened and Orlando had to lick its wounds.
That game was played without Stephen Curry. When Golden State came to the Amway Center, he would be back in the lineup but Durant would not. DeMarcus Cousins was back in the lineup too.
The Warriors were doing their thing for parts of this game too. The Magic lost track of Stephen Curry on several occasions and DeMarcus Cousins started to look spry, attacking Nikola Vucevic in the post and running the floor like a guard.
Golden State had an 11-point lead after the third quarter. The team’s record in those situations is downright silly. The Warriors do not lose when they lead by that much.
But then the Magic buckled down. They held the Warriors to 15 points in the fourth quarter and scored 33 to take the game.
Aaron Gordon hit a 3-pointer midway through the quarter to give the Magic the lead for good. And Orlando made big play after big play to ice the game away.
The Magic were not quite in playoff mode yet. They were still starting to rev up at this point of the season. The team was beginning to galvanize.
This win was a big part of that. If there was a moment when you could start to entertain the idea of late-April basketball, this game was it. A hard-fought, gutsy win over the defending champions (as depleted as they were). Those kinds of wins carry momentum and confidence.
The Magic were about to get rolling.