Two teams that have responded differently to key injuries will match up with short-handed rosters when the Orlando Magic and the Golden State Warriors face off Saturday night in San Francisco.
The Warriors, who have been without Jimmy Butler III, Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis all season while also load-managing veterans Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford, have ridden surprisingly productive depth to six straight wins after an 0-3 start.
At the same time, the Magic — currently missing Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac — had two road wins among their first five games, but have since dropped three in a row.
Four of the six wins in Golden State’s unbeaten streak have come at the start of a six-game homestand. Curry had 29 points and Green led a strong defensive effort against Giannis Antetokounmpo in a 120-100 triumph in the team’s most recent action Thursday night.
Green insisted to reporters after the game that he’s not surprised by the team’s improvement, calling it a “process.”
“We spoke about in the beginning of the season taking our process one day at a time and we’ve done that,” Green said. “We’re getting better each and every time we step out on the floor. We’re moving in the right direction. That’s what is most important.
“We’re not walking in here saying anything differently than we were saying 3 1/2 weeks ago. It’s still the same message every day. We believed we’d be a decent team already. It’s good to be on a six-game win streak.”
The Golden State bench played a key role in the win over Miami, outscoring its Heat counterparts 53-27. Georges Niang (13 points), Brandon Williams (10), Gary Payton II (nine), Horford (eight) and Charles Bassey (eight) provided the quality depth on a night when Warriors coach Steve Kerr had to pull Will Richard (10 points) from the bench crew to start in place of injured Gui Santos.
The Magic, meanwhile, got 18 points from Tristan Da Silva, but just nine more points off the bench in their 117-104 loss at Phoenix on Thursday to open their four-game Western swing.
The Magic have committed more turnovers than their opponent in all three games of their losing streak, including a season-high 25 in Phoenix. The turnovers occurred in so many different ways against the Suns that Orlando coach Sean Sweeney had trouble pinpointing the area in greatest need of improvement afterward.
“They came in a lot of different ways,” Sweeney noted to the media. “I think we had four illegal screens. Some (times) we were a little bit careless with the basketball. Some plays I thought we tried to make the right play, just didn’t connect the dots. A number of them and a number of different areas.”
The Warriors have beaten the Magic in 12 of their past 13 head-to-heads at home. Banchero and Butler, both of whom will miss this year’s meeting in California, had 21 points apiece when the Warriors rolled to a 120-97 win last December.
