By: Ben Leonard

The Golden State Warriors came into Tuesday night cruising, winning their last nine games, including a win over the Thunder. They were also heavy favorites against the lowly Orlando Magic, who had just snapped their nineteen game losing streak against Western Conference teams on the road Sunday against the Phoenix Suns. Despite all this momentum swinging in the Warriors’ favor, the Magic almost handed Golden State just their third loss of the season. The Warriors struggled to make shots after a great second quarter, in which they made 79% of their shots. They needed a clutch, eventual game-winning three pointer from Stephen Curry to take a 98-97 victory over the Magic and move to 15-2. The Warriors are now just one win short of tying a franchise record of eleven straight victories.

It was not easy for Golden State in the early going, fueled mostly by hot shooting from Magic guard Victor Oladipo. He scored nine in the first quarter, leading Orlando to an early 15-8 lead with 6:16 to go in the first. After a timeout, the Warriors recuperated and gathered some momentum, cutting Orlando’s lead to 25-24. In a halftime interview on CSN Bay Area, Warriors’ assistant coach Alvin Gentry stressed the importance of doing “a better job on defense in keeping in front of [Oladipo].” Oladipo finished with twenty-seven points and four assists, but his individual performance was not enough to beat the Warriors.

The Warriors and small forward Draymound Green survived an early scare. Green sprained his thumb falling into photographer, and went to the locker room for treatment. He later returned to game, and made a good catch on half court pass and finished with a layup, drawing little reason for concern. Golden State pulled away in the second quarter, making an unsustainable seventy-nine percent of their shots to carry them to a 56-46 halftime lead. As as team, the Warriors had nineteen assists, and generally shared the ball well. They dominated the boards in the first half, grabbing twenty-seven rebounds to Orlando’s fourteen, including seven of the offensive variety. The Warriors failed to take advantage of poor three pointing shooting by the Magic (2-11 3-pt) in the first half, turning the ball over ten times. They allowed the Magic to score thirteen points off of these miscues.

The third quarter was similarly awful for the Warriors, who were outscored 29-17 in the period behind poor three point shooting. Golden State missed all of its five attempts from long-range, missing several open shots in the process. The Magic went on an 11-0 run from 9:19 until 6:20 left in the third, eventually turning a big 65-53 lead into a 71-69 deficit with 1:57 left in the third. Golden State went six for twenty-one from the field in the period, and likely felt relieved to finish the third down just 75-73.

Andre Iguodala set the tone early in the fourth, opening the half with a quick bucket to tie the game. Center Andrew Bogut blocked two shots on the ensuing possession, yet the Magic still hit a three to make it 77-75. The Warriors found themselves down 84-77 with around 7:40 left to play in the second half, and needed a catalyst. Despite a quiet night in the early going, Klay Thompson’s three pointer with 5:35 to go provided just that, cutting Orlando’s lead to 86-83 and getting the 19,596 in attendance at Oracle Arena back in the game. The three pointer started a furious rally for the Warriors, who went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at ninety-five apiece. Thompson ended up scoring twenty points on the night, despite a slow start, and gave the Warriors the boost that they had needed to get back in the game. Another star for Golden State was quiet in the first half: Stephen Curry. He made just two of five shots in the first half, scoring five points. He certainly made his presence known late in the game, hitting a game-winning three from the right wing with just 2.2 seconds to play. He shook off a poor shooting night, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter, including the decisive shot that gave the Warriors a 98-97 lead. In total, Curry scored twenty-two points to go along with five assists. After a timeout, the Magic had one last chance, but Draymound Green batted the inbounds pass away to end the game.

It was an uncharacteristically close game for the Warriors, who had not had a game decided by less than four points coming into Tuesday night. Last season, they had a whopping twenty-six of those games, a testament to the dominance that these Warriors have been accustomed to this season. Tuesday’s win marked their seventh this season against Eastern Conference foes in as many tries. Golden State will play the New Orleans Pelicans in their next game, this Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN

Featured Image: By Keith Allison (Flickr: Victor Oladipo) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons