Magic at Warriors
A record-setting season for the Golden State Warriors has reached the brink of another milestone. The Warriors will try to bounce back from a shocking road loss and break the 1994-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 44 straight home wins when they go for their 45th against the visiting Orlando Magic on Monday.
Most of the talk of late has centered around Golden State’s pursuit of another record held by that famous Michael Jordan-led Chicago team – 72 regular-season wins – and the Warriors’ pursuit of that mark took a hit when they fell at the Western Conference-worst Los Angeles Lakers 112-95 on Sunday. “It’s actually pretty easy to explain,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “It’s the NBA, and if you’re not ready to play, anything can happen. We weren’t ready.” The Magic followed an impressive win over the Chicago Bulls with an embarrassing loss to the Phoenix Suns at home on Friday and now hit the road for a four-game West Coast trip with their chances for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference dwindling. “We should probably stop talking about (the playoff chase) right now because this was a game we had to have,” Orlando coach Scott Skiles told reporters after the 102-84 loss to the Suns while questioning his team’s motivation. “The question that we need to find out about – I know that I’m not going to get much sleep tonight, and I’m interested if the guys in the locker room are.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (27-34): Orlando is four games behind the Bulls for the No. 8 spot in the East and is trying to find some consistency after going 6-6 in the last 12 games. “It’s got to be a habit,” Skiles told reporters of his team’s inconsistency. “It’s got to be, ‘that’s how I play every game no matter what,’ instead of some games being real competitive and other games not being competitive. Once it becomes a habit, that’s what happens, and then a player becomes really reliable.” One of those last six losses came to the Warriors at home on Feb. 25, when Stephen Curry torched the Magic for 51 points in a 130-114 final.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (55-6): Golden State had flirted with a loss in its previous three games before pulling it out in the fourth quarter but could not get the shots to fall against the Lakers. The Warriors went 4-of-30 from 3-point range in the loss, including 1-of-10 from Curry, and committed 17 turnovers as a seven-game winning streak came to an end. “It was a bad performance all the way through,” Curry told reporters. “… It was just one of those days that you want to avoid at all costs.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Magic G Victor Oladipo (back) sat out Friday but returned to practice on Saturday and is likely to play on Monday.
2. Warriors F Andre Iguodala (hamstring) sat out for the second time in the last three games on Sunday and is day-to-day.
3. Golden State has taken five straight in the series.