Warriors hold off Magic for record 45th home win in a row
The Golden State Warriors’ elite shooting touch deserted them during Sunday’s shocking loss to the woeful Los Angeles Lakers. It returned for Monday’s home game against the Orlando Magic — just in time for the Warriors to set a new NBA for consecutive home wins.
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Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson shot 12-of-24 from beyond the arc to help Golden State overcome 24 turnovers on their way to a 119-113 win at Oracle Arena. The victory makes it 45 straight at home for the Warriors, breaking the previous record of 44 set by the legendary Chicago Bulls from March 30, 1995 until April 4, 1996. The Warriors last lost at Oracle way back on January 28, 2015 on an overtime winner from the Bulls’ Derrick Rose. Given what it takes to beat the Warriors at home, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them continue this run for at least a few more games.
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Draymond Green made sure to thank the fans for their part in the streak right after the team made history:
However, the Warriors nearly fell just short of the new record on Monday. Golden State built a 31-18 lead after one quarter and persevered through a third-quarter Orlando run to hold a 94-77 advantage heading into the fourth. Yet the Magic did not fall back and managed to cut the lead to just 111-109 with 1:13 left in regulation. The Warriors nearly committed a key turnover on the next possession, but Thompson picked up a loose ball and nailed this tough three-pointer from the right corner:
If that make didn’t signal that the Warriors would not lose, they essentially iced it after a Magic timeout when Andrew Bogut poked the ball away to set up a breakaway lay-up for Curry.
It was fitting that Curry and Thompson made the game’s two biggest buckets for the Warriors, because they kept the team afloat with their scoring in the midst of team-wide turnover problems. Curry went 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, but he also contributed with many moves towards the basket on his way to 41 points and 14 rebounds. Thompson was a little less prolific with 5-of-11 shooting from deep and 27 points, but his scoring was often just as important.
Two of Curry’s threes deserve special attention. The first came late in the first quarter when Andrew Bogut tapped the ball out for an open shot and started celebrating well before Curry even released the ball:
The other came towards the end of the the quarter, when Curry made his 300th triple of the season on this absurd shot over very good defense from Ersan Ilyasova:
That kind of shooting represented quite a turnaround from the 1-of-18 three-point outing Thompson and Curry put forth against the Lakers. Yet the Warriors struggled just as much to hold onto the ball, following up their 22 turnovers at Staples with 24 on Monday. Head coach Steve Kerr acknowledged that many were avoidable after the game:
Seven of the miscues came from Draymond Green, listed as questionable up until an hour before tipoff with an unspecified illness. He nevertheless played 35 minutes due to the continued absence of the injured Andre Iguodala, and Green struggled to shoot just 0-of-3 for one point (although he did add 10 assists, nine rebounds, three blocks, and two steals).
The good news for Green and other Warriors is that they will have some time to rest up at home. Golden State plays its next five at Oracle starting with Wednesday’s visit from the Utah Jazz and will play 14 of its remaining 20 in Oakland. At 56-6, the Warriors have a chance to reach 70 wins just by continuing to stay unbeaten at home. A mere 3-3 split in their remaining road games would allow them to break a much more famous record set by the Bulls in 1995 and 1996. Monday’s challenging victory proved that it is no certainty, but the Warriors are closer to 73 wins than ever.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
