The Magic had enough fight to drag this one into overtime, but not enough bodies to finish it off.
Playing without Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and, hours before tipoff, Desmond Bane, Orlando still pushed the Warriors to the limit Saturday night at Chase Center. The short-handed Magic came up just short in a 126-119 loss, their fourth straight defeat, while Golden State ran its winning streak to seven.
Stephen Curry was the difference again. The 11-time All-NBA guard poured in 41 points and kept answering every Orlando push, including the final one in overtime.
“The thing with him is, he’s never done,” Magic coach Sean Sweeney said about Curry. “If you do a good job early getting him under control, he’s still going to stick with it.
… You can’t let up with him. That’s why he’s one of the greatest of all time.”
Orlando had chances late in regulation and again in the extra period. Down 110-108 with less than 30 seconds left, Jamal Cain tipped in an offensive rebound to force overtime tied at 110.
Then Tristan da Silva knocked down his fifth 3-pointer of the night to put the Magic ahead 118-117 with 2:24 remaining in OT. But Curry answered with an and-one to swing the lead back to Golden State for good at 120-118 with 1:38 left.
Even with the loss, Orlando got major production from several players. Franz Wagner scored 30, da Silva added 19, Wendell Carter Jr. finished with 19 and Anthony Black chipped in 18. That still wasn’t enough to overcome Golden State’s 16-9 edge in overtime.
The Magic are now 2-7 and continue their four-game West Coast trip Tuesday night in Sacramento before heading to Utah the following night.
Orlando’s start made the uphill climb even steeper. Da Silva entered the starting lineup for his first start of the season, joining Jase Richardson, Black, Wagner and Carter.
Golden State jumped out quickly, scoring the first six points and building a 23-9 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. The Magic then went more than five minutes without scoring in the opening period, from the 8:01 mark to 2:42, and trailed 31-19 after one.
Richardson never got going offensively, missing all six of his 3-point attempts and finishing 1-for-13 from the field for two points in 30 minutes.
The third quarter, though, belonged to Orlando. Down 16 at halftime, the Magic came roaring back with a 20-5 run that flipped the game. Layups from da Silva and Goga Bitadze pulled Orlando within 69-67, Richardson tied it with a pull-up jumper, and da Silva buried a 3-pointer to give the Magic their first lead at 72-69.
“I thought a number of guys attacked in that third quarter,” Sweeney said. “We tightened up on both ends and did a good job.”
Black scored 11 of his first 13 points in the period, and da Silva added 10 of his first 13 as Orlando took a 78-77 lead into the fourth.
Cain gave the Magic a huge lift off the bench. He scored eight points in the first quarter, including two late 3-pointers and a two-handed dunk in the final minute. He finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the first double-double of his NBA career, plus a steal and a block.
“I thought he did a great job giving great energy,” Sweeney said about Cain. “Obviously, the points reflect him scoring but I thought he did a great job really attacking the offensive and defensive boards. That’s big for us when he’s out there trying to get that done.”
Jevon Carter also provided a spark, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-0 second-quarter run and later adding another triple in the same period. He finished with nine points.
Still, Golden State’s reserves had the edge, outscoring Orlando’s bench 42-31. Georges Niang led that charge with 11 points, all on 3-pointers.
The Magic weren’t sharp from deep, finishing 18-for-54 from 3-point range, but they made up for it by pounding the offensive glass. Orlando owned a 24-3 advantage in offensive rebounds and turned that into 33-2 in second-chance scoring, shooting 12-for-22 on those extra opportunities. Wendell Carter Jr. tied the game at 98-98 with a putback layup off an offensive rebound with 3:54 left in the fourth.
In the end, though, Curry and the Warriors had the last word.
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