Golden State Warriors ended a 10-game losing streak after beating the Orlando Magic in San Francisco on Saturday. The 109-95 victory saw a 26 points contribution from D'Angelo Russell.
This was the first victory for the Warriors after their four in a row winning streak between December 20-27. Jordan Poole scored 21 points to reach a career-high while Eric Paschall chipped in with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Missing key players
Golden State, which has won 12 of its last 14 encounters with Orlando, was playing without Draymond Green (finger sprain), Glenn Robinson III (right ankle sprain), Kevon Looney (abdominal soreness), Jacob Evans (concussion) in addition to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
Markelle Fultz scored 10 of his 23 points in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and finished 10 of 14 from the floor for the Magic, who failed to take advantage of a 13-0 run to start the game. Nikola Vucevic collected 13 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando, which last won in the Bay Area on December 3, 2012.
Evan Fournier finished with 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting from the floor. He had 32 points in the Magic's 100-96 win over Golden State on December 1.
Fultz and Paschall trade baskets
Orlando scored 20 of the first 28 points in the fourth quarter to seize a 91-90 lead. Terrence Ross and Vucevic each drained a 3-pointer before the latter's dunk gave the Magic the advantage with 4:43 remaining.
Paschall and Fultz traded baskets before Damion Lee made a three-point play to push the Warriors' lead to 95-93. Alec Burks and Willie Cauley-Stein scored from the interior, and Russell added a pair of free throws before sinking a 3-pointer to push the advantage to 11 with 1:12 left.
After Fultz's emphatic dunk just before halftime trimmed Golden State's lead to 53-52, the Warriors answered by outscoring the Magic by a 29-19 margin in the third quarter. Poole punctuated the surge in the third with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Warriors an 82-71 advantage. Golden State answered Orlando's 13-0 run to start the game by outscoring the Magic 28-12 in the remainder of the first quarter.
(With agency inputs)
