Warriors bounce back, crush Magic

The bad taste of the Golden State Warriors surprising loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday lingered for a few minutes during Monday’s game against the Orlando Magic. The Magic — a team as bad as they are young — came into Chase Center and jumped out to a 9-0 lead.

And then it was all Warriors. And I mean all Warriors.

Golden State quickly went on a 16-1 run to take the lead in the first quarter, and looked on the edge of a blowout early. They got sloppy to end the first and let Orlando close the gap, but were bailed out when Steph Curry banked in a half-court buzzer beater to make it a 31-26 lead after the first frame.

They were just getting started. A 20-2 run in the second quarter, highlighted by magic and brilliance courtesy of Jordan Poole sent the Dubs to the halftime lockers with a comfortable 65-44 lead.

They kept the lead constant in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to Andrew Wiggins going ballistic and setting a career high for threes made, and the fourth quarter featured ample bench time as they cruised to a 126-95 win.

Curry bounced back after his rough showing on Saturday with 31 points and 8 assists on 8-for-16 shooting, including 7-for-13 from distance. Wiggins had a brilliant shooting night, going 8-for-10 from deep en route to 28 points.

Poole had 12 inefficient points, but added 7 rebounds and 7 assists, while Nemanja Bjelica starred off the bench. Jonathan Kuminga got to play the entire fourth quarter, and threw down some massive dunks.

The Warriors shot a gorgeous 20-for-40 from distance and forced 23 Magic turnovers. The win bumps their record to 20-4 ahead of Wednesday’s showdown with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.