Preview: Warriors get Wiggins, Iguodala back vs Magic

The Golden State Warriors take on the Orlando Magic Saturday evening in Chase Center, and it’s time for some payback for Dub Nation.

Golden State Warriors vs Orlando Magic

January 7th, 2023 | 5:30 PT

Watch: NBC Sports Bay Area, NBA TV | Listen: 95.7 The Game

The last time these two met, the Warriors suffered perhaps their most excruciating loss of the season, falling 130-129 in Orlando. It was especially painful because the Dubs blew a big double-digit lead in the second half and squandered a collectively strong scoring night.

The Dubs shot 51.5% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc that game and had five players in double figures scoring:

• Stephen Curry: 39 points
• Klay Thompson: 27 points
• Kevon Looney: 17 points (!)
• Andrew Wiggins: 15 points
• Jordan Poole: 11 points

You can only lose a game like that when your defense is trash, which Golden State’s certainly was at the time.

That loss dropped the Dubs to 3-6. Since then the Warriors have roared back in the standings to a 20-19 record, currently sitting in the sixth seed out West. Meanwhile the Magic are slumming it in the bottom of the East with a record of 14-25.

There’s never been a better time for the Dubs to get some measure of revenge against this Eastern Conference lottery team. They will get the return of two of the greatest wings in Warriors history: Andre Iguodala and Andrew Wiggins.

TOO MUCH DOMINANCE. Stephen Curry will miss this one as he continues to rehab from his shoulder injury, but honestly his return would be absolute overkill.

But the Magic present an interesting matchup dynamic, as they have one of the tallest and youngest rosters in the NBA, per CBS Sports:

Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony’s first thought was, “Dang, the memes are coming true.” He’d seen these memes on Twitter and TikTok: Comically colossal lineups featuring the 6-foot-10 Franz Wagner at point guard and the 7-foot-2 Bol Bol on the wing. Lineups with the collective height of two fully grown male giraffes and the collective length of a full-sized school bus. Lineups you’d never expect to see in a competitive environment outside of the 2K League.

TALL BALL ALERT! Will the Dubs have enough firepower to slay the giants? Tune in to find out, next!