(Sports Network) - Only the pesky Orlando Magic stand in the way of the Golden
State Warriors and their longest road winning streak since 2005.
The Eastern Conference has yet to give the Warriors much trouble this season
sans one loss to the Magic and Golden State is out to avenge that setback with
a sixth straight road victory on Friday night.
Looking to clinch a perfect four-game homestand on Dec. 3, Golden State
instead lost for the seventh time in its last eight against Orlando, suffering
a 102-94 defeat.
The Magic were paced by 24 points from both Aaron Afflalo and Glen Davis,
while J.J. Redick had 22 and Nikola Vucevic pulled down a career-high 15
rebounds.
Stephen Curry had 25 points and 11 assists for the Warriors, who turned the
ball over 14 times, resulting in 23 Magic points.
That has been the only loss of the season against the East for Golden State,
which is 9-1 against the conference but has lost 15 of its past 18 in Orlando.
Following the loss to the Magic, the Warriors began a season-long seven-game
road trip and each game is versus the East. Golden State is perfect so far on
the trip and is coming off Wednesday's big 97-95 win over the defending
champion Miami Heat.
Taking possession following a missed 3-pointer by Miami with 11.4 seconds
left, Golden State's Jarrett Jack dribbled around the top of the key before
spotting a wide-open Draymond Green for the go-ahead layup with 0.9 ticks left
on the clock.
The Warriors secured their eighth victory in nine games overall once LeBron
James' turnaround jumper from the baseline clanked off the rim.
"With the last shot coach (Mark Jackson) didn't point out who specifically was
going to be taking the shot," said Green. "He said we're going to go out
there, we're going to find who's open and we're going to make the best play."
Klay Thompson had a season high-tying 27 points and Jack ended with 20 points
for the Warriors, who at 15-7 are off to their best start since 1991-92.
David Lee notched his career-high fifth straight game with at least 20 points
and 10 rebounds, logging 22 points and 13 boards. Its the longest such streak
for Golden State since Joe Smith had seven in a row from Dec. 18-Jan. 8 during
the 1996-97 season.
"They're the best and for us to leave out of here (with a win), it's a total
team effort," said Jackson. "Especially when our best players are having a
tough night, there's something about this team that refuses to quit. We're
going to battle and compete."
Golden State will end its swing on Saturday in Atlanta and has won the first
five games of a single road trip for the first time since 1978. A victory over
the Magic would tie the Warriors' second-longest road winning streak ever set
from March 12-April 6, 2005.
A sweep of the swing would allow Golden State to even its club-record seven-
game road winning streak set in 1969.
But the Magic are up first and they have lost three of four since beating the
Warriors. Orlando dropped its fourth straight home game on Wednesday, falling
86-80 to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Magic shot just 38.3 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 16
times. The Hawks netted 24 points off those mistakes.
"It was another game where we defended well in the halfcourt, and we turned it
over and gave them opportunities to score the basketball, made it easy on
them. We are what we are right now; we're a high-turnover team," Redick said.
Afflalo ended with 16 points to pace the Magic, while Redick and Jameer Nelson
donated 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Sports Network