OAKLAND, Calif. _ Entering Thursday night, the Warriors had lost four of their seven March games. But the three wins were nearly as uncharacteristic as the bundle of defeats _ all narrow, forgettable victories over bland Eastern Conference teams (the Hawks, Knicks and Sixers).
Blowouts became the norm the past three seasons. But stuck in a funk, the Warriors hadn't zapped a team by more than 20 points since before the All-Star break. Thursday night, they finally uncorked a complete performance, drilling the helpless Magic 122-92 in Oracle.
This was what you expected two nights earlier _ a return-home, get-right blasting of a Sixers franchise more concerned about lottery odds than competitive games. But the Warriors played a lazy first quarter, drifted in and out of focus, went down 16 and needed a stressful, break-neck fourth quarter to survive, planting more high-octane minutes on their overused core guys.
Thursday was different from the start. The Warriors came out with more physical edge, rotating crisper, contesting almost every shot and causing disruption with deflections (18 Orlando turnovers).
The Magic were held to seven points in the first seven minutes, as the Warriors _ still not all the way back offensively and sorely missing Kevin Durant's easy 25 per night _ built a lead instead of engaging in a shootout.
Zaza Pachulia, who played so poor against the Sixers that he angrily kicked a chair and scraped up his shin, made a couple needed plays early, if only for his confidence. Pachulia finished twice in traffic (often a challenge for the ground-bound center) and then knifed down the lane on a pick-and-roll for a poorly-defended, wide open dunk. He had six points in the first four minutes and his first double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) at home this season.
But he didn't remain the offensive focal point for long. After Pachulia's hot start, Klay Thompson snatched the mantle. Thompson hit a 3 on the game's third possession and nailed a couple mid-range jumpers over the next few minutes, gathering the type of early rhythm that can often lead to an eruption.
It did.
Early in the first quarter, Steph Curry limped to the locker room after tweaking his right ankle. He'd return a bit later in the quarter, but was limited for a time. So Thompson was the lone sniper for some time and started jacking around the 6-minute mark of the first quarter _ with the Warriors already up 18-6.
Thompson nailed a 3 with 5:54 left in the quarter, then another 3 with 4:48 left. He settled for a mid-range on the next possession, swishing it, before drifting back to the 3-point line for another bomb. It put the Warriors up 31-10, giving Thompson 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 5-of-5 from three in a little more than nine minutes. He finished the night with 29 points.
The Warriors won the first quarter 34-20, their first double-digit first quarter win since back on Feb. 8.
But their strong play didn't stop there. The Warriors won the second quarter 33-30 and the third quarter 36-21, pushing out to a 32-point cushion heading to the fourth quarter, allowing their core guys extended, relaxing rest _ a commonality the past three seasons, but a rarity of late.
In all, Draymond Green only logged 25 minutes, Curry only played 28, Thompson only played 29 and Andre Iguodala only played 23, while also looking about 23 in those high-energy minutes.
Iguodala finished the night with 14 points, 10 of those coming on a season-high five dunks. Iguodala started his scoring with a second quarter transition slam, then squirted free for an alley-oop a couple possessions later. Then in the second half, he followed a putback dunk off a Curry missed layup with a pair of cutting dunks _ one set up by a beautiful Thompson pass, the other from Pachulia.
For the Warriors, the only minor problem that persisted on Thursday night was Curry's shot. After the ankle tweak, he played relatively well, finishing with 25 points and nine assists on 8-of-15 shooting. But he missed his first four 3s, looking hesitant to release a pair of wide open looks.
But he started the second half by banking in a desperation 3, complete with a "finally" celebration, then nailed another one a bit later, leaving him 2-of-7 for deep on the night.
That minor inaccuracy had no effect on the outcome, though, as the Warriors easily finished off a Magic team that went out with little fight. Orlando looked so uninterested and unfocused that they were actually called for a 6-men on the floor technical foul and a double-dribble violation in the same quarter _ two extremely rare occurrences in the NBA.
So the win wasn't overly impressive, given the opponent, but the performance was the Warriors' most complete in weeks.
