Warriors defeat Magic behind dominant third quarter
ORLANDO, Fla. — Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each hit seven 3-pointers, and the Golden State Warriors won their seventh straight game, beating the Orlando Magic 118-98 on Sunday.
Tied at the half, the Warriors woke up from West Coast time in the second half to pull away. This was the first Eastern time zone noon tip for them since 1995, when they lost by 34 points in Orlando.
“It just challenges you mentally,” Curry said of the early start. “We were talking about it in the locker room before the game. It is early, but it doesn’t matter what time the game is, we have go out and get a win.”
Curry went 7-for-13 on 3s and scored 27 points; Thompson was 7-for-9 from beyond the arc and had 21 points.
The Warriors shot 19of-42 overall from 3-point range; the Magic went 7-for-28.
After trailing by 11 in the first half and committing a dozen turnovers, the Warriors went into the break even at 50.
Curry hit four 3s and had 14 points in the third quarter as the Warriors outscored the Magic 42-24.
“Third quarter was great,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It seems to be the time when we pick up our defense and it translates into some transition hoops and 3-pointers.”
MAVERICKS 122, LAKERS 73
Justin Anderson scored 19 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 13 to help Dallas hand visiting Los Angeles the most lopsided loss in franchise history.
The 49-point defeat just edged Los Angeles’ two previous worst losses at 48 points, most recently 123-75 at Utah on March 28, 2016.
It was the Mavericks’ 13th straight win over the Lakers, who have lost six of their last seven games.
SUNS 115, RAPTORS 103
Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 40 points and had 13 assists as Phoenix handed visiting Toronto its third straight loss.
Bledsoe was 11-of-17 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, and Devin Booker added 20 points as the Suns won their second straight road game following Saturday’s win at New York.
The victory also completed a season sweep of the Raptors for the first time since 2013-14 and improved Phoenix to 11-6 against Eastern Conference teams this season.
DeMar DeRozan had 22 points for Toronto, and Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 12 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season.
T-WOLVES 111, NUGGETS 108
Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and hit the go-ahead shot with 42.5 seconds to play to lead Minnesota to a win against visiting Denver.
Andrew Wiggins scored 24 points as the Timberwolves rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter.