Jalen Suggs scored nine of his 26 points in the final two minutes, and the Orlando Magic rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half to beat the Golden State Warriors 130-129 on Thursday night, handing the defending NBA champions their fourth straight loss.
Stephen Curry had 39 points and nine assists for the Warriors. Klay Thompson added 27 points, but missed a 12-foot jumper at the buzzer after the Magic trapped Curry.
The Warriors fell to 0-5 on the road and 3-6 overall, and Coach Steve Kerr said it’s time for some changes.
Klay Thompson (11) reacts after missing a last-second basket at the end of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic
‘We´ve had nine games now so we´ve had a decent look at combinations, so it´s time to try something different,’ Kerr said. ‘Everybody´s going to get a chance to play. We´ve got to find combinations that click.’
Draymond Green, who fouled out with 31.5 seconds left in the game, said the problems were on the defensive end.
‘When you´re 3-6, you have to look at everything,’ he said. ‘But I´ll say this again, it´s our defense. We´re not defending at the level it takes to win games.’
Jalen Suggs (4) celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors
Rookie Paolo Banchero had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Magic, who shot 53.8% from the field and won for only the second time this season. But the numbers that bothered Kerr the most were free throws: 46 for Orlando, 15 for Golden State.
‘It´s just really hard to win an NBA game by giving up 46 free throws,’ he said. ‘Even when we were up 16, it didn´t seem right because we were giving up layups left and right, fouling. You could feel it. Give them credit. We´re going to take everybody´s best shot and we got their best shot tonight.’
Franz Wagner finished with 19 points and Chuma Okeke came off the bench for 16. The Magic scored 77 points in the second half, 16 of them by Suggs, who also had four steals – one of them from Curry in the final minute.
Paolo Banchero dunks during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors
In the other game Thursday, Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, Nikola Jokic had a triple-double and the Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 122-110 on Thursday night.
Jokic, the two-time reigning league MVP, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his third triple-double this season and the 79th of his career. He passed Wilt Chamberlain’s record for most triple-doubles for a center.
Jamal Murray added 24 points for the Nuggets, who were coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Nikola Jokic, right, passes the ball over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
The Nuggets led by 19 points in the second quarter but had to fight for the win.
‘Was it a complete 48 minutes? No,’ Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. ‘But the thing I´m most proud about is that even when they were on that huge run in the third quarter and we just seemed to stop playing any defense and we turned the ball over ad nauseam, we regrouped. We didn´t panic.’
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 37 points. He made 13 of 17 field goals and all 11 of his free throws. He didn’t shoot a 3-pointer, which was fine with Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder shoots the ball during the game against the Denver Nuggets
‘He´s so efficient, and I think he´s got a nice blend,’ Daigneault said. ‘I think if he wasn´t getting to the line and wasn´t getting to the rim and wasn´t out in transition and it was just solely the midrange stuff, that´s probably not a sustainable diet. But he´s got a lot of diversity there (so) it´s pretty sustainable, and he chooses his spots nicely with how efficiently he shot it. He´s doing a nice job for us.’
Lu Dort added 19 points and Josh Giddey added 16 for the Thunder, who had won four straight.
The Thunder were successful around the basket, but made just 6 of 29 3-pointers.
‘Some of it was good looks that we missed,’ Daigneault said. ‘We got a little hasty there in the fourth, especially early on a night where they´re not really falling. I think that´s the night you´ve got to be really stubborn about finding other ways to score.’
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