SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Winning six straight games is hard enough. Extending their win streak to seven straight looked like a walk in the park for the Warriors on Saturday night, until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The Warriors started off extremely strong, just to watch a 16-point lead fade away. Contenders need to rise<\/a> to the challenge and overcome adversity, and that\u2019s what the Warriors did in a 126-119 overtime win over the Orlando Magic at Chase Center.<\/p>\n Beating the Magic gave the Warriors their first seven-game win streak without Jimmy Butler since January\/February of their 2022 NBA championship season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steph Curry was incredible in the fourth quarter and overtime, as was rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.\u00a0<\/p>\n The elder Curry scored a game-high 41 points on 13-of-19 shooting, going 5 of 10 from 3-point range and 10 of 10 at the free-throw line. Lendeborg added 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting and had eight rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n A revitalized Strength In Numbers bench<\/a> continued to be huge for the Warriors, outscoring the Magic 42 to 31.\u00a0<\/p>\n There will be a lot to clean watching the film, but the Warriors will take a gritty win in the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are three takeaways from the Warriors improving to 7-3 on the season.<\/p>\n Leaning on Curry and Lendeborg<\/p>\n Winning time is where superstars are made. There\u2019s nobody in the building that doubts Curry in the clutch. But every hero needs a co-star alongside him. For Curry, that\u2019s a rookie wearing a cape.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fourth quarter was won on the backs of a 38-year-old Curry and a 24-year-old Lendeborg in his 10th career game.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first three quarters, Lendeborg scored seven points and was a bit of an afterthought. Then in the fourth quarter, Lendeborg utilized his size and skill set to score nine huge points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting. But this was another Steph Show for everyone to sit back and enjoy his 14 fourth-quarter points.<\/p>\n Between the two, Curry and Lendeborg combined to score 23 points in the fourth quarter on 8-of-9 shooting. Curry was on the bench when overtime began, coming in at the 3:48 mark with the Warriors ahead by two points. He and Lendeborg scored 12 of the Warriors\u2019 16 points in overtime to claim victory.<\/p>\n Concerning Stats<\/p>\n Winning the margins is a major talking point of Warriors coach Steve Kerr to have success. His team needs to take care of the ball, focus on hitting singles instead of home runs and win the possession battle. The Warriors didn\u2019t execute those key parts of the game against a shorthanded Magic team that seemed to grab every loose ball.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with turnovers. As the first quarter crept to a close, the Warriors began to get loose with the ball. And the theme continued in the wrong ways for the home team. By halftime, even with the Warriors enjoying a 16-point lead, they already had given up 10 turnovers for 14 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the Warriors\u2019 lead evaporated in the third quarter, they kept counting turnovers and were up to 14 for 18 points going into the fourth. But the Warriors only had one turnover between the fourth quarter and overtime, giving the ball away a total of 19 times for 26 points.<\/p>\n Another major area of concern was on the offensive glass. The Magic continued to keep possessions alive, and it finally caught up to the Warriors. While the Warriors came down with a lowly three offensive rebounds, the Magic secured a ridiculous 24, which helped lead to 33 second-chance points compared to the Warriors\u2019 two.<\/p>\n Gui\u2019s Rough Return\u00a0<\/p>\n