- 1 Golden State Warriors vs Orlando Magic: seven starting lineups, five straight wins and no Banchero
- 2 Golden State Warriors: Curry at 34, Lendeborg at 37 and a thin center rotation
- 3 Orlando Magic: 0-4 at home, 2-1 on the road and Wagner shooting 5 of 20
- 4 Free NBA Prediction: Golden State Warriors vs Orlando Magic
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Golden State Warriors vs Orlando Magic: seven starting lineups, five straight wins and no Banchero 
Golden State has used seven different starting lineups in eight games and won the last five of them. The Warriors opened 0-3, and since then they’ve won in Denver and Minneapolis, beaten the Lakers 112-95, and taken two home games in two nights without ever naming the same group twice.
Orlando visits Chase Center on Saturday 7 November, tip-off 8:30pm ET. The Magic are 2-5 and in the first week of a five-game West Coast trip, and they won’t play at home again until Milwaukee on 13 November.
The two teams’ last results explain the gap. Golden State beat Phoenix 116-113 on Monday after trailing by as many as 17, with Stephen Curry scoring 34. Orlando scored 9 points in the third quarter against Washington the same night and lost 103-94, its fourth straight home defeat to start the season.
Rest is close to even. Both teams play on Thursday night, the Warriors at home to Miami at 10:00pm ET and the Magic in Phoenix at 9:00pm ET, and both get Friday off. We don’t see much in the calendar for either side.
The ratings do most of the work here. Going into November, Orlando’s offense ranked 23rd at 109.4 points per 100 possessions and its defense 25th at 118.0, and it was giving the ball away 17.0 times a game. Those figures were recorded before the Boston and Washington losses.
Golden State Warriors: Curry at 34, Lendeborg at 37 and a thin center rotation 
Curry finished Monday with 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and he was plus-21 in a three-point win. He went 11 of 12 at the line and was averaging 29.2 points through his first five appearances. Before Sunday’s rest he had scored 44 in Minnesota and 31 against the Lakers.
Yaxel Lendeborg has changed the shape of the offense. The rookie scored a career-high 37 on 13-of-19 shooting against the Clippers on Sunday with Curry and Draymond Green rested, the most by a Warriors rookie since Curry’s 42 in 2010. He had 16 points, five assists and five rebounds a night later.
Brandin Podziemski scored 20 on Monday, and Georges Niang added 13 on 5-of-6 shooting with no turnovers. De’Anthony Melton hit 6 of 8 threes for 21 points on Sunday, so Steve Kerr has found scoring from a different place on each of the last two nights.
The frontcourt is the weak point. Charles Bassey had a career-best 19 points and eight rebounds on Monday because Al Horford was rested and Green was ejected two minutes into the third quarter after two technicals. Kristaps Porzingis has a POTS illness and no return date, and Jimmy Butler (ACL) and Moses Moody (patellar tendon) aren’t due back before December at the earliest.
Gui Santos (knee) and Brandon Williams (quadriceps) also missed Monday. Green’s availability is worth checking in case the league reviews his contact with Dillon Brooks, though no suspension had been reported when we wrote this.
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Orlando Magic: 0-4 at home, 2-1 on the road and Wagner shooting 5 of 20 
Orlando’s two wins both came away from home, 111-102 at New York on 25 October and 121-114 at Toronto on 30 October. That road record is the best argument for the Magic, and both wins came after Paolo Banchero went down on 23 October.
The injury list is long. Banchero has a right high ankle sprain and a four-to-six-week timeline from 23 October. Jalen Suggs has a bone bruise in his right knee and isn’t due for re-evaluation until around 9 November. Noah Penda has a partially torn hamstring, and Jonathan Isaac and Izaiyah Nelson were also listed out on Monday.
Franz Wagner has taken over the creation at 20.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists, and the workload has started to show. He went 5 of 20 from the field in the 108-97 loss to Boston. Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva each scored 23 that afternoon.
Black’s availability matters. He was listed out on Monday with right ankle injury management, and Orlando then scored 94 against Washington. Desmond Bane at 17.2 points and Wendell Carter Jr. at 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds are the remaining double-figure scorers from the regular rotation.
Sean Sweeney has started Jase Richardson in the backcourt in his first season as head coach. Carter’s rebounding gives Orlando one clear edge in this game, against a Warriors frontcourt that started Bassey on Sunday.
Probable lineup Golden State Warriors: Not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Orlando Magic: Jase Richardson, Desmond Bane, Tristan da Silva, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr. (Black’s status to be confirmed)
Free NBA Prediction: Golden State Warriors vs Orlando Magic
Our prediction: Golden State Warriors -5.5 (handicap)
We prefer the handicap to the moneyline here, because a straight Warriors win is likely to price under our 1.45 minimum. Golden State has Curry, a rookie averaging close to 20 points and a home floor where it’s halfway through a six-game stand. Orlando is without Banchero and Suggs and turns the ball over 17 times a game, and Curry’s shooting at 44.0% from three punishes those empty trips.
Orlando’s route into this game is its size. Carter can work on the glass against a Warriors team without a starting center, and the Magic’s two wins both came on the road. We don’t think that’s enough to cover the gap at the other end, where the Magic ranked 25th in defensive rating before losing to Boston and Washington.
Five-and-a-half is our own number, since lines weren’t posted at the time of writing. Check Curry’s status after Thursday’s game, because he’s sat out one night of the last back-to-back and the Warriors have been careful with his right knee.
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