What stands out the most to me are the assist totals — 35 assists, 12 above their season average. Curry had 12, Monta had 11, and David Lee dished out 9. That’s a mark of great ball movement, and suggests that their great shooting was more than just a lucky hot streak.

Throw in an 18-point advantage on points off turnovers, and it was enough to overcome a typically lax rebounding effort (not to mention bad 3-point defense — we very easily could have been focusing on the Magic’s hot shooting from deep).

All in all, a fun win that cleans out a bit of the bad taste from the road trip. They’ll need to string together a few more of these sorts of performances against Magic-level teams in order to change the current verdict on the season, but for now we can at least savor a good win.

In their first meeting, the Warriors played a strong first half but then got destroyed in the second. The Magic killed them from deep, and didn’t even really take advantage of their inside strength. Hopefully the road rims won’t be as kind to the Magic, because if they are able to connect from 3 this one likely won’t be close.

Still, should be a good crowd with the draw of Howardon a Friday night, so I’ll try and be optimistic and hope that the Warriors will get a positive surge from being home again after their long trip.

Surprisingly, on first glance the net stats don’t look too bad — the Warriors won the rebounding battle by one, and shockingly outscored the Magic by 14 in points in the paint. But the Magic made 15 3′s and 9 more foul shots, while shooting a significantly higher percentage, leading to the 20 point margin.

Now the Warriors head down to New Orleans to face a solid Hornets team on Wednesday. Let’s hope that Lee returns, as they’ll need a spark to help them get over the last-game-on-the-trip doldrums that always seems to hit this team after a week on the road.

• Attitude. As I mentioned in the recap for the last game, this is a moment where the much talked about team chemistry could really make a big difference (in making sure they’re not flat — still not sure if they can make up for the talent difference). Will they come out with their heads held high, or will they lose the game in the first quarter as they did regularly during Lee’s absence?
• Inside-Outside. The Magic can shoot the lights out from three, but then they also have beasts inside in Howard and Bass. That’s not a good combination for the Warriors’ scrambling defense, as they regularly break down and leave a man open in an effort to provide help inside after guards blow by Monta and Curry. This could be a chance for Udoh to make a mark playing some tough inside defense, especially if Biedrins remains out (since I have very little confidence in Lee’s ability to hang with Howard).
• All-Star. These final games of the road trip could be make-or-break for Monta’s All-Star chances, as he won’t get many more chances to play in the eastern time zone before the rosters get picked. He definitely has some ground to make up — largely because of the Warriors’ record — but a couple big games against the Magic and Hornets could do wonders for his national profile. Let’s see if he can seize the opportunity…