When the Golden State Warriors visit the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in San Francisco, they will have the chance to start 2024 by accomplishing something they have never done before: defeat Paolo Banchero.
After dominating the Warriors for 22 points in a 130-129 victory at home in November 2022 and then scoring 25 points in a 115-101 victory at Golden State two months later, Banchero lived up to the hype of being the first overall pick in the draft the previous season.
The 21-year-old, who just finished as the Rookie of the Year, has scored 20 points or more 19 times this season, including five times in his last six games. Last Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers was the only game in which he failed to score 20 in that time. He ended with 19.
After that, he scored 29 points in a home victory against the New York Knicks and 28 points in the Magic’s 112-107 loss to Phoenix on New Year’s Eve, the first of a difficult four-game Western trip.
Big man Goga Bitadze was not in the Orlando starting lineup during the previous season, something the Warriors were unaware of. Having started the 2022–23 season with the Indiana Pacers, who never called upon him from the bench in their two games against Golden State, he was signed by the Magic in February after being cut from the scrap heap.
This season, Bitadze has started 22 games for the Magic, including the last two after starting the previous four games off the bench. While he only managed six points, seven rebounds, and one block in the defeat against Phoenix, he did provide 13 points, seven rebounds, and two blocks in the victory over the Knicks on Friday.
Jamahl Mosley, the Orlando coach, hasn’t said if he will start Bitadze against the Warriors. Wendell Carter Jr., another part-time starter for Mosley, just made a comeback from a knee injury and scored 17 points off the bench in the Suns game.
Mosley admitted that he doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about who gets to go first or last.
Mosley acknowledged he doesn’t waste much time worrying about who starts and who doesn’t.
“The great part about this unit and this group,” he said, “is that we’re going to find the right thing and the right chemistry at the right time whatever game we play.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr also reworked his starting group for Saturday’s 132-122 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks, promoting Chris Paul and Trayce Jackson-Davis, while demoting Brandin Podziemski and Kevon Looney.
Paul responded with 24 points and Jackson-Davis had 17, but the Warriors couldn’t overcome a poor defensive effort and subpar shooting nights from holdover starters Stephen Curry (9-for-25) and Klay Thompson (1-for-11).
Kerr noted after the loss that he was looking for more than just a fresh look with his lineup changes.
“I love the guys on this team. We have a really good group. … They have a good chemistry. They get along well,” he assessed. “But we haven’t found that grit that every good team needs, where you pull together and you play for the group. We’re not there, and that’s a problem.
“Until this team really connects in a way that is solely dedicated to winning each and every game, then we’re going to be stuck in this place. So we need to get there.”
The Warriors have lost three in a row, including the first two of a seven-game homestand.
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