Warriors pull away from Orlando Magic after Draymond Green leaves game

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green took an early seat for the second straight game, and for the second straight game, the Warriors heated up in his absence to cruise to a 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday at Chase Center.

Steph Curry scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half as Golden State (15-15) turned a single-point advantage at intermission into a commanding second win in a row, only the second time since mid-November that the Warriors have strung wins together.

Jimmy Butler added an efficient 21 points (7-9 FG, 6-7 FT), Moses Moody stepped up as a third scoring option with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and Brandin Podziemski racked up a team-best plus-36 off the bench. The positive momentum was hampered, however, when Green got into a spat with coach Steve Kerr on the bench midway through the third quarter and did not return to the game.

“It’s unfortunate … considering where we’ve been, (now) on a two-game win streak, that the vibes of the questions are a little bit more negative than they should be,” Curry said toward the end of his postgame news conference. “I get why you’re asking them, but downstairs right now, the DJ’s got a good playlist going, guys are getting their work in. We’re having a good time because we’re winning.”

Curry didn’t sink his first shot from beyond the perimeter until nearly four minutes had expired in the second half. He followed it on the Warriors’ next possession by taking his defender off the dribble, stepping back from 15 feet and sinking a fadeaway jumper. Moments later, he had his left hand on his hip and his right hand in the air, mimicking a lasso motion, as he gyrated, celebrating another 3-pointer that put them ahead 80-75.

The Warriors forced 18 Orlando turnovers, including on consecutive possessions to close the third quarter, allowing Golden State to pull ahead 89-83 by the end of the period. Gui Santos forced a third straight turnover to begin the fourth, Moody drained his third 3-pointer, and the Warriors never trailed again.

Green checked out of the game with 8:31 to go in the third quarter and did not return. He spent the remainder of the period in the locker room and returned to the bench at the start of the fourth quarter wearing a track suit. His substitution came after his first turnover of the night. The Warriors called timeout, and Green appeared to get into a back-and-forth with Kerr before team personnel ushered him into the tunnel.

“We got into it, obviously. … We had it out a little bit,” Kerr said of the altercation while declining to address what stirred it. The coach clarified that it was Green’s decision to remove himself from the bench, which Kerr said ended Green’s chance of returning to the game.

“Tempers spilled over and I just thought it was best that I … remove myself,” Green said. “We play basketball. It’s an emotional game. People lose their emotions sometimes. We’ve been at this for a long time. Sometimes when you’ve been with people for a long time, there’s a level of comfort and (expletive) happens.”

The Warriors trailed 61-56 when Green exited the game and outscored the Magic by 28 points the rest of the way. It mimicked the outcome of the Warriors’ previous game, when Green was ejected with them trailing by 10 only to go on to a 119-116 win over the Suns.

“It means we’ve got guys on the bench who are dying to play,” Kerr said. “They want to win, they want to play and if their opportunity comes, they’re ready to go.”

After an illness kept Jonathan Kuminga out of the Warriors’ previous game, it was Kerr’s decision not to include him in Golden State’s rotation against Orlando. Kuminga was the only active Warriors player not to see any action, even in mop-up duty, when Buddy Hield entered for his first playing time since Thursday in Phoenix.

Curry missed all six of his first-half attempts from 3 and was held to 3-of-13 from the field before halftime, but the Warriors went into intermission leading 58-57. With time winding down, Curry intercepted a pass at halfcourt and tossed it ahead to Butler, who played hot potato with Green before finishing a two-handed dunk for two of his team-best 16 points in the first half. The teams went back and forth, trading leads 10 times before halftime.

The Warriors missed nine of their first 10 attempts from 3-point territory and allowed the Magic to shoot 80% from distance in the first quarter (4-of-5). However, Golden State trailed only 30-26 at the end of the opening period. Butler paced the Warriors with seven early points while Curry struggled to get his shot to fall.

Golden State won back-to-back games at Chicago and Cleveland earlier this month but hadn’t strung together multiple wins besides that since winning three in a row from Nov. 16-19.

After Saturday’s win against the Suns, Golden State will have a chance to close off a perfect three-game homestand on Christmas afternoon (2 p.m. tip), when Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks visit San Francisco. The Warriors then hit the road and won’t return to Chase Center until 2026.