Warriors complete gritty back-to-back despite another brain-fade from veteran

The Golden State Warriors have completed gritty back-to-back wins, beating the Orlando Magic on Wednesday despite the early ejection of veteran Draymond Green less than four minutes into the game.

Having defeated the Miami Heat the previous night, the Warriors' chances were already harmed by the absence of Jonathan Kuminga due to knee soreness. They then took another significant blow when the referees had little patience to Green's early antics towards them, hitting him with two technical fouls and a subsequent ejection much to the dislike of a distraught Stephen Curry.

Andrew Wiggins was the star in the fourth and Stephen Curry put on the finishing touches as the Golden State Warriors claimed a 101-93 win

Curry's frustration turned jubilation by game's end, with the two-time MVP hitting the Magic with his signature 'night night' celebration after a tough step-back three in the final minute. It had otherwise been a tough outing for the 36-year-old, having finished with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting against some pesky defense from Jalen Suggs and others.

The game's most defining period actually came immediately following Green's ejection where Golden State, even minus their former Defensive Player of the Year, would completely shut out Orlando's offense over the final eight minutes of the opening period.

After Paolo Banchero had made both technical foul shots, the Magic were restricted to three points (yes, three!) in an eight-minute stretch where they failed to make a field-goal. The Warriors' offense was far from electric, but they ground along to end the quarter with a 16-point advantage.

The Magic's shooting came around early in the second, hitting a series of triples to quickly eat into the deficit. Yet despite Orlando's best efforts, which included being within one with less than two minutes remaining, they never once took the lead over the remaining three-quarters of the game.

Much of that had to do with maligned forward Andrew Wiggins who almost single-handedly propped up the Golden State offense early in the fourth. The 29-year-old had 13 points in the quarter, finishing with 23 in the game to go with six rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Klay Thompson had 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while Moses Moody and Gary Payton II took advantage of their increased minutes in the absence of Kuminga and Green. The pair combined for 22 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead a bench unit that provided 38 points on the night.

Returning after missing the win over the Heat, rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis took a starting role and delivered with a game-high 14 rebounds along with eight points and three assists.

Golden State kept Orlando to 42.4% shooting from the floor and 31.2% from beyond the arc, with Banchero limited to only 15 points on an inefficient 5-of-17 shooting. The hosts would also come to regret their free-throw shooting woes where they finished 11-of-21, while the visitors were 11-of-13 from the charity stripe.

The win was the Warriors' 38th of the season, pushing them once again four games over .500. They'll have a day off before meeting the Hornets in Charlotte on Friday.