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OAKLAND, Calif. - After wearing down in the playoffs last season, the Golden State Warriors are starting to learn how to win without being at full strength at times this year. The hope is to be healthy enough so they dont have to worry about playing short-handed in the post-season. Stephen Curry had 23 points and five assists, Klay Thompson scored 20 points and the undermanned Warriors overwhelmed the Orlando Magic 103-89 on Tuesday night. "Very pleased, and even more pleased that we can do it while getting guys the rest and proper treatment," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "Big win for us." Curry and Thompson sparked an 18-0 run early in the second half that put the Warriors ahead by 24 points. The backcourt duo became the first pair of teammates in NBA history to combine for at least 400 3-pointers in consecutive seasons. David Lee added 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Warriors offset the absences of Andre Iguodala (right knee tendinitis), Andrew Bogut (left ankle inflammation) and Jermaine ONeal (rest). "I was getting my Pop on," Jackson joked, referring to San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who has famously — and often successfully — rested his regulars during the NBAs marathon season. Nikola Vucevic scored 15 points and Tobias Harris added 14 points and six rebounds for the overmatched Magic, who lost their sixth straight game. The Warriors shot 10 for 27 from 3-point range, while the Magic were 4-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc. "Once they start hitting 3s, its tough to guard those guys," said Magic forward Maurice Harkless, who scored 12 points. The Warriors werent taking any chances at the beginning of their five-game homestand. They opted to rest three key players — including two starters — even as they jockey for playoff position in the crowded Western Conference standings. The Warriors (43-26) remain in sixth place in the West. Theyre still 1 1/2 games behind Portland, which beat Milwaukee 120-115 in overtime Tuesday night, and improved to 1 1/2 games ahead of idle Dallas. Jackson said Bogut could return Thursday night against Milwaukee, while ONeal will likely rest again. Iguodala will sit out against the Bucks and Saturdays game versus San Antonio. While the Magic (19-49) are among the NBAs worst teams, the Warriors have struggled at times this season against lesser competition at Oracle Arena. Golden State had won five straight at home until losing to Cleveland on Friday. That loss brought back memories of a 4-6 stretch in January and February that included home losses to teams such as Denver, Minnesota, Washington and Charlotte. The game against Orlando looked like it could follow those earlier upsets at the start. The Magic led by three in the first quarter and stuck with Golden State for most of the second quarter. The Warriors, using a smaller and quicker lineup to spread the floor, ended the first half on a brief run to take a 57-47 into the break. The talent gap between the two teams, which has changed dramatically since Dwight Howard left Orlando two seasons ago, turned out to be too much for Orlando to overcome. The Warriors opened the second half on an 18-4 run, including 18 straight points after the Magics first two baskets, with the biggest highlights coming from long range. Thompson and Curry connected on two 3-pointers apiece during the spurt, the last one in the corner from Curry that stretched the Warriors lead to 75-51 with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter. "They can just shoot the basketball," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "They get in this building and start making 3s, it just makes it tough on you." Curry finished 9-of-13 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Thompson shot 7 for 14 from the floor and was 4 for 5 from beyond the arc. The Warriors led 87-66 entering the fourth. The Magic moved within 92-81 halfway through the quarter before the Warriors pulled away again. "You always teach that no-excuse, next-man-up mentality," Curry said. "Were a deep team. Big performance by everybody." ___ NOTES: The Warriors swept the season series against the Magic for the first time since 1991-92. ... Orlando plays at Phoenix on Wednesday night. ... The Warriors return to action Thursday night at home against Milwaukee. ___ Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP Cheap Sports Jerseys . Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to backstop the Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Flames, handing Calgary its team record sixth consecutive home regulation loss. Wholesale Sports Jerseys . On Friday night, after a long rain delay, he was scratched from his scheduled start. https://www.discountsportsjerseyscheap.com/. PETERSBURG, Florida – Heading into Thursday nights action, Dioner Navarro had caught 14 innings combined from starters Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle. Fake Sports Jerseys . -- The guys in green raced off the court and into the locker room where they danced and sang, compared whose shot was most likely to end up featured on "One Shining Moment," and checked Twitter to see who was giving them a shoutout. Authentic Sports Jerseys . Louis Cardinals. He was 48. The commissioners office said Bell died in his home state of Ohio. Bell had not been feeling well over the weekend and had been scheduled to see doctors later Monday at the Cleveland Clinic.While the results of this season are obviously disappointing for the Vancouver Canucks -- disappointing enough to cost GM Mike Gillis his job -- this isnt necessarily a team in a terrible position. In fact, with a few improvements, this could very well be a decent team over the next few seasons. I will go into more detail when digging into the Canucks Off-Season Game Plan, which will be coming earlier this year since they are part of the non-playoff contingent, there are some reasons to think this is a favourable situation for President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden and whomever he selects to be the new general manager. This isnt to say everything is just fine, but there are teams in far worse situations than the Canucks. A look at some of the positives: Despite this season going off the rails, the Canucks ranked ninth in Fenwick Close, a measure of puck possession. Among the top dozen teams in that metric, only the Canucks and New Jersey Devils (who are an impossibly terrible 0-11 in shootouts) are not in playoff position. So why is that a positive? The Canucks arent going to the postseason, in large part, because theyve been terribly unlucky around the net. Their 7.2% even-strength shooting percentage is ranked 25th in the league this year after it was middle of the pack -- 15th (8.0%) and 14th (7.8%) -- in the previous two seasons. Its very difficult for a team to stray too far from the average over a longer period of time and while this doesnt mean the Canucks can just assume that they will score more next season, its pretty easy to forecast better luck for this group. As low as the team shooting percentage is at 5-on-5, having the likes of Alexandre Burrows, Chris Higgins, Ryan Kesler and both Sedins, their big minute forwards, all under 8.0% makes it likely that there will be some recovery towards more typical production, particularly because the Canucks top forwards still had strong seasons in terms of puck possession and as long as they are controlling play, the odds are in their favour that more pucks will end up in the oppositions net. Add a bona fide scorer to the mix and the odds of recovery would be even better. The Canucks have a solid group of defencemen. The top four of Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, Alexander Edler and Jason Garrison is more than capable of anchoring a playoff team. Garrisons possession numbers took a dive this year but, on the whole, this group isnt a primary issue. Even better, they have relatively economical options Chris Tanev and Ryan Stanton to round out the top six. Tanev is also a viable candidate to move into the top four if one of those named above is convinced to waive a no-trade clause in order to upgrade elsewhere. There was a lot of talk around the trade deadline about Edler being available and, while it must be with the understanding that Edler was the unluckiest of Canucks blueliners this past season in terms of percentages going awry, he would be a top pair defenceman for quite a few teams and, since those arent made available often, he ought to bring a significant return. Also, as I noted on Twitter, the Canucks were on a 106-point pace through the first half of the season, but as January rolled around, they had some overlaapping injuries.dddddddddddd At some point, it was either Edler, Burrows, Roberto Luongo and/or Henrik Sedin missing time and they didnt have the depth to make up for those absences. That lack of depth brings us to some of the concerns that the new management will need to address. One, their core is older. Among the top six forwards in average ice time, 28-year-old Mike Santorelli, an unrestricted free agent coming off shoulder surgery, is the only one that wont be 30 by the time next season starts. On defence, Edler (27) and Tanev (24) are younger, but Garrison turns 30 in November and Bieksa and Hamhuis are already beyond. This doesnt mean that the moment a player hits 30, that they cease to have value, but age makes professional athletes a declining asset at a certain point and, by age 30, the vast majority are declining assets and most of Vancouvers core is in that neighbourhood now. Their goaltending situation, not-so-long-ago enviably deep, is decidedly suspect. 26-year-old Eddie Lack has had an okay rookie season, though if he had played well in January (1-5-2, 2.95 GAA, .908 SV%), that might have prevented, or at least slowed, the teams fade from contention and then his first couple weeks following the Luongo trade (.882 SV% in 8 GP) were a little rough as well but, on the whole, Lack has given the Canucks more than they had any right to expect from him coming into the season. Lack has played well enough to have a shot at competing for the starting job next year, with a veteran added to the mix to provide stability. There are free agents ranging in experience (Ryan Miller, Jaroslav Halak, Jonas Hiller, Brian Elliott, Ray Emery, Thomas Greiss) or a trade option like James Reimer that could upgrade the position from its suddenly subpar standing and an above-average possession team with stable goaltending is most of the way towards the playoffs. There is also the matter of Ryan Kesler reportedly asking out of Vancouver prior to the trade deadline. If that holds true, then there would be at least one blockbuster move to take care of this summer, but Kesler recently indicated that he intends to return to Vancouver next season. Even if they are capable of returning to the playoffs in short order, and thats possible, the Canucks need to beef up their young talent throughout the organization so that, even if the Canucks arent necessarily Cup-bound in the next couple years, that they have enough to be competitive as the core moves on. Young roster wingers Nicklas Jensen and Zack Kassian still have some potential to explore but may not ultimately be top-six performers. Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce, first rounders the past two seasons, could provide solid two-way play when they are deemed ready to play, but the Canucks need more. These are the challenges that come with the job for anyone running a hockey team and, given the Canucks above-average core, they have some easier issues to deal with than some other non-playoff clubs that dont have that foundation in place. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '