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Warriors look to clinch winning road trip

Mar 8, 2008 - 1:35 PM Golden State (38-23) at Orlando (40-23) 7:00 pm EST

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) - The Golden State Warriors will be looking to close out a four-game East Coast road trip with a winning record when they visit the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

The Warriors are 2-1 on their trip after a dominating 134-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Stephen Jackson led the way with 22 points as Golden State shot 54 percent (53-of-98) from the floor and won the rebounding battle, 51-36.

The Warriors need every win they can get in the tightly packed Western Conference playoff picture, where the top nine teams are separated by just six games. Golden State currently sits eighth, one-half game behind the Dallas Mavericks (39-23) for the seventh spot.

Offense is the key for the Warriors, who lead the NBA in scoring at 110.5 points per game. They attempt an NBA-high 27.2 3-pointers per game and connect at a 35.2 percent clip in coach Don Nelson's high-powered attack.

They have not scored less than 105 points in a game since a 109-91 loss at Portland on January 9.

The Magic are cruising along with a nine-game lead over the Washington Wizards (30-31) in the Southeast Division and are currently locked into the third spot in the Eastern Conference behind the Boston Celtics (48-12) and Detroit Pistons (45-17).

Orlando has won three in a row and six of its last seven. No strangers to face-paced basketball, the Magic lead the East in points per game at 104.6 and boast three players - Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis - who average at least 18.4 points.

Howard, who leads the NBA in rebounding at 14.5 per contest, pulled down 23 boards in the first meeting of the season between the teams to lead Orlando to a 123-117 overtime victory on December 3.