The Warriors' shooting stroke on Monday night, which the new offense relies on, was colder than the frigid weather outside of Oracle Arena in a 109-98 loss to the Orlando Magic.

"I don't want to make excuses," guard Jamal Crawford said. "We had a bad shooting night. A couple bad shooting nights."

The Warriors (7-18) began installing the new offense after totaling just 88 points and 11 assists in a blowout loss at San Antonio on Dec. 6. They followed by scoring 112 and 119 the next two games, but that was against Oklahoma City and Milwaukee, two of the poorer defenses in the NBA.

Against three consecutive quality teams Houston, Denver and Orlando Golden State shot below 42 percent. Thanks in large part to the struggling offense, the Warriors lost all three and have dropped 12 of their past 14 games.

Orlando (19-6) was playing without star center Dwight Howard (sore left knee) and starting off guard Mickael Pietrus (torn ligament, right thumb), which is about 34 points a game out of the lineup. It also got below-average nights from forwards Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, who combined for 33 points, three below their season average.

But Orlando didn't need more from Lewis and Turkoglu. It got enough from point guard Jameer Nelson, who tied his NBA career-high with 32 points. Throw in 16 off the bench from rookie Courtney Lee, and the Magic had more than enough offense to outgun the Warriors' BB gun of an offense.

Center Andris Biedrins, 23 points on 10-for-12 shooting, and guard Marco Belinelli, 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting, perhaps saved the Warriors from a few season lows. Because everybody else could get a part-time job with D.R. Horton with the bricks they were laying Monday.

Swingman Kelenna Azubuike was 2-for-14. Swingman Stephen Jackson was 3-for-14. Big man Ronny Turiaf was 2-for-7. Crawford's 16 points on 6-for-17 doesn't look so bad by comparison.

Jackson, the team's leading scorer averaging 18.6 points per game, is in a slump to write home about. His 12-point performance Monday increased the focus on the sprained left hand that has been bothering him, which forced him to miss a game at Oklahoma City on Dec. 8.

In the four games since he returned to the lineup, Jackson is 13-for-64 from the field (20.3 percent). During the current three-game skid, he's made just six baskets and totaled 24 points.

His struggles raise questions about whether he should be playing at all.

"It's up to him if he wants to take some time off," Nelson said. "But he thinks he can play on."

Jackson said his teammates want him out there and that's enough to make him play through it. He said he's been putting up extra shots hoping to get his stroke back.

He shied away from attributing his shooting struggles to his hand, directing some of the blame to the "drive and kick" scheme.

Jackson thrived in the Warriors' former style of offense, which was founded on isolations and the pick-and-roll. He said the new scheme has taken him away from his strengths (creating one-on-one and posting up) and out of his sweet spots (around the elbow of the foul line).

"It's kind of cut out a lot of my (isolations), and that's when I had most of my success," Jackson said. "I've got to get used to this drive-and-kick game because it's something new to me, also."

New, to this point, hasn't meant improved.

Contact Marcus Thompson II at mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com.Magic 109, Warriors 98NEXT GAME: Wednesday, at Pacers, 4 p.m.