Curry's late explosion

Stephen Curry dragged Golden State back from a 13-point fourth-quarter hole Wednesday night, lifting the Warriors past the Clippers 126-121 in the National Basketball Association play-in tournament. (espn.com) Curry finished with 35 points and seven 3-pointers, and 27 of those points came after halftime in Inglewood, California. His step-back 3 with 50.4 seconds left put Golden State ahead for good. (apnews.com) The Clippers led 98-85 with 9:53 remaining, but the Warriors closed on a 41-23 burst and scored 43 points in the fourth quarter. Al Horford added four 3-pointers, while Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points in the comeback. (nba.com) The result kept Golden State alive in the play-in and sent the Warriors to Phoenix on Friday, April 17, with the Western Conference’s last playoff berth at stake. The winner of that game will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round that begins April 18. (sports.yahoo.com) The game landed four days after the Clippers beat Golden State 115-110 in the regular-season finale at Intuit Dome, a loss that dropped the Warriors to 37-45 and into the 9-versus-10 elimination game. Los Angeles entered Wednesday at 42-40 and had home court. (basketball-reference.com) Draymond Green helped close it on the other end. The National Basketball Association’s live play-in recap credited Green with clutch defense on Kawhi Leonard during the late stretch, while Leonard finished with 21 points. (nba.com) Los Angeles got 23 points from Bennedict Mathurin and 21 points with eight assists from Darius Garland, but the loss ended the Clippers’ season. It was their first missed postseason since 2022 and only the third miss during the franchise’s run of 15 straight winning seasons. (espn.com) For Curry, the surge came just five games after his return from a 27-game absence with a knee injury. He scored 16 points in a six-minute burst in the third quarter before finishing the job in the final minute. (espn.com)