Clippers season ends

The Clippers’ season ended Wednesday night when Golden State erased a late deficit and won 126-121 at Intuit Dome in the Western Conference play-in tournament. (nba.com) Stephen Curry scored 35 points, including 27 in the second half, and his seventh three-pointer broke a tie with 50.4 seconds left. Golden State closed on a 16-6 run after trailing 98-85 with 9:53 remaining. (nba.com) The play-in is the National Basketball Association’s four-team race for the last two playoff spots in each conference. The No. 9 versus No. 10 game is an elimination game, so the ninth-seeded Clippers were done as soon as they lost to the 10th-seeded Warriors. (nba.com) Los Angeles finished the regular season 42-40, ninth in the Western Conference, after opening 6-21 and climbing back into the postseason picture under coach Tyronn Lue. Two late regular-season losses to Portland left the Clippers needing two play-in wins instead of one. (basketball-reference.com) (espn.com) The loss extended a five-season run in which the Clippers either missed the playoffs or went out in the first round. Basketball-Reference lists first-round losses in 2024 against Dallas and in 2025 against Denver, and the team missed the playoffs in 2026 after also missing in 2022. (basketball-reference.com 1) (basketball-reference.com 2) (basketball-reference.com 3) This season’s roster was built around veteran names, but the Clippers finished with the league’s 24th-ranked scoring average at 113.8 points per game despite a top-11 offensive rating. Kawhi Leonard led the team in points, rebounds and assists per game in the regular season. (basketball-reference.com) (espn.com) In the elimination game, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points and Darius Garland added 21 points and eight assists for Los Angeles, while Leonard scored 21 and went scoreless in the fourth quarter until the final 16 seconds. Al Horford hit four three-pointers in the comeback for Golden State. (espn.com) (nba.com) The reaction spilled beyond the floor after the final buzzer. Chris Paul, who returned to the Clippers this season, posted on Instagram after the loss, and fan frustration was visible online as the team’s year ended before the playoffs began. (sports.yahoo.com) (tennessean.com) For Golden State, the win sent the Warriors to a Friday game at Phoenix for the West’s No. 8 seed. For the Clippers, the summer starts now after another season that stopped short of the playoff bracket. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)