Warriors‑Suns play‑in Friday
The Golden State Warriors will face the Phoenix Suns on Friday, April 17 in the Western Conference play‑in game to decide the No. 8 seed. The winner will advance into the first round, finalizing the last spot in the West. (usatoday.com) (cbssports.com)
Golden State and Phoenix will play Friday night for the Western Conference’s last playoff berth, with tipoff set for 10 p.m. Eastern on April 17. (nba.com) The National Basketball Association’s play-in tournament gives teams seeded seventh through 10th a short path to the final two playoff spots in each conference. Phoenix entered that bracket as the No. 7 seed at 45-37, and Golden State entered as the No. 10 seed at 37-45. (nba.com) Phoenix got a first chance at the No. 7 seed on Tuesday, April 14, but lost 114-110 to Portland. That dropped the Suns into Friday’s elimination game instead of a first-round series with San Antonio. (nba.com) Golden State had the harder route because the No. 9 and No. 10 game is win-or-go-home. The Warriors stayed alive Wednesday, April 15, by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 after closing on a 16-6 run. (nba.com) (espn.com) Stephen Curry scored 35 points against the Clippers, with 27 of them coming in the second half. Al Horford hit four three-pointers in that comeback, according to the National Basketball Association’s play-in page. (espn.com) (nba.com) The winner on Friday becomes the No. 8 seed in the West and opens the first round against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The National Basketball Association schedule lists that Game 1 for Sunday, April 19, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) The loser is done for the season, which is the pressure built into the play-in format the league uses before the main 16-team bracket begins. All play-in games this year are being carried exclusively on Prime Video, according to the league schedule. (nba.com) Phoenix will host the game, and ESPN’s matchup page listed the Suns as 25-16 at home and the Warriors as 15-26 on the road entering Thursday. ESPN’s analytics gave Phoenix a 63.6 percent chance to win. (espn.com) So Friday is the last sorting game in the Western Conference bracket: Phoenix trying to recover from a missed No. 7 chance, and Golden State trying to turn one comeback win into an actual playoff series. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)
