Suns end Warriors' season
- Phoenix defeated Golden State in the play‑in to claim the West’s final No. 8 playoff spot. - Jalen Green was described as having 'dominated' the game while Stephen Curry was limited to 17 points. - Coverage framed the result as an emphatic finish that eliminated the defending‑champion Warriors from the postseason ( ).
Phoenix ended Golden State’s season Friday night, beating the Warriors 111-96 in Phoenix to take the Western Conference’s last playoff berth. (espn.com) Jalen Green scored 36 points on 14-for-20 shooting and made eight 3-pointers, while Devin Booker added 20 for the Suns. Stephen Curry finished with 17 points as Phoenix opened the game with a 33-15 first quarter and never gave up control. (nbcsports.com) The win gave Phoenix the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and set a first-round series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, with Game 1 scheduled for Sunday, April 19. Golden State’s season ended in the play-in tournament. (nba.com) The play-in tournament is the National Basketball Association’s four-team race for each conference’s final two playoff spots. Teams that finish seventh through 10th play single-elimination games to decide the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds. (sports.yahoo.com) Phoenix got to this game by losing its first play-in matchup to Portland, then beating Golden State in the last chance game for the conference’s final berth. Golden State had stayed alive earlier in the week by winning its own elimination game to reach Friday’s matchup. (si.com) For the Warriors, the loss closed a 37-45 season and ended any path back to the playoffs after their 2025 championship run. For the Suns, it kept alive a 45-37 season that now turns immediately into a series against the defending champion Thunder. (espn.com, wgnradio.com) Green’s performance was the decisive swing: Phoenix hit 18 3-pointers, and the Warriors never got closer than the final margin after falling behind by 18 after one quarter. The Suns now move from a one-game survival test to a full playoff series less than 48 hours later. (arizonasports.com, sportingnews.com) The result was simple by the final buzzer: Phoenix played on, and Golden State started its offseason on April 17. (usatoday.com)
