Curry’s 35‑Point Surge

Stephen Curry dragged Golden State past the Los Angeles Clippers on April 15, scoring 35 points in a 126-121 play-in win. (nba.com) Curry hit seven 3-pointers and scored 27 of his 35 points in the second half at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Al Horford added four 3-pointers in the final 5:37 as the Warriors erased a late deficit. (nba.com) Golden State closed the game on a 41-23 run after trailing by 15 points in the first half. The win eliminated the ninth-seeded Clippers and kept the 10th-seeded Warriors alive in the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament. (espn.com) The play-in format sends the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds into the Western Conference bracket, with the No. 9-No. 10 game serving as an elimination round. Golden State now plays at Phoenix on Friday, April 17, for the West’s final No. 8 seed. (nba.com) (espn.com) That game decides who opens the first round against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, April 19. Phoenix entered Friday’s matchup as the home team after landing above Golden State in the West play-in order. (espn.com) (nba.com) For the Warriors, the comeback extended a season that ended 37-45 in the regular season and left them needing two road wins to reach the playoffs. For the Clippers, the loss ended a 42-40 season despite a 61-point first half on Wednesday night. (espn.com) Curry’s shot-making looked familiar even in a new setting: he drilled a four-point play during Golden State’s third-quarter push and kept the pressure on a Clippers defense that had controlled the first half. By the end, the Warriors had turned one of their worst regular seasons into one more win-or-go-home night. (warriorswire.usatoday.com) (nba.com)