Curry seals Warriors’ spot

Golden State erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit, beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday night and moved on to the final Western Conference play-in game. (nba.com) Stephen Curry scored 35 points, including 27 in the second half, and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 50.4 seconds left in Inglewood, California. Al Horford added four late 3-pointers as the Warriors closed on a 16-5 run. (apnews.com) The Clippers led 98-85 with 9:53 remaining before Golden State flipped the game. Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points for Los Angeles, while Bennedict Mathurin had 23 and Darius Garland finished with 21 points and eight assists. (nba.com) The National Basketball Association play-in tournament gives the teams seeded seventh through 10th a short path to the last two playoff spots in each conference. Wednesday’s game matched the West’s No. 9 and No. 10 teams, so the loser was eliminated immediately. (nba.com) That left Golden State alive for one more game, at Phoenix on Friday, April 17, with the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference on the line. The first round of the National Basketball Association playoffs begins Saturday, April 18. (nba.com) The result also ended the Clippers’ season and snapped their run of playoff appearances. The Associated Press reported Los Angeles missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and only the third time during a stretch of 15 consecutive winning seasons. (apnews.com) Curry is 38, Horford is 39, and both were central to the comeback in a game Golden State had to win to avoid elimination. Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points for the Warriors in support. (nba.com) Now the Warriors are one win from the playoffs after surviving the play-in’s sudden-death round. Phoenix gets the next shot at ending their season on Friday night. (sports.yahoo.com)