Warriors rally, survive
The Golden State Warriors erased a double‑digit deficit and beat the LA Clippers in the Western play‑in to keep their season alive. (Game editors say Golden State outscored LAC 41‑23 in the final 10 minutes and finished 120‑117, with Draymond Green making clutch steals and Stephen Curry hitting the go‑ahead shot with 50 seconds left.) (x.com) (nytimes.com)
Golden State beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday night, erasing a late double-digit deficit to stay alive in the Western Conference play-in. (espn.com) The Warriors trailed 61-53 at halftime and entered the fourth quarter down 89-83 before closing with a 43-point final period. Stephen Curry scored 35 points, Draymond Green had 20 points and four steals, and Brandin Podziemski added 17. (espn.com) Golden State shot 47 for 83 from the field and 19 for 41 from three-point range, while the Clippers finished at 45 for 86 overall. Al Horford scored 14 points off the bench and hit four three-pointers in the comeback. (espn.com) (apnews.com) The play-in tournament decides the seventh and eighth playoff seeds in each conference for teams that finished seventh through 10th in the standings. In that format, the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game is an elimination game, so the Clippers’ season ended with the loss. (nba.com) Golden State now moves on to the final Western play-in game on Friday, April 17, against the Phoenix Suns for the No. 8 seed. The winner will open the first round against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, April 19. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The result capped a steep climb for a Warriors team that finished the regular season 37-45 and went 15-26 on the road. The Clippers finished 42-40 after earning the home game in Los Angeles. (espn.com) Los Angeles got 23 points from Bennedict Mathurin and 21 each from Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland, but could not hold the lead in the final quarter. The Clippers also committed 17 turnovers, compared with 20 by Golden State. (espn.com) The Warriors were down eight entering the fourth and still found a way to extend their season by 48 more hours. On Friday night in Phoenix, they get one more game to turn a 37-win year into a playoff berth. (espn.com) (nba.com)
