Stephen Curry delivered a masterful 35-point performance to help the Golden State Warriors survive a dramatic Western Conference play-in game, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The result keeps Golden State's playoff hopes alive while ending the Clippers' season.
The Warriors, who finished tenth in the Western Conference, trailed for much of the contest, with Clippers duo Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland building a lead of as many as 13 points. The turning point came late in the fourth quarter when Kristaps Porzingis chipped a nine-point deficit down to three with a sequence of six unanswered points. From there, Golden State went on a decisive 27-13 closing run. Curry sealed the result by burying a deep three-pointer with 50.4 seconds remaining to put the Warriors ahead 120-117, capping a night in which he hit seven of twelve attempts from beyond the arc as the team shot an impressive 46.3 percent from three-point range.
Perhaps the most unlikely hero of the night was 39-year-old veteran Al Horford, who had managed just two points off the bench before erupting for four consecutive three-pointers in the final 5:37 of the game. Horford finished with 14 points, with his critical baskets set up by assists from Brazilian guard Gui Santos and Curry himself. Santos proved a key all-around contributor, adding 20 points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Porzingis also finished with 20 points. For the Clippers, Bennedict Mathurin led all scorers with 23 points off the bench, while Leonard and Garland each added 21, though Leonard went largely quiet in the second half, committing two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Golden State now advances to a sudden-death play-in game in Phoenix on Friday against the Suns, with the winner claiming the West's eighth and final playoff seed. That team will then face the Oklahoma City Thunder — the reigning NBA champions — in the first round of the playoffs. The play-in tournament, introduced by the NBA in 2021, gives teams finishing seventh through tenth in each conference a final chance to qualify for the postseason, with the higher seeds holding a two-game advantage over lower-seeded opponents.
The stakes could hardly be higher for a Warriors franchise that has won four NBA championships since 2015, largely built around Curry. At 37, the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player continues to be the driving force for Golden State, and Wednesday's performance underscored why the Warriors remain dangerous even when entering the play-in from the lowest possible position. Whether they can extend their run will be determined Friday night in Phoenix.