Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left to help the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 to stay alive in the NBA play-in game on Wednesday.
Four-time NBA champion Curry missed 27 games with a knee injury, but he shook off a slow first half to finish with 35 points.
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He hit 7 of 12 three-pointers to help the Warriors come back from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
His final 3-pointer gave the Warriors a 120-117 lead as they held on to knock Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers out of the playoffs.
The Warriors finished 10th in the Western Conference during the regular season and must win one more game to advance to the playoffs on Friday against the Phoenix Suns.
The winner of this game will secure a spot as the eighth seed in the Western Conference and advance to a first-round series against the top-seeded and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Curry said the key for Phoenix will once again be “resilience.”
“In these win-or-go-home scenarios, we think we know the team, but you have to be able to withstand the run and stay in it emotionally.
“It was back and forth the whole game and then we got over it in the last three minutes.”
Santos and Kristaps Porzingis each scored 20 points for the Warriors, and Al Horford hit four three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Benedict Maturin scored 23 points to lead the Clippers in scoring. Leonard and Darius Garland each scored 21 points, but Leonard only scored 2 points in the final quarter.
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– 76ers make playoffs –
With Tyrese Maxey scoring 31 points, the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Orlando Magic 109-97 to advance to the playoffs and will face the Boston Celtics in the first round.
Maxey scored 31 points and five Philadelphia players scored in double figures, helping the Sixers overcome the absence of star big man Joel Embiid, who made a surprise appearance on the bench to watch him recover from an appendectomy.
“Man, we played hard,” Maxey said. “Everyone who stepped on the field tonight contributed.
“I’m happy because a lot of people haven’t been to the playoffs before. I told them at the beginning of the year, I don’t care what it takes, we’re going to the playoffs.”
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Rookie VJ Edgecombe had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Andre Drummond, who came off the bench, had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
The Sixers’ play-in win secures the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round series against the second-seeded Celtics starting Sunday.
The Magic, led by Desmond Bane, will have one last chance to clinch the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference on Friday when they host the Charlotte Hornets, who upset the Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime on Tuesday.
The reward for the winner of Friday’s game will be a first-round series against Detroit, the top seed in the East.
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Philadelphia led all night, but in a tense and sometimes contentious battle, the Magic cut an 11-point deficit midway through the third quarter to just one early in the fourth quarter.
With 4 minutes left in the game, Orlando trailed by only 4 points, but Drummond’s three-pointer with 41 seconds left in the game allowed the 76ers to pull away with a spurt at the last moment.
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