Al Horford connected on four 3-pointers in the final 5:37 of a Western Conference play-in game, lifting the 10th-place Golden State Warriors to a 126-121 win over the ninth-place Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif.
Golden State advances to a sudden-death matchup against the Suns in Phoenix on Friday to determine the West’s No. 8 seed and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first-round playoff opponent. The loss ends the Clippers’ season.
“With all the wins we’ve ever had here,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, “a lot of them with a lot more at stake – this one is right up there because of where we are, and our age and the decline of our performance this year with the injuries. It was just a beautiful display of competitive will.”
Horford’s late-game hot streak was part of a game-ending, 27-13 Golden State run. Stephen Curry punctuated a 35-point night by burying a deep 3-pointer with 50.4 seconds remaining, putting the Warriors ahead to stay, 120-117. Curry’s seven makes on 12 attempts from beyond the arc paced the Warriors to a 19-of-41 long-range barrage (46.3%).
Curry returned from a knee injury for the closing stretch of the regular season, playing under a minutes restriction. He logged nearly 36 minutes on Wednesday.
“This is why Steph came back,” Kerr said. “Everybody out there who thought Steph should have taken the rest of the year off, this is what he does. This is who he is. If he can compete, he’s going to compete.”
Despite Curry’s contributions, it was Horford who stole the show.
The 39-year-old veteran had just two points off the bench before his late onslaught. He finished with 14 points, set up for his pivotal baskets off of two assists from Gui Santos that were sandwiched by a pair of assists from Curry.
Santos played a key all-around role for the Warriors, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Golden State also got 20 points from Kristaps Porzingis, including six straight points over one stretch in the fourth quarter.
Porzingis followed up converting a successful and-one opportunity with a 3-pointer, the sequence trimming a nine-point Clippers lead to three with 8:17 to go.
Los Angeles answered when Darius Garland converted his own and-one, then Garland fed Brook Lopez for an interior bucket. Garland wrapped up his big stretch with a 3-pointer that pushed Los Angeles’ lead back to nine with 6:37 left.
That was the last point the Clippers appeared in control during a game that they led for most of the way.
Garland and Kawhi Leonard, who each finished with 21 points, helped Los Angeles build an advantage of as many as 13 points. The Clippers couldn’t shake the Warriors in the second half, however, particularly as Leonard went cold offensively under heavy pressure from Draymond Green.
“We had the game in our hands,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Some silly plays, not doing the right thing execution-wise. To be up 13 [points] with 10 minutes to go in the game, we’ve got to finish. So I’m disappointed.”
Leonard committed a pair of turnovers in the fourth quarter and scored his only points of the period on a dunk in the final seconds after Golden State had essentially wrapped up the win. Leonard scored 14 of his points in the first half, including going coast-to-coast for a slam just before halftime.
Bennedict Mathurin led Los Angeles with 23 points off the bench.
–Field Level Media
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