Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Golden State star Stephen Curry scored the go-ahead three-pointer with 50 seconds left as the Warriors rallied to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 and stay alive in the NBA play-in on Wednesday. Curry, a four-time NBA champion who missed 27 games from February to early April with a nagging knee injury, shook off a slow first half to finish with 35 points. He connected on seven of 12 three-point attempts to help the Warriors, who trailed most of the way, battle back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit. His last three-pointer put the Warriors up 120-117, and they held on to knock Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers out of the post-season.
The Warriors, who finished the regular season 10th in the Western Conference, will have to win one more game to reach the playoffs proper when they face the Phoenix Suns on Friday. The winner of that game will secure the Western Conference eighth seed and a first-round series against the top-seeded reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Curry said the key in Phoenix will once again be “resiliency.” “These win or go home scenarios, we think we know the team but you’ve got to be able to withstand the runs and stay in it emotionally. It was back and forth the whole game, and then we got over the hump the last three minutes.”
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Gui Santos and Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points apiece for the Warriors and Al Horford made four three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points to lead the Clippers. Leonard and Darius Garland scored 21 points each, but Leonard was held to just two points in the final period.
– Sixers reach playoffs –
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 31 points from Tyrese Maxey, held off the Orlando Magic 109-97 to punch their playoff ticket, booking a first-round meeting with the Boston Celtics. Maxey scored 31 points and five Philadelphia players scored in double figures as the Sixers overcame the absence of star big man Joel Embiid — who made a surprise appearance watching from the bench as he recovers from an appendectomy. “Man, we played hard as hell,” Maxey said. “Everybody who stepped on the floor contributed tonight. I’m just so happy because, like, a lot of these guys ain’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.”
Rookie VJ Edgecombe added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Andre Drummond came off the bench to score 14 points with 10 rebounds, three steals, and three blocked shots. The 76ers’ play-in victory secured the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round series against the second-seeded Celtics starting on Sunday. The Magic, led by 34 points from Desmond Bane, will have a last chance to grab the East eighth seed on Friday when they host the Charlotte Hornets, who knocked out the Miami Heat in a 127-126 overtime thriller on Tuesday. The reward for the winner of Friday’s game will be a first-round series against East top seeds Detroit.
Philadelphia led most of the night, but in a tight, sometimes contentious battle, the Magic cut an 11-point deficit midway through the third quarter to one early in the fourth. Orlando trailed by just four with four minutes remaining, but the Sixers pulled away with a late spurt capped by Drummond’s three-pointer with 41 seconds left.
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