{"id":614398,"date":"2026-04-18T05:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614398\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:03:09","slug":"nba-play-in-2026-suns-emphatically-end-warriors-season-to-claim-wests-final-playoff-spot-magic-advance-in-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614398\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA play-in 2026: Suns emphatically end Warriors’ season to claim West’s final playoff spot, Magic advance in East"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be the Phoenix Suns<\/a> against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in the first round of the NBA playoffs, as the Golden State Warriors<\/a> were only able to muster one wild comeback in the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n

The Suns took an early lead and held it throughout the rest of the game, emerging with a 111-94 win to take the final playoff spot in the West. They\u2019ll begin their series against the top-seeded Thunder on Sunday, while the Warriors\u2019 season is over.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It was Jalen Green<\/a> who showed out for the Suns, posting 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting (8-of-14 on 3-pointers) plus 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. That 3-point total tied the play-in tournament record.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, meanwhile, looked understandably gassed after a furious effort to survive the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday<\/a>. Stephen Curry<\/a> posted only 17 points on 4-of-16 shooting with 4 assists and 4 turnovers.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night, the Orlando Magic had little trouble with the Charlotte Hornets to win the final playoff spot in the East<\/a>. They were up by 22 at the end of the first quarter, up 31 at halftime and dominated in pretty much every phase of the game.<\/p>\n

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The Magic will now face the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in the first round, while the Hornets\u2019 season is over. Central Florida enjoyed the game, and South Florida probably did as<\/a> well<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the final night of NBA play-in action went down at Yahoo Sports:<\/p>\n

Live coverage is over53 updatesFri, April 17, 2026 at 6:03 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:48 PM PDT<\/p>\n

The Suns knock off the Warriors to secure the No. 8 seed in the West playoffs. Their reward? A first-round matchup with the defending champion Thunder, with Game 1 on Sunday. The Warriors, meanwhile, will head into an offseason full of questions after another disappointing postseason exit.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:46 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Draymond Green, perhaps in his final act as a Warrior (?), gets ejected along with Devin Booker \u2014 by referee Scott Foster \u2014 after the two exchanged words with 1:04 left. Of course.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:44 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Draymond Green fouls out with 1:06 remaining with the Warriors down 16. Steve Kerr subs out Stephen Curry, too, as the three share a moment with the future uncertain in Golden State.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:40 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:38 PM PDT<\/p>\n

A dagger 3 by Royce O\u2019Neale, followed by two turnovers by the Warriors has this game all but wrapped up with 2:02 remaining.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:34 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Brandin Podziemski is trying to keeping the Warriors\u2019 season alive, scoring on an and-1 and a corner 3-pointer. Suns timeout up 12 with 3:23 to go.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:27 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Devin Booker\u2019s showing off his midrange game, hitting two big shots to increase the Suns\u2019 lead to 99-84. Warriors timeout with 5:21 to go.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:20 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jalen Green has answered with a scoring flurry of his own, scoring 7 straight. He\u2019s up to 36 points, extending the Suns\u2019 lead to 92-78. Warriors timeout with 7:15 to go.<\/p>\n

Fri, April 17, 2026 at 9:17 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Steph Curry is warming up, hitting two 3-pointers to start the fourth. The Warriors are within 7.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 9:10 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Golden State is still in it, but it\u2019s also still waiting for Stephen Curry to get going. The former MVP is at 7 points on 2-of-9 shooting with a quarter to go.<\/p>\n

Jalen Green is up to 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting plus 4 rebounds and 4 assists. He is covering up a lot of issues on offense for the Suns.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 9:03 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Devin Booker makes his first basket since the first quarter. He hasn\u2019t had the best game, but fortunately for the Suns that hasn\u2019t mattered against a Warriors team we\u2019re starting to suspect is still a little gassed from their thriller against the Clippers.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:57 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:54 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

That ain\u2019t good for the Warriors, who are now down 11 going into the final minutes of the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:45 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green have the Suns back up double-digits at the first timeout of the second half, with Green up to 19 points.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:22 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Suns led by as many as 18 points. They now lead by five. Much like their first play-in game against the Clippers, the Warriors are refusing to go away.<\/p>\n

Brandin Podziemski leads Golden State with 12 points, while Stephen Curry has 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting plus 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Phoenix can only hope he doesn\u2019t get going in the second half.<\/p>\n

Jalen Green closed the half with a 3-pointer, giving him a game-high 14 points.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:18 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Warriors finishing the first half strong.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:14 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Suns lose their final challenge with an unsuccessful attempt to overturn an offensive foul on Dillon Brooks, his third of the game.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:07 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 8:03 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Warriors cut the deficit to as little as eight points, but the Suns have responded with a 7-2 run, which could become an 8-2 run if Jordan Goodwin makes the and-1 free throw.<\/p>\n

\"JackFri, April 17, 2026 at 7:53 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Warriors open the second quarter on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 12, which prompts a Phoenix timeout. They looked a lot steadier there, while Dillon Brooks wasn\u2019t exactly a hero with his isos on the last couple possessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be the Phoenix Suns against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,5670,7214,5552,5669,7236,590,5548,12985,7185,85,7903,187456],"class_list":{"0":"post-614398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-charlotte-hornets","12":"tag-detroit-pistons","13":"tag-golden-state-warriors","14":"tag-jalen-green","15":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","18":"tag-orlando-magic","19":"tag-phoenix-suns","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-stephen-curry","22":"tag-the-suns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}