{"id":608645,"date":"2026-04-16T19:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/608645\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:39:08","slug":"hornets-magic-warriors-suns-await-on-friday-night-to-set-last-2-nba-playoff-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/608645\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets-Magic, Warriors-Suns await on Friday night to set last 2 NBA playoff spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> spent the last month resigned to their fates. Even before they were locked into the play-in tournament, they knew they were headed there and would have to win two games to grab an unlikely playoff spot.<\/p>\n

So, they prepared for a two-game season.<\/p>\n

And the mission, in their eyes, is only half-finished.<\/p>\n

The Warriors \u2014 along with Charlotte, Orlando and Phoenix \u2014 will be in win-or-go-home matchups Friday as the play-in tournament comes to a close and sees two teams grab the last two available spots on the playoff bracket.<\/p>\n

Charlotte goes to Orlando, Golden State to Phoenix. Game 1s \u2014 at Detroit in the East, at Oklahoma City in the West \u2014 await Friday night\u2019s winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is literally it,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. \u201cThis is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State used a 41-23 run over the final 9:49 to close a comeback road win over the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>, turning a 13-point deficit into a 126-121 win and keeping its season alive. The Warriors hit six more 3-pointers than the Clippers did in that deciding stretch, and those 18 points were exactly the difference over the game-ending run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was fun,\u201d Warriors guard Stephen Curry<\/a> said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you live for, right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlotte \u2014 with a victory over Miami, one where LaMelo Ball<\/a>\u2019s uncalled flagrant foul of Bam Adebayo<\/a> commanded almost all the attention \u2014 won its way into Friday, as did the Warriors. The Magic lost in Philadelphia, giving the 76ers the No. 7 seed in the East and a matchup with Boston. And Phoenix lost at home to Portland, giving the Trail Blazers the No. 7 seed in the West and a matchup with San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Seasons are on the line now. Miami and the Clippers have already lost elimination games, and two more teams will join them in offseason mode on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be ready,\u201d Magic forward Paolo Banchero<\/a> said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Play-in past performances<\/p>\n

This season\u2019s play-in tournament marks Phoenix\u2019s first time in the event. The other three remaining teams have all been there at least once before.<\/p>\n

Golden State is in for the fourth time, Charlotte for the third time and Orlando for a second time. (Philadelphia and Portland, who have already advanced, were in the play-in for a second time in their histories.)<\/p>\n

Golden State is 2-3 in play-in games. Orlando is 1-1, Charlotte is 1-2 and Phoenix is 0-1.<\/p>\n

Charlotte at Orlando, Friday, 7:30 p.m. (Prime Video)<\/p>\n

Season series: Charlotte, 3-1.<\/p>\n

Betting line: Charlotte by 3.5.<\/p>\n

At stake: The winner moves on to play No. 1 Detroit in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, starting Sunday. The loser is out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Outlook: There\u2019s a lot to unpack here. LaMelo Ball<\/a> is coming off a game where he made the winning shot, took out Bam Adebayo<\/a> and was told a day later by the league that he should have been ejected from the contest. Orlando lost the last three meetings between the teams by a combined 61 points and has been, to put it kindly, erratic all season. Charlotte won the first two games in Orlando this season; no team has gone 3-0 or better on the road against the Magic \u2014 excluding the bubble year \u2014 in a season since Detroit in 2006-07. Charlotte\u2019s Miles Bridges<\/a> has played in more regular-season games (501) than any other active player with no playoff appearances. He could end that streak on Friday.<\/p>\n

Golden State at Phoenix, Friday, 10 p.m. (Prime Video)<\/p>\n

Season series: Golden State, 3-1.<\/p>\n

Betting line: Phoenix by 2.5.<\/p>\n

At stake: The winner moves on to play No. 1 Oklahoma City in the Western Conference quarterfinals, starting Sunday. The loser is out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Outlook: Golden State won the first meeting by 11, a game where Phoenix got down by 25 but had the ball with a chance to make it a two-possession game with three minutes left. The other games were decided by one, three and four points. The Warriors are coming in with a nothing-to-lose vibe and with good reason; they were injury-plagued all year, finished 37-45 and made clear for the last month that they were just getting ready for an inevitable play-in tournament run. Phoenix blew away most preseason expectations by winning 45 games \u2014 but now need to beat the game\u2019s best shooter ever in Stephen Curry<\/a> to avoid becoming the first team to go 0-2 at home in a play-in tournament.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/p>\n

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Warriors spent the last month resigned to their fates. Even before they were locked into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-608645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}