{"id":270430,"date":"2026-04-16T07:39:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270430\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:39:42","slug":"clippers-season-comes-to-an-end-with-play-in-loss-to-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270430\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers’ season comes to an end with play-in loss to Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, and the Clippers<\/a> did not do enough to keep their season alive, blowing a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and losing to the Golden State Warriors, 126-121<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-21 start to earn the next-to-last berth in the NBA play-in tournament, coach Tyronn Lue\u2019s resilient bunch could not extend its historic comeback on its home floor.<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points, Kristaps Porzingis and and Gui Santos each had 20, and Brandin Podziemski added 17. The Warriors were 19 for 41 from three-point range, with Al Horford hitting four in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench, while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland each added 21 points for the Clippers, who won three of the teams\u2019 four regular-season meetings, including a 115-110 victory in the same arena four days earlier. Wednesday night, however, Leonard was held scoreless in the fourth quarter until the final seconds as the Warriors rallied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happens, we\u2019ve won games like that before, we\u2019ve lost games like that before,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cThey played great defense, they won the game. They deserve it. They scored 43 points in the fourth quarter.\u201d <\/p>\n

Garland, a point guard acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers at the trade deadline in exchange for James Harden, contributed mightily to the team\u2019s late-season surge but picked up his fifth foul with 2:51 left in the third quarter and fouled out with 50 seconds left in the fourth. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt came down to contested threes and not a lot of good possessions for us… in the end No.30 did what 30 does,\u201d he said, referring to Curry. \u201cIt was fun for the time I\u2019ve been here. To be in the play-in game is a credit to this group and the coaching staff. This isn\u2019t the way we wanted to end the season, but this group is amazing and everybody wants to win. The championship pedigree they have over there shined through.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Clippers got off to a hot start, scoring 12 straight points to take a 10-point lead 3:19 into the game, but Golden State used a 12-2 run of its own to tie it and took a 17-16 lead on Curry\u2019s first three-pointer with 5:07 left in the first. A 15-5 run put the Clippers back up 31-22 at the end of the quarter.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen <\/p>\n

Stephen Curry falls to the court to grab a loose ball against Clippers Bennedict Mathurin and Kris Dunn in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Porzingis\u2019 three-pointer from the top of the key put the Warriors in front early in the second quarter, but the Clippers closed the first half with a flourish. The Warriors\u2019 Draymond Green got assessed a technical foul, and Leonard made the ensuing free throw to give his team a 10-point lead with 3:24 left; the Clippers headed to the locker room ahead 61-53.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back buckets by Derrick Jones Jr. pushed the Clippers\u2019 lead back to 10 points with 7:48 left in the third quarter, but again the proud Warriors responded with eight straight points by Curry, including a rare four-point play, to pull within four. The Clippers pushed the lead back to 11 before Golden State used a 5-0 run to creep within 89-83 heading to the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Porzingis\u2019 three-pointer whittled the Warriors\u2019 deficit down to three with 8:16 left, but Garland\u2019s three-pointer pushed the margin back to nine with 6:36 left. Horford\u2019s final three gave the Warriors a 117-115 lead with 2:12 left. Brook Lopez hit a pair of free throws to tie it with 1:51 left, but Curry, as he has done so many times in his career, sank a three-pointer to put his team up 120-117 with 50 seconds remaining. Green, guarding Leonard, then tipped away the Clippers\u2019 inbounds pass out of a timeout, and Podziemski drove for a three-point play as the visitors hung on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe turned the ball over 18 times for 23 points and we can\u2019t do that,\u201d Lue said. \u201cHorford made some big shots to get them back in the game. We had the game in our hands and made silly plays. To be up 13 with 10 minutes left\u2026 we have to finish that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kawhi <\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard walks off the court after the Clippers\u2019 season-ending loss. He was held scoreless in the fourth until the final seconds.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Clippers had won nine consecutive home games against Golden State, their longest active home winning streak against a conference opponent. The Warriors had last beat the Clippers in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, 2021 at Staples Center, then their home arena. <\/p>\n

The Warriors\u2019 reward is a flight to Phoenix where they will take on the Suns in a Friday night matchup to decide the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference<\/a>. The Suns had a chance to clinch the No. 7 seed Monday but lost at home to Portland, 114-110. Should the Warriors prevail they will meet No. 1-seeded and defending champion Oklahoma City in a best-of-seven series opening Sunday on the road.<\/p>\n

Steve Kerr, who has coached Golden State to four NBA championships in 12 seasons, stated before the game that his team was ready for the challenge \u2014 and it was. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of veteran guys who have been through big moments,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt\u2019s the exact same vibe as any other elimination game \u2014 you have to be locked in. We\u2019re aware that this is an opportunity we may not get again, we don\u2019t know. The first year [of the play-in] we were the eighth seed and I hated it. This year we\u2019re 10th and I love it. I think it\u2019s good for the league.\u201d <\/p>\n

After their disastrous start the Clippers went 36-19 the rest of the way and became the first team in NBA history to dip 15 games below .500 and finish with a winning record. Leonard played 65 games and averaged a career-best 27.9 points, however Wednesday\u2019s loss was a bitter pill to swallow. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a great game plan, being physical all game and making sure I don\u2019t get my catch-and-shoot shots,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cDraymond Green is a Hall of Fame defender \u2014 it was hard to get shots. I\u2019m not used to losing a lot of games early in the season. We could\u2019ve easily let go of the rope but we made strides and the eight seed was right there, but in the end it wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering the last year of a three-year contract, Leonard was asked if he wanted to remain with the Clippers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to cry about this loss a little more and we\u2019ll have our discussions when the time comes.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Clippers dropped to 6-8 all-time in the postseason against the Warriors. Lopez had 17 points, Derrick Jones Jr. had 13, John Collins had 11 and Kris Dunn had seven points and 10 assists. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, and the Clippers did not do enough to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6665,6223,32732,7000,117545,1953,31248,48,52,51,5814,47,50,49,1417,2668,278,14843,427,7553,14920],"class_list":{"0":"post-270430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-clippers","9":"tag-end","10":"tag-free-throw","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-home-floor","13":"tag-kawhi-leonard","14":"tag-kristaps-porzingis","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-lead","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-point","23":"tag-run","24":"tag-season","25":"tag-stephen-curry","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-three-pointer","28":"tag-warrior"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}