The Golden State Warriors pulled off an extraordinary comeback win over the Los Angeles Clippers, with Stephen Curry scoring 27 of his 35 points in the second half. Al Horford's four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter played a crucial role in the Warriors' electrifying rally, securing a 126-121 victory and advancing them in the NBA's play-in tournament. Curry's seventh 3-pointer broke a tie with just 50.4 seconds left to play, capping off an incredible turnaround for the 10th-seeded Warriors, who overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Warriors finished on a 16-6 run and held Kawhi Leonard scoreless in the fourth until the final 16 seconds, setting them up for a matchup against Phoenix on Friday.
The winner of that game will move on to face the defending champion Oklahoma City in the first round. Leonard scored 21 points for the Clippers, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022, while Bennedict Mathurin led Los Angeles with 23 points and Darius Garland had 21 points and eight assists despite battling foul trouble. The Clippers led 98-85 with 9:53 to play, but the 38-year-old Curry led Golden State's furious comeback alongside Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 20 points, and the 39-year-old Horford. Golden State got a classic second-half barrage from Curry, who returned only five games ago from a 27-game absence with a knee injury.
He scored 16 points in a six-minute span of the third quarter to keep the Warriors in it while the Clippers nearly pulled away. After Horford hit three 3-pointers down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Gui Santos' layup with 2:45 to play trimmed the Clippers' lead to 115-114. Horford's fourth 3-pointer put the Warriors up 117-115 with 2:12 left.
In other news, Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points, V.J. Edgecombe added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers weathered the absence of Joel Embiid to beat the Orlando Magic 109-97 and secure the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Sixers moved on to a first-round series that begins Sunday at Boston.
Desmond Bane and the Magic aren't done yet, hosting Charlotte on Friday night, with the winner earning the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with Detroit. Embiid had an emergency appendectomy last week in Houston, and while the 76ers haven't given a timetable for his return, the two-time scoring champion returned to the team on Wednesday, surprising teammates in the locker room and watching the game from the bench. Maxey, named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter for the first time in his career, scored seven straight points late in the fourth to give the Sixers some breathing room against a Magic team that wasted a chance to play this game at home with a late collapse in a loss to the Celtics in the season finale.
Bane, who averaged 20.1 points and played all 82 games, carried Orlando's offense with 34 points. The 2026 NBA playoffs begin on Sky Sports this Sunday, April 19, with four live games on Sky Sports Action from 6pm onwards, including the East No 7 seed at Boston Celtics and the West No 8 seed at Oklahoma City Thunder.