Stephen Curry, Al Horford lead
Warriors past Clippers 126-121 with a huge play-in comeback
[April 16, 2026]
By GREG BEACHAM
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 27 of his 35 points in
the second half, Al Horford hit four 3-pointers during Golden
State's electrifying fourth-quarter comeback, and the Warriors
advanced in the NBA’s play-in tournament with a 126-121 victory over
the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
Curry's seventh 3-pointer broke a tie with 50.4 seconds to play for
the 10th-seeded Warriors, who erased a 13-point deficit in the
fourth quarter.
Golden State finished on a 16-6 run and held Kawhi Leonard scoreless
in the fourth until the final 16 seconds.
After this time-defying rally, Curry, Draymond Green and the
postseason-tested Warriors are one game from another playoff berth
despite going 37-45 in the regular season and losing Jimmy Butler
for the season in January.
The Warriors will travel to face Phoenix on Friday, with the winner
moving on to face 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 and only the third time during their
streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons. Bennedict Mathurin led Los
Angeles with 23 points and Darius Garland had 21 points and eight
assists while 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.
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Golden State Warriors' Krystaps Porzingis (7) hangs from the rim
after following a missed Stephen Curry (30) shot attemps with a dunk
in the first half of an NBA play-in tournament game in Inglewood,
Calif., on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San
Francisco Chronicle via AP)
After Horford hit three 3-pointers down the stretch
in the fourth quarter, Gui Santos’ layup with 2:45 to play trimmed
the Clips’ lead to 115-114. Horford’s fourth 3-pointer put the
Warriors up 117-115 with 2:12 left.
The Clippers rallied from a chaotic 6-21 start to finish 42-40 in
this once-woebegone franchise's 15th consecutive winning season —
the NBA's longest active streak. But two late-season losses to
Portland dropped Los Angeles to the No. 9 seed, requiring the Clips
to get two play-in victories instead of one to make the playoffs.
After managing just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting in the first
half, Curry scored 16 points and hit three 3-pointers in six
electrifying minutes of the third quarter.
Referee Ben Taylor left shortly after halftime with an injury. He
was replaced by alternate referee Sean Corbin.
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