NBA Play-In Tournament winners and losers: How ageless wonders Stephen Curry, Al Horford rescued the Warriors

The Thunder are major beneficiaries of the Clippers' season coming to an abrupt end

James Herbert

Apr 16, 2026

2:30 am ET

•

7 min read

Getty Images

The second day of the Play-In Tournament is over. The big winners are the Golden State Warriors, who avoided elimination (but still need to beat the Phoenix Suns on Friday to make the playoffs), and the Philadelphia 76ers, who get to play a seven-game series against the Boston Celtics.

Wait, actually, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun for the Sixers. But hey, they did what they were supposed to do against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, and they earned themselves the No. 7 seed in the East. Given that Joel Embiid appeared in only 38 regular-season games and Paul George appeared in only 37, that is an accomplishment.

The Warriors, though. My goodness. They trailed by 13 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, then went on a 39-19 run and escaped Intuit Dome with a 126-121 win against the Los Angeles Clippers. This was absolutely vintage stuff.

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Brad Botkin

To recap: The winners were Golden State and Philadelphia. The losers were the Clippers and Magic. But let's get a little more specific than that, shall we? Here are the Wednesday's winners and losers:

Winners: Age, guile, the heart of a champion, etc.

Had the Warriors merely given the Clippers a competitive game and lost by 5-15 points, no one in their right mind would have crushed them for it. Stephen Curry hasn't reached the 30-minute mark in an NBA game since January, and he's barely played with Kristaps Porziņģis. There is no shame in losing to a well-balanced team led by Kawhi Leonard -- a top-five player in the regular season! -- and Darius Garland.

Before the game, though, Golden State coach Steve Kerr described the play-in as "an opportunity we might not ever get again." And boy, did the old dudes play like it.

Al Horford, who turns 40 in June, made all four 3s that he attempted during the Warriors' furious fourth-quarter comeback. Curry, 38, scored 11 of his 35 points in the fourth, too, including a classic stepback 3 over Brook Lopez to give Golden State the lead with less than a minute left.

> STEPH CURRY GIVES THE WARRIORS THE LEAD!

GSW 120

LAC 117

50.4 TO PLAY IN A MUST-WIN GAME 🍿 pic.twitter.com/HgYTHtLlOp

— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2026

And then there was Draymond Green, 36, who hobbled to the bench after appearing to hurt his leg with less than two minutes left, then immediately got back on the floor and made two massive defensive plays. First, he denied Leonard on a sideline out-of-bounds play and deflected Bennedict Mathurin's pass directly to Brandin Podziemski, leading to an easy two points on the break. Then he straight-up picked Leonard's pocket at the 3-point line.

> DRAYMOND GREEN WITH A PAIR OF INCREDIBLE STEALS IN THE CLUTCH.

WARRIORS KEEP THEIR SEASON ALIVE. https://t.co/8SITELoXjE pic.twitter.com/7Hre7jG5TX

— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2026

Green was the biggest reason that Leonard didn't score in the fourth until a meaningless dunk with 17 seconds left. He is one of the best defenders who has ever lived, and this was a masterclass.

Unless you're a Clippers fan, this comeback was real why-you-watch-sports stuff. It's also exactly why Curry worked so hard to come back late in the season, even with Jimmy Butler out, even with Golden State stuck in the 10th spot. What a magical performance by the "We Still Believe" Warriors. As heartbroken as Clippers coach Tyronn Lue must have been, he couldn't help but crack a smile when he congratulated Kerr.

Loser: Kawhi Leonard's magnificent season

There was the Aspiration scandal, and then there was the Clippers' 6-21 start. Despite all of that, Leonard managed to put together one of the best seasons of his entire career, averaging a career-high (!) 27.9 points on a career-high 62.9% true shooting and appearing in 65 regular-season games. He was a terror on defense, too.

It is unfortunate, then, that it's suddenly over. And it's possible that his Clippers tenure could be over, too. For most of Wednesday's game, the Clippers won Leonard's minutes handily. (Even after Golden State's run, Leonard finished plus-six!) The Warriors threw junk defenses at him and tried to get the ball out of his hands, and both Leonard and Los Angeles collectively handled it pretty well. Down the stretch, though, when Leonard usually gets wherever he wants, he was effectively taken out of the game.

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Brad Botkin

Giving the Thunder a scare in the first round would have been a nice way to cap off Leonard's season. I guess this is why you don't want to start 6-21.

Winner: Kristaps Porziņģis' hops

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