For most of the night, the Golden State Warriors looked like a team running out of road. By the final minute, they looked like a team that had remembered exactly who it was. In a tense Western Conference play-in game, Golden State wiped out a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit and beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 at the Intuit Dome, extending its season and turning a near-elimination into one more shot at the postseason.
The comeback began in earnest when the Warriors trailed 98-85 with 9:53 remaining. Stephen Curry, as so often in games like these, became the organizing force of the chaos. He finished with 35 points and seven made three-pointers, and his deep go-ahead triple with 50.4 seconds left gave Golden State a lead it would not surrender. It was the kind of late sequence that reminded everyone why the Warriors remain dangerous even after an uneven season.
@opencourtWHAT A GAME BY STEPHEN CURRY! 🔥🔥🔥 Still 🐐🐐🐐🐐 Warriors eliminate the Clippers after an incredible 4th quarter comeback 😎
Yet this rally belonged to more than Curry alone. Al Horford delivered a closing burst few could have predicted, burying four three-pointers in the final 5:37 and helping fuel a 27-13 finishing run. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points, Gui Santos supplied 20 more with six rebounds and five assists, and the Warriors suddenly found shot-making, poise and belief all at once. Just as critical, Draymond Green anchored the defensive end during the decisive stretch, switching across positions, disrupting actions and repeatedly forcing the Clippers out of rhythm when it mattered most. A game that had seemed to be tilting cleanly toward Los Angeles instead flipped under the weight of Golden State’s spacing and nerve.
For the Clippers, the collapse was as painful as the Warriors’ surge was exhilarating. Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench, while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland added 21 apiece, but Los Angeles could not steady itself once the Warriors’ pressure intensified. Leonard, effective for long stretches, faded late as the Clippers lost control of a game they appeared to have in hand.
That is the cruelty and appeal of the play-in tournament compressed into one night. The Warriors did not simply survive; they reclaimed a game that had already begun to slip away. Now they move on with momentum and the memory of a fourth quarter that rescued their season. The Clippers are left with the harsher lesson, one that lingers longest in April: in high-stakes basketball, a double-digit lead can still feel fragile when Curry is on the floor and Golden State senses life.
