The Warriors' ambitious goal of reaching sixth place in the Western Conference officially came to an end Wednesday night as the Phoenix Suns defeated the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers 124-108 at Crypto.com Arena. closed.
Golden State (44-35) is now guaranteed to play in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, but still has a chance to improve its seeding from No. 10 in the standings.
The Los Angeles Lakers (45-35) also qualified for the play-in tournament with the Suns' victory over the Clippers.
The Warriors are currently 2.5 games behind the seventh-seeded Suns, who hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, so even if they finish with the same record, 47-35, Golden State won't be able to advance. It surpasses Phoenix in the rankings.
Heading into Thursday's road game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Warriors trail the Lakers by a half game and trail the Sacramento Kings by a full game.
While the Warriors are the favorites to defeat the Trail Blazers at Moda Center, the Kings will have a tough matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, who have won their last four games against Sacramento this season. And the Lakers are free on Thursday.
So the Warriors have a chance to tie for a three-way record with the Lakers and Kings heading into Friday when all three teams are in action.
The Warriors will hold the tiebreaker against the Lakers and the Kings will hold the tiebreaker against both the Warriors and Lakers.
We are entering the final stages of the play-in tournament, and every match is of great significance.
But for now, the Warriors know that even if they win, they won't be able to climb into the top six of the West, which would guarantee them a spot in the first round of the NBA playoff series.
They need to win one or two single-elimination play-in games to secure a spot in the first-round series.
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