{"id":1866,"date":"2025-04-13T22:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T14:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/84news.top\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2025-04-13T22:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T14:59:10","slug":"harden-bags-39-as-clippers-edge-warriors-to-clinch-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/13\/harden-bags-39-as-clippers-edge-warriors-to-clinch-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Harden bags 39 as Clippers edge Warriors to clinch play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harden’s superb display in San Francisco helped the Clippers bag the fifth seed in the Western Conference and sets up a first-round postseason series with the fourth-seeded Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Harden’s points tally included two crucial back-to-back three-pointers in overtime which ultimately proved decisive in a back-and-forth duel that saw the lead change hands 23 times. <\/p>\n

The defeat for Golden State means the Warriors must now secure their place in the playoffs via the four-team play-in tournament starting this week, hosting Memphis on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Harden meanwhile praised the Clippers’ composure in closing out victory in front of the Warriors’ vociferous home support.<\/p>\n

“We knew it was gonna be a hostile environment, and the main goal was just to win the game,” Harden told ESPN. “Whether it’s scoring, whether it’s playmaking…it’s whatever it takes at this point.” <\/p>\n

The win was the Clippers’ eighth straight victory to close out the regular season, ensuring they will enter the playoffs as the form team in the Western Conference after a campaign where few gave them much hope.<\/p>\n

“We know we’re a good team and we’re excited to show the world that we’re a good team,” Harden said.<\/p>\n

Harden was backed with 33 points from Kawhi Leonard while Ivica Zubac added 22.<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry led Golden State’s scoring with 36 points while Jimmy Butler added 30 points.<\/p>\n

Golden State coach Steve Kerr praised the Clippers performance after a gripping contest.<\/p>\n

‘Big-time basketball’<\/p>\n

“That was a big-time basketball game — they’re one of the best teams in the NBA, and so are we,” Kerr said. “It was a great, great game — high-level stuff, stars being stars. We came up short but not for lack of effort.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of great execution, and lot of stuff that was very impressive. But we couldn’t quite pull it off.”<\/p>\n

In other games on Sunday, Denver clinched the fourth seed in the West with a 126-111 victory over the second-seeded Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

The win capped a tumultuous week for the Nuggets, who fired head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday with the playoffs beckoning in a move that stunned the NBA.<\/p>\n

Denver were always in control of Sunday’s clash, leading by as many as 36 points in the fourth quarter after taking the lead midway through the first period.<\/p>\n

Denver’s interim coach David Adelman reserved praise for Serbian star Nikola Jokic, who finished a regular season campaign in which he averaged a triple double with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been around special players, I’ve never seen any player like him,” Adelman said. <\/p>\n

“The work he puts in away from it. Just how systematic he is, professional, no wasted steps. He is absolutely the most impressive basketball player I’ve ever seen.”<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Timberwolves meanwhile snaffled sixth place in the West — the final automatic playoff berth — with a 116-105 defeat of the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch paid tribute to his team’s effort in muscling their way into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

“I’m super proud of their body of work this year,” Finch said. “We didn’t make a big trade in the middle of the season to sort thing out, or fire coaches to try to sort things out — they sorted it out themselves. Those guys made the right adjustments and sacrifices and figured who they needed to be as a team. All credit to them.” <\/p>\n

The win means the Timberwolves will face the third-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2025 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) \u2013 <\/span> James Harden scored 39 points as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Golden State Warriors 124-119 in overtime to clinch the final playoff spot in a thrilling last day of the NBA regular season on Sunday. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Issued on: 14\/04\/2025 – 00:59<\/span>Modified: 14\/04\/2025 – 01:33<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"James<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-db"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudfclub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}