PHOENIX — There’s a particular kind of tension in a night like this, the kind that makes the room feel louder even when people aren’t talking. After a surprise comeback win over the Los Angeles Clippers, the No. 10 Golden State Warriors are headed to Phoenix Friday to take on the Suns in the final play-in matchup.
Stephen Curry closed things out with 35 points, and Golden State knocked down 19-for-41 (46%) from deep. More importantly, they erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit—something that usually doesn’t happen unless the offense clicks and the nerves do the opposite of showing up. Whoever wins Friday will move on to face the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.
For Phoenix, the road to this moment feels less like a straight line and more like a scramble they didn’t ask for. The Suns fell to the Portland Trail Blazers last night, blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter to land them in this position. And because the play-in format has already been around for five years, Phoenix is staring at a simple history lesson: the No. 7 seed has never missed the playoffs since the play-in was created.
That’s the kind of stat that sounds comforting—until you realize it also quietly dares you. Phoenix coach Jordan Ott put it in blunt, practical terms after the loss to Portland: “The goal is get in (the playoffs), just get in any way possible. It’s been our goal for a while. So we got to move on. Got to move on. It sucks. These are hard to take, but there’s stuff to learn in here that we got to learn fast and do everything we can to get ready for Friday night.”
The matchup itself isn’t brand-new. Misryoum newsroom reporting shows the Warriors won the regular-season series over the Suns 3-1, including a 101-97 win on Feb. 5 in which Golden State came back from down 14 in the fourth quarter without Curry. Phoenix also hasn’t faced the Warriors since acquiring Kristaps Porzingis, who played just his fourth game tonight with Curry. So sure, it’s the same teams, but it’s not the same roster story.
Meanwhile, injuries have been part of this season’s background noise for Golden State. Curry had a knee injury that sidelined him 27 games, and Jimmy Butler tore his ACL. The Warriors struggled to deal with those issues, going 9-18 in the stretch from Feb. 3 to April 2 without Curry, then finishing the year with a 37-45 record. Still, Friday is the kind of night where playoff experience can suddenly look like an advantage instead of a checkbox.
As the Suns try to regroup fast, one message keeps coming up through the whole setup—regardless of what Golden State brings, Phoenix’s biggest obstacle might actually be itself, trying to overcome its own recent struggles. Phoenix does get homecourt advantage once again, which at least means the noise in the arena won’t be against them. Friday’s game will tip off shortly after 7:00 p.m. MST on Prime Video. Whether that helps, though… it might just come down to whether they can avoid doing the same heartbreaking thing twice—like, you know, another blown fourth-quarter lead. And then, after that—who knows, because the winner has to deal with Oklahoma City too. Maybe that’s the next problem. Maybe it’s already started.
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