NBA Scores: The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Golden State Warriors 124-119 in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, with James Harden scoring 12 of his game-high 39 points in overtime. The victory sent the Clippers into the playoffs and relegated the Warriors to the play-in bracket.
With 33 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and three steals from Kawhi Leonard and 22 points and 17 rebounds from Ivica Zubac, the Clippers were able to earn the fifth seed in the Western Conference and a first-round game with the Denver Nuggets, ranked fourth.
The Warriors, who fell to seventh place in the Western Conference, will play the Memphis Grizzlies, who are ranked eighth, in a play-in game on Tuesday night in San Francisco. Stephen Curry scored 36 points, 21 of which came from 3-pointers.
With a 3-pointer 69 seconds into the five-minute overtime, Harden gave the Clippers the lead for good. Later, with 3.0 seconds remaining, he made two more free throws, a floater in the lane, another 3-pointer, and two more game-winning foul shots to give Los Angeles their eighth straight victory.
Magic 105, Hawks 117
Keaton Wallace helped host Atlanta defeat Orlando with a triple-double of 15 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. The clubs will play each other again in the play-in tournament on Tuesday in Orlando. The winner will get the seventh seed and face Boston in the first round.
Since both clubs rested their key players, it was a day for the reserves to play a lot of minutes. Wallace, who is now in his fourth season as a professional, made his NBA debut in October 2024 after spending most of that time in the G League. With 19 points, Terance Mann led the Hawks. For Atlanta, Jacob Toppin scored a career-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Jett Howard scored 16 points off the bench, while Anthony Black led the Magic with 20 points. Atlanta ended the regular season 40-42, while Orlando finished 41-41. Four of the clubs’ regular-season encounters were divided.
Hornets 86, Celtics 93
Boston defeated visiting Charlotte thanks to a game-high 34 points from Payton Pritchard.
The playoff-bound Celtics rested most of their best players, as was to be anticipated. Luke Kornet scored 11 points and pulled down eight boards, while Sam Hauser scored 15 points for Boston.
Boston took back control of the game by scoring the last seven points, but Charlotte, who had fallen down 21 points early, leveled the score 86-86 on a basket by Moussa Diabate with 2:13 remaining. For the Hornets, Josh Okogie and Jusuf Nurkic both scored a team-high 14 points.
Cavaliers 118, Pacers 126 (2OT)
In a matchup of Eastern Conference playoff teams, Indiana overcame a 27-point deficit to defeat Cleveland in double overtime, the largest comeback in the team’s history.
The Pacers surpassed 50 victories for the first time since 2013–14 when youngster Johnny Furphy scored six points in the second extra period and two-way player RayJ Dennis scored seven points in a row in the second overtime. Tony Bradley finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks, while Quenton Jackson led Indiana with 21 points. In the first round, the No. 4 Pacers play the No. 5 seed Milwaukee.
Along with fellow All-Stars Evan Mobley and Darius Garland, the Cavaliers rested nine of their top ten scorers, including Donovan Mitchell, who was injured (ankle). The East’s eighth seed, which will be decided after the play-in round, will play No. 1 seed Cleveland.
Heat 118, Wizards 119
Bub Carrington led visiting Washington past shorthanded Miami with a hotly contested jumper at the buzzer.
The Heat embarked on an 11-0 run with four minutes left after falling down seven. With 8.5 seconds remaining, they had a 118-114 lead, but Justin Champagnie made a fast 3-pointer to reduce it to one. With 4.4 seconds remaining, Josh Christopher of Miami made a costly backcourt error, giving Washington the ball again and creating the opportunity for Carrington to score the game-winning basket.
In the play-in round, the Heat will travel to Chicago on Wednesday to face the Bulls. If they win, they will proceed to play the winner of Tuesday’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic on Friday. The Heat will face the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a first-round series if they win both games and secure the eighth seed.
76ers 102, Bulls 122
In the regular-season finale, visiting Chicago defeated Philadelphia, led by 18 points by Kevin Huerter.
Chicago’s Jalen Smith finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Talen Horton-Tucker contributed 17 points. The Bulls, who will host the Miami Heat in the play-in round on Wednesday, entered the day already guaranteed the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago reduced the playing time of its other important players and benched Josh Giddey (wrist).
Philadelphia, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016–17, was led by 31 points from Lonnie Walker IV. Due to injuries to important players, the Sixers were forced to give guys like Adem Bona (16 points) and Jared Butler (19 points) a lot of playing time.
Nets 105, Knicks 113
In the regular-season finale for both teams, shorthanded New York held off host Brooklyn with a 17-0 third-quarter surge led by 29 points from Landry Shamet, who came off the bench.
Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson, who just made a comeback from injury, were not there for New York, which was already guaranteed the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs. Only after playing the opening six seconds against the Nets did Mikal Bridges extend his run of games in a row to 556.
The Nets were led by Tyrese Martin and Trendon Watford, who both scored 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Rockets 111, Nuggets 126
With 19 points from Michael Porter Jr., 18 points from Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon, and a victory against host Houston, Denver secured the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.
The Nuggets will take on the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers after winning their last three games to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Jokic, who finished the season with seven assists and seven rebounds, is the third player to average a triple-double. In the NBA, he finished in the top three with 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists.
After earning the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, the Rockets lost their last three games. The winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the host Golden State Warriors will take on Houston. The Rockets got 14 points from Alperen Sengun, 15 from Fred VanVleet and Amen Thompson.
Raptors 97, Grizzlies 132
With a combined score of 101 points, Lamar Stevens, Marvin Bagley III, Cam Spencer, and Jay Huff helped host Memphis defeat Dallas.
In both teams’ regular-season finale, Stevens ended with 31 points and six rebounds, Bagley added 25 points and 12 rebounds, Spencer scored 23 points and seven assists, while Huff finished with 22 points, six rebounds, and six blocks. With 20 points and 7 rebounds, Daniel Gafford led the Mavericks. Max Christie scored 14 and Jaden Hardy scored 17.
Prior to Tuesday’s play-in tournament, both clubs rested most of their players and important backups. Memphis, the eighth seed in the West, will take on Golden State, the seventh seed. Dallas will play No. 9 Sacramento as the tenth seed.
Pistons 133, Bucks 140 (OT)
In a pointless regular-season finale, Milwaukee defeated visiting Detroit, with Pat Connaughton saving 10 of his career-high 43 points for overtime and Kyle Kuzma contributing 22 points in only 12 minutes. However, Malik Beasley’s quest for the NBA 3-point championship took precedence.
Beasley of the Pistons, who started the day with 312 3-pointers—one less than league leader Anthony Edwards—buried seven of 11 long-range tries in only 19 minutes to take a six-point lead. However, the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Utah Jazz 320-319 thanks to seven 3-pointers from Edwards.
The Pistons, who will face the third-seeded New York Knicks, went into the game certain of sixth place in the East playoffs. Regular starters Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart, and Cade Cunningham were rested. The Bucks were also aware that they would get the Indiana Pacers, who are ranked fourth in the East, in the first round and finish fifth in the East. They left out Damian Lillard, who is hoping to recover from a calf injury in time for the playoffs, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Jazz 105, Timberwolves 116
Anthony Edwards took advantage of a second opportunity to score 43 points, helping Minnesota defeat Utah in Minneapolis and secure a postseason berth.
The Timberwolves will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western playoffs after earning the sixth seed. The NBA revoked Edwards’ 18th technical foul and the corresponding compulsory one-game ban that he had received against Brooklyn on Friday, allowing him to play in the regular-season finale.
Following Washington’s thrilling victory against Miami earlier in the day, the Jazz ended the season with the lowest record in the NBA (17-65), led by 22 points by Brice Sensabaugh.
Pelicans 115, Thunder 115
In a win against New Orleans, visiting Oklahoma City never fell behind thanks to Aaron Wiggins’ 28 points, Branden Carlson’s 26 points and 10 rebounds, and other players.
The NBA-best The Thunder concluded the most successful regular season in the team’s history on a four-game winning run, led by 17 points and 12 rebounds from Kenrich Williams, 17 points and 10 rebounds from Isaiah Joe, and 13 points and 10 rebounds from Dillon Jones. Oklahoma City didn’t use any of their starters and only dressed nine players.
With 20 points from Antonio Reeves, 18 from Jamal Cain, 17 from Lester Quinones, 15 from Keion Brooks Jr., 14 from Jose Alvarado, and 10 points and 16 rebounds from Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, the Pelicans ended their second-worst season in team history on a seven-game losing streak. For the third straight game, New Orleans only used eight players.
Lakers 81, Trail Blazers 109
In the clubs’ regular-season finale, Portland defeated Los Angeles handily thanks to a season-high 23 points by Dalano Banton.
The third-seeded Lakers were allowed to rest players like Austin Reaves, LeBron James (left groin strain), and Luka Doncic before their first-round playoff series against the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, even though the Trail Blazers had long since been eliminated from postseason contention.
Banton made four 3-pointers for Portland, joining Toumani Camara. For the Trail Blazers, Donovan Clingan ended with 12 points and 12 rebounds, Rayan Rupert had 13, Camara finished with 14, and Matisse Thybulle scored 15. The Lakers were led by Dalton Knecht with 27 points, Shake Milton with 16, and Jordan Goodwin with 12 points off the bench.
Suns 98, Kings 109
With a thin roster, Sacramento took advantage of the opportunity to visit Phoenix and gain home-court advantage in their next Western Conference play-in game.
Sacramento was already guaranteed a play-in matchup with Dallas at No. 9 vs. No. 10. However, Sacramento gets to host when the Kings end a two-game losing streak and the Mavericks lose badly to Memphis. The winner of Wednesday’s Kings vs. Mavericks game advances to face the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the host Golden State Warriors.
Domantas Sabonis had his 62nd double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Jonas Valanciunas led the Kings with 22 points and 10 rebounds after coming off the bench. Zach LaVine’s 16 points put a stop to a five-game run of performances with 25 points or more. Grayson Allen scored 20 points and Tyus Jones scored 17 points to lead the Suns, who were missing Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Raptors 118, Spurs 125
Stephon Castle scored 20 points, including a late basket and free throw, and Keldon Johnson scored 23 points off the bench as host San Antonio stormed back in the second half to defeat Toronto in the season finale for both clubs.
The Raptors and Spurs did not make it to the playoffs. The Raptors missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, and San Antonio hasn’t made it since 2019.
Chris Paul scored fifteen points, Julian Champagnie scored fourteen, and Harrison Barnes added eighteen points for San Antonio. With 35 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes topped all scorers. Jonathan Mogbo missed a triple-double by one point with 14 rebounds and 10 assists, while Jamison Battle contributed 25 points.
