Warriors, 76ers Survive Latest NBA Play-In Action
The NBA's Play-In Tournament continued on Wednesday night, with the East's 7-8 matchup and the West's 9-10 matchup taking place. The Philadelphia 76ers sent the Orlando Magic into a must-win game, while the Golden State Warriors sent the Los Angeles Clippers to the lottery.
Tyrese Maxey leads 76ers without Joel Embiid
No Joel Embiid, no problem. The 76ers were without the former MVP, who continues to recover from appendicitis. It's unclear when he'll return, but the 6ers will at least get a playoff series instead of going home, giving him time to potentially come back to the lineup.
When healthy, the 76ers have plenty of talent. Embiid is obviously a very talented big man, but they also have Paul George, VJ Edgecombe, and Tyrese Maxey, the latter of whom did most of the heavy lifting with Embiid out against the Orlando Magic.
The 76ers and Magic didn't play a do-or-die contest like the Warriors and Clippers, but this game was for a shot to go to the playoffs as the seven seed. Now, thanks to Maxey's 31 points, the 76ers will take on the Boston Celtics in the first round.
Nick Nurse comments
The Orlando Magic may have been underwhelming this year, but Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Desmond Bane can be a formidable trio. It required some effort for the 76ers to take them down, which head coach Nick Nurse lauded afterwards.
"I think we played extremely hard," Nurse said. "I thought we made a lot of winning plays. And of course, to get in the playoffs, I mean, to kind of go back to the opening press conference of the year, I said we got a really, really big hole to dig out of and we want to get in the tournament somehow.
"It wasn't pretty. It wasn't easy and wasn't pretty, but we're here now. And now, we got to see what we can do with it," Nurse said. Now, the first-round matchup will not be easy, even if the 76ers get fully healthy.
"We're playing against winners," Paul George said of the Celtics. "We're playing against champions. This is where they play their best basketball. We respect that. We're going to have to challenge that."
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Steph Curry saves Warriors
The Warriors have been very underwhelming this year, and a big reason for that is the absence of Steph Curry. His injury woes have really hampered Golden State, but being able to sneak into the Play-In and get Curry back could be monumental.
And in the 9-10 matchup, when a loss would've ended Golden State's season, Curry was fantastic. He turned in a vintage Curry performance, dropping in seven threes and 35 points. Of those, the guard scored 11 points in the final nine minutes, helping the Warriors erase what had been a 13-point deficit.
Golden State was 9-18 in Curry's absence, and they went 37-45 overall, which is very unlike them in the Curry and Steve Kerr era. Obviously, a fully healthy Curry (and Jimmy Butler, for that matter) would've changed things. Instead, they're here now with another chance to visit the Phoenix Suns and play a second do-or-die game to get the eight seed and a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Steve Kerr comments
Steve Kerr knows what it's like to coach a team with an all-time great like Steph Curry. He also knows what it's like when Curry's not available. "This is why Steph came back," Kerr said. "Everyone out there who thought Steph should take the rest of the year off -- this is what he does. This is who he is."
"Most people would quit," Draymond Green said. "Especially when you're in a position like that -- you leave [the lineup] in the seventh spot and you come back and we're in 10th. Locked in 10th. Most people would get themselves right and do it again next year."
That's not what the Warriors did, though, and now they could squeak back into the playoffs with a win over the Suns.
