Jimmy Butler had 38 points, seven rebounds and six assists creating opportunities on both ends at every chance, Stephen Curry scored 37, and the Golden State Warriors earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 121-116 Tuesday night in the play-in Tournament.
Playoff Jimmy in all his brilliance on the big stage took serious pressure off Curry, who knocked down a baseline three-pointer with 1:50 to go and one from the left wing with a minute on the clock.
Now, Golden State will play the Rockets in a best-of-seven first-round series that starts with Game 1 on Sunday in Houston. The Grizzlies had one last chance after Curry made two free throws with 5.4 seconds left; however, Santi Aldama could not inbound the ball before a five-second violation. Desmond Bane scored 30 points and Ja Morant 22 for Memphis, which will head home to host the winner of the Mavericks-Kings matchup on Wednesday night in Sacramento to determine the eighth playoff spot.
With the Grizzlies on a roll midway through the third, Butler grabbed momentum right back with a steal and dunk. In his highest-scoring game since joining the Warriors at the trade deadline, he shot 12 for 20 for his second 30-point game in a row. After making 63 of 68 free throws in the previous eight games in April, he made 12 of 18 of them. Morant went down hard rolling his right ankle when he stepped on Buddy Hield’s foot and was fouled by Quinten Post with 4:25 remaining in the third but got up and converted the three-point play to pull the Grizzlies within 82-81.
Jaren Jackson Jr scored 18 points, while Zach Edey contributed 14 points, and 17 rebounds, and converted two free throws with 14.3 seconds left.
Curry had eight rebounds, and four assists and shot 9 for 22 while regularly swarmed by Scotty Pippen Jr before he fouled out late.
Curry had lit up the Grizzlies for 52 points on their home floor in a 134-125 win on 1 April, and the Grizzlies made him a top priority this time – so Butler took charge.
He assisted on Gary Payton II’s cutting dunk, dishing to Post for a three, and making a three-point shot and three-point play himself to put the Warriors up 31-18 late in the first quarter. Butler showed no signs of being affected by a tender left quadriceps muscle after he took a knee from Kawhi Leonard on Sunday.
The Warriors had hoped to avoid this extra game, but they lost to the Clippers in overtime in Sunday’s regular-season finale, their third loss at home in the last week. The Warriors, led by Curry and Draymond Green, had gone 0-3 in play-in games in 2021 and last year. The Grizzlies eliminated them at Chase Center with a 117-112 overtime victory in ’21.
Orlando Magic, 95-120 Atlanta Hawks Cole Anthony came off the Magic bench with 26 points and six assists to lead the Orlando Magic to a 120-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night in the first game of the play-in tournament.
The Magic were led by 17 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists from Paolo Banchero, while 19 points and seven rebounds came from Wendell Carter Jr. Anthony Black also came off the bench and scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the Magic’s first appearance in a play-in game.
After a 41-41 regular season, the Magic are the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. On Sunday, they will play Boston in the first round of the playoffs. Trae Young led the Hawks with 28 points and six assists before getting two technical fouls and an automatic ejection with 4:47 left in the game.
The Hawks, who have reached the playoffs through the play-in route in two of the last three seasons, will play at home Friday night for the eighth spot against the winner of Wednesday night’s game at Chicago between the Bulls and the Miami Heat.
The Hawks were led by Georges Niang, who had 15 points, and Onyeka Okongwu, who had 11 points and nine rebounds. In the final six minutes of the first quarter, Black and Banchero accounted for the majority of the Hawks’ offense, which resulted in only two points for the Hawks. Anthony made 4 of 9 3-pointers during a season marred by injuries and scored 9.4 points on 10 of 17 attempts.
