On Apr 13, 2025, the fifth seeded Los Angeles Clippers faced off the sixth seeded Golden State Warriors in Chase Center to fight for a playoff spot.
The game that featured the Clippers and Warriors was highly anticipated because they shared similar records to five other teams in the western conference.
Seeds four through eight all had a game on Sunday, and each game would affect their placement as well as other teams placements in the western conference standings.
Seeds four through eight included the teams Denver Nuggets, Clippers, Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies with records between 48-49 wins and 33-34 losses.
If all of those teams won their games on Sunday, the winner of the Clippers versus Warriors game would lock in a playoff spot, and the loser would be in the play-ins.
The Warriors lost their matchup against the Clippers which set them as the seventh seed and entered them in the play-in tournament.
The Warriors have two chances to win one game in the play-ins to lock in a spot in the playoffs and face the second seeded Houston Rockets.
The game with the Clippers and Warriors was close, with 23 lead changes throughout the game. In the final minutes, teams went back and forth with shots and lead changes. The Warriors had two chances to take the lead in the final seconds.
Draymond Green had an open layup but tried to draw a foul which caused him to miss the layup. If Green had made the layup, the Warriors would lead the game by one.
With six seconds left in the game, Warriors called a timeout and held possession, so they had the last shot. They ran a play where Buddy Hield ran to the left wing for an open three pointer. Hield was found open but had a contested shot because he was running in motion while getting chased by Norman Powell when the shot went up.
Hield missed the shot off the backboard that would send the game to double overtime.
Warriors fan, senior Grayson Anderson, watched the game live and said “I think it wasn’t a bad play, it was just bad execution.”
Buddy Heild is their second best option after Stephen Curry to take the shot because Curry was guarded by an elite defender, Kawhi Leonard. Brandon Podziemski also couldn’t be the one to shoot it because he couldn’t get open.
Senior Ethan Gad thought it would be a good idea for Jimmy Butler to shoot the last shot, “it just feels right.”
Gad likes Butler and thought he played well throughout the game and has the ability to hit a clutch shot.
He said, “Jimmy has experience playing in important games and he knows what to do in some hard situations.”
Butler has appeared in the playoffs 11 times and led the Miami Heat to two final appearances.
The Clippers upset the Warriors by defeating them in the last seconds of the most important game of the regular season, sending the Warriors to the play-in and locking in their playoff spot to face off the Nuggets.
