The Golden State Warriors scored a pivotal 134-120 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday as the race to climb above the second play-in line looks like it’ll come down to what transpires during the final five days of the regular season.
With the season set to conclude this Sunday, the Warriors are currently No. 10 but control their own destiny to finish at least above the Lakers for No. 9 as they have now clinched the season tiebreaker. Catching the Kings for the No. 8 seed, which would give them two shots to secure one win for a playoff spot, is within a reasonable reach as Sacramento leads Golden State by an effective two games (Sacramento is up by one loss but owns the tiebreaker) with three to play.
The Kings also lead the Lakers by an effective two games as they have cliched that tiebreaker as well.
All of which is to say, it is looking more and more likely that the Warriors will face the Lakers in a one-and-done elimination game as the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds. It’s just a matter of who will get to play that game at home, and the Warriors took a big step toward securing that advantage with their win on Tuesday by knocking down 26 3-pointers at a scorching 63.4% clip (26 for 41).
Over the course of NBA history, a team has made at least 22 3-pointers in a game 237 times. Not one has done so at a higher percentage than Golden State just did. The 26 3s is three off the NBA record of 29 held by the Milwaukee Bucks, who set the mark against Miami in 2020, and one off the Warriors’ franchise high of 27, which they notched against Portland last April and in 2021 against Oklahoma City.
Only the Rockets, who hit 27 triples against Utah last month, have made more 3s in a game this season, and Golden State’s 26 is the most 3s the Lakers have given up in franchise history.
“I didn’t feel like we played that well, but we made a million threes,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I didn’t think we were sharp. Lot of possessions where we weren’t quite locked in, or our passing was off target and we were a little disjointed, but the ball kept going in. And Draymond [Green] going 5 for 5 in a half, you don’t see that often. Everybody got going, and to shoot 63 percent from three, that’s crazy.”
To Kerr’s point, everybody was feeling it for Golden State. As Kerr noted, Draymond Green hit his first five 3s out of the gate and finished 5 for 7 from deep. Green has been a much more confident shooter this year and has made 38% of his 3s, albeit on low volume, but the five he made on Tuesday are the same amount of 3s that he had made over the previous two weeks, and the most he’s made in a single game since 2017.
Meanwhile, Stephen Curry made all six of his 3s. Klay Thompson, who is rather quietly shooting over 41% from 3 on over nine attempts per game since March 1, made 5 of his 10, while Gary Payton II, Andrew Wiggins and Brandin Podziemski finished a combined 8 of 11 from beyond the arc. Chris Paul and Jonathan Kuminga each chipped in with one.
“They had guys step up and hit shots,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s a make-or-miss league … We feel comfortable with our game plan and for the most part we executed it … The guys you wanted shooting the ball made their shots … They were blazing hot.”
