The Los Angeles Clippers sent a message to their play-in opponent Sunday night, riding Bennedict Mathurin’s 20 points and a stingy defense to a 115-110 home win over the Golden State Warriors in what turned out to be an otherwise meaningless regular-season finale.
The victory allowed the Clippers (42-40) to tie the Portland Trail Blazers (42-40) for eighth place in the Western Conference, but Portland earned a tie-breaker by virtue of a better conference record after thumping the Sacramento Kings 122-110 in their finale.
That relegated the Clippers to ninth place for play-in purposes, where they’ll get a home game Wednesday against 10th-place Golden State (37-45). The loser will be eliminated from playoff contention.
While the Warriors played all their healthy guys except Draymond Green in a play-in tune-up, the Clippers managed to outfinish the visitors despite resting Kawhi Leonard.
The clubs were tied at 81-all before Jordan Miller gave Los Angeles the lead for good on a buzzer-beating layup at the end of the third quarter.
Nicolas Batum and Bogdan Bogdanovic then combined for three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the final period, extending the Clippers’ lead to 96-85. The Warriors got no closer than the final margin after that.
John Collins backed Mathurin with 18 points for the Clippers, who captured the season series 3-1 over Golden State, winning both home games. Mathurin and Collins each collected a game-high nine rebounds, while Mathurin also found time for a game-high eight assists.
Bogdanovic, who sunk five of eight 3-pointers, finished with 17 points. Darius Garland tallied 15, Miller added 14 and Kobe Sanders produced 11 for Los Angeles.
In just his third game after missing 27 straight with a sore right knee, Stephen Curry paced Golden State with a game-high 24 points in 29 minutes. He connected on four of his nine 3-point attempts.
The Warriors shot just 11 of 39 (28.2%) from beyond the arc.
Charles Bassey added 16 points, Kristaps Porzingis registered 12 and Brandin Podziemski scored 10 for the Warriors, who finished the regular season with seven losses in their last eight games. Porzingis was Golden State’s leading rebounder with eight.
