Klay Thompson set two franchise records on a 25-point day, but the Golden State Warriors couldn’t improve from 10th place in the Western Conference despite a 123-116 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz in the regular-season finale Sunday afternoon.
The Warriors (46-36) needed help from either the New Orleans Pelicans or Portland Trail Blazers in order to escape the final play-in position in the West, but got neither when the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up the No. 8 seed with a win and the Sacramento Kings earned the No. 9 with a victory and a tie-breaker edge over Golden State.
The Warriors will face the Kings in an elimination game on Tuesday to tip off the Western play-in event.
Golden State elected to rest Stephen Curry and Draymond Green on the eve of the playoffs, and limited Thompson to 20 minutes, during which he had enough time to shoot 6-for-12 on 3-pointers en route to his game-high point total.
Along the way, he increased his season scoring total against Utah to 118, three better than World B. Free’s record of 115 for a four-game season series set in 1980-81. And his six 3-pointers gave him 22 for the season against Utah, five better than the previous record he shared with Curry.
The Jazz finished 31-51 while missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
With all the Golden State regulars on the bench, the game was decided in the final 4:10, which began with Utah leading 114-113 after a three-point play by Luka Samanic.
But the Warriors finished the game on a 10-2 run, with Gui Santos giving Golden State the lead for good on two free throws with 3:48 to go before Jerome Robinson scored five of the last eight points, including a critical three-point play with 1:29 to go.
Santos finished with 13 points and Lester Quinones 12 among Golden State’s game-ending group. Andrew Wiggins had 19 in a starting role, while Dario Saric chipped in with 12.
Returning from a bruised tailbone that forced him to sit out Friday’s loss to New Orleans, Jonathan Kuminga was the Warriors’ top assist man with seven in a scoreless 23 minutes. Brandin Podziemski led the team in rebounds with nine.
Keyonte George paced Utah with 21 points, while Omer Yurtseven put up a double-double with 11 points to complement a game-high 18 rebounds.
Taylor Hendricks (16), Samanic (14), Brice Sensabaugh (14), Kira Lewis Jr. (13) and Micah Potter (10) also scored in double figures for the Jazz, which was hoping to finish the season on a three-game winning streak.
–Field Level Media