{"id":713317,"date":"2026-04-18T16:54:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713317\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:54:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:54:31","slug":"suns-and-magic-claim-final-spots-in-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713317\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns and Magic claim final spots in NBA playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Phoenix Suns on Friday ended the Golden State Warriors\u2019 season, while the Orlando Magic thrashed the Charlotte Hornets as the NBA playoffs\u2019 final teams were decided.<\/p>\n<p>Jalen Green put in a dazzling performance with 36 points, including eight triples, to secure the Western Conference No. 8 seed for Phoenix with a 111-96 win over Stephen Curry\u2019s Warriors.<\/p>\n<p>The Suns got off to a bright start with a 33-15 lead in the first quarter before the Warriors cut the deficit to five points at halftime.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/P06-260419-324.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p>However, Phoenix kept a wasteful Golden State at arms\u2019 length, successfully limiting veteran superstar Curry to just 17 points.<\/p>\n<p>With barely a minute left, Jordan Goodwin intercepted a pass intended for Curry and scored a transition bucket before adding a three on Phoenix\u2019s next possession to secure the win.<\/p>\n<p>Victory set up a first-round playoff clash for Phoenix with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending NBA champions.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/P06-260419-322.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHappy as hell. We came out fire, we knew this was a do-or-die game,\u201d said Green, who added six rebounds and four assists.<\/p>\n<p>For the injury-plagued and ageing Warriors, who won the NBA title in 2022, it was a disappointing end to a third consecutive season in the play-in tournament, crashing out before the playoffs as they did in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>In fiery late scenes, two Warriors players \u2014 Draymond Green and Devin Booker \u2014 were ejected from the court, with Draymond Green taunting the home Phoenix fans as he departed.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/P06-260419-325.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p>Orlando beat the Hornets 121-90 to keep their season alive and set up a daunting first-round playoff series for the Magic against the Eastern Conference top-seeded Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n<p>Paolo Banchero top-scored with 25 points in Orlando\u2019s last chance to qualify for the post-season via the play-in tournament, having failed at their first attempt against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The first-round series in the NBA\u2019s Eastern Conference are: No. 1 Detroit Pistons (60-22) versus No. 8 Orlando Magic (45-37); No. 2 Boston Celtics (56-26) versus No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers (45-37); No. 3 New York Knicks (53-29) versus No. 6 Atlanta Hawks (46-36); and No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers (52-30) versus No. 5 Toronto Raptors (46-36).<\/p>\n<p>In the Western Conference, the matchups are: No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder (64-18) versus No. 8 Phoenix Suns (45-37); No. 2 San Antonio Spurs (62-20) versus No. 7 Portland Trail Blazers (42-40); No. 3 Denver Nuggets (54-28) versus No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (49-33); and No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers (53-29) versus No. 5 Houston Rockets (52-30).<\/p>\n<p>The series are to start this morning Taiwan time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Suns on Friday ended the Golden State Warriors\u2019 season, while the Orlando Magic thrashed the Charlotte&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,2065,472,4045,604,3974,3973],"class_list":{"0":"post-713317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-phoenix","11":"tag-phoenix-suns","12":"tag-phoenixsuns","13":"tag-suns","14":"tag-the-taipei-times","15":"tag-3973"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}