The Athletic NBA Daily
Clippers clinch playoffs; Warriors to play-in + NBA Regular Season Finale
14 Apr 2025
Kawhi Leonard and James Harden combined for 72 points as the Clippers defeated Steph Curry and the Warriors to clinch a playoff spot. Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni and Zena Keita discuss the Clippers big win, Jonathan Kuminga’s benching, and the Warriors issues. Then, the gang recaps the final day of the regular season, discusses Chris Paul’s future, and the big takeaways from the year.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita, Es Baraheni, Law MurrayExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
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Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, the regular season is over, folks. Warriors Clippers gave us a thriller. Zena was there, so we're going to talk to her and we're going to catch up on the crazy last day of the season. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, guys. We have somehow made it. 82 games in the books for every single team. Congratulations, guys.
You said we couldn't do it.
I don't think anyone said we couldn't do it. I understand it now. Yes, you do. Guys, we got to start with the last game of the day. It went to overtime. So we got free basketball from three separate games on the last day of the season. It was the biggest game of the day. Warriors Clippers. And it was for the playoffs. Xena, the Clippers looked much better, I thought, than the Warriors.
That defense looks like it's ready for the playoffs. Would you think you were in the building?
Yeah, I was in the building and I will say everything lived up to the hype in terms of the atmosphere, the energy, the games, the battle of the Titans. I mean, everyone stepped up between both of these two teams. Six players had 20 or more points. Like, I mean, it was legitimate battling out there.
The funny thing is, is that, yes, even though the Clippers did look like they were executing their game plan more, the Warriors technically won three out of the four quarters. If you're not counting overtime. And that's where things really shifted and tilted towards the Clippers is because they had James Harden, the Clippers did, and the Warriors didn't.
James Harden outscored the Warriors on his own 12-8, I believe, in the overtime period. But it was such a true playoff atmosphere. And guess what? I will raise my hand as one of those people that was wondering, where's playoff Jimmy? I know he's coming. Where is he? And it just seemed like you needed an atmosphere.
You needed people chanting MVP in the first quarter and all these cheers and raucous arena. That's when playoff Jimmy showed up. Unbelievable performance from him tonight.
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