Booker, Suns eliminate Curry's Warriors, reach NBA playoffs as No. 8 seed

Jalen Green turned Phoenix’s last-chance game into a decisive statement, scoring 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting as the Suns beat the Golden State Warriors 111-96 and grabbed the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed. Devin Booker added 20 points, and Phoenix seized control immediately, racing to a 33-15 lead after the first quarter and never giving Golden State a chance to recover at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.

The loss closed the Warriors’ season and left Stephen Curry’s group staring at another spring cut short before the NBA Playoffs began. Brandin Podziemski led Golden State with 23 points, while Curry finished with eight assists, but the Warriors never found enough resistance to slow Phoenix’s pace or erase the early deficit. The game was framed as Curry versus Booker, but it was Green who delivered the sharpest blow, pushing Phoenix into a first-round series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

That matchup was the end point of a volatile play-in path for both teams. Phoenix reached the elimination game after losing to the Portland Trail Blazers on April 14, when Deni Avdija scored 41 points and sent the Suns into a do-or-die meeting with Golden State. The Warriors arrived after beating the LA Clippers 126-121 on April 15, a win that kept Curry’s postseason run alive for one more game and briefly reinforced the idea that Golden State still had enough left to threaten in a compressed postseason race.

Instead, the play-in worked as designed, compressing the margins and forcing two veteran-laden teams to prove their credibility under pressure. Phoenix, at 45-37 and seeded seventh, protected its season when it mattered most. Golden State, the No. 10 seed at 37-45, could not survive the final test despite Curry’s history of carrying playoff runs and Booker’s burden of leading a contender built to win now.

The result sharpened the question hanging over both franchises: how much longer can aging contender windows stay open before the league’s rising teams force them shut? For Phoenix, the answer is at least one more round against Oklahoma City. For Golden State, the offseason begins with a hard look at whether this core can still turn big games into wins when the margin disappears.