Array
The Golden State Warriors roared into the NBA playoffs with a 157-101 blowout of Portland on Sunday, ensuring the Los Angeles Lakers will battle in the play-in after a 128-117 victory over the Utah Jazz.
Every team was in action on the final day of the regular season, but all eyes were on the Western Conference where more than a dozen potential seeding outcomes rested on the results of four games.
The reigning champion Warriors moved quickly to simplify matters for themselves, exploding for an NBA first-quarter record of 55 points in the opening frame.
Klay Thompson made five of the Warriors’ 12 three-pointers in the period — a record for treys by any team in an NBA quarter.
Thompson — who finished with six three-pointers and 20 points — became the third player in NBA history to hit 300 three-pointers in a single season. Teammate Stephen Curry has done it four times and James Harden has done it once.
The Warriors led by 28 after the first quarter, and Curry took over with 10 of his 26 points in the second as the Warriors took an 84-53 halftime lead.
They coasted home, with all the Warriors starters sitting out the fourth period.
“It’s been a very up and down season, but when you get to the playoffs none of that matters,” said Golden State talisman Draymond Green after the Warriors clinched the sixth seed in the West and a first-round series against the third-seeded Sacramento Kings.
