Suns Will Face Warriors, Stephen Curry for Final Playoff Spot

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns' opponent for Friday night's final play-in matchup has been revealed.

After a surprise comeback victory over the Los Angeles Clippers tonight, the No. 10 Golden State Warriors will travel to Phoenix Friday to take on the Suns.

Stephen Curry finished with 35 points and the Warriors shot 19-for-41 (46%) from deep against L.A., overcoming a 13-point fourth quarter deficit in the win.

Whoever wins Friday's matchup will move on to face the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.

Phoenix, who fell to the Portland Trail Blazers last night to put itself in this position, will look to avoid being on the wrong side of history as the No. 7 seed has never missed the playoffs since the play-in was created five years ago.

In order to do this, the Suns will have to regroup fast after the disheartening loss to the Blazers in which they blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Previewing Suns vs Warriors

Dec 18, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) against Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks in the first half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Warriors won the regular-season series over the Suns 3-1 and handed them one of their worst losses of the season when they beat them 101-97 in their last meeting on Feb. 5 when Golden State came back from down 14 in the fourth quarter without Curry.

Phoenix has not played the Warriors since they acquired Kristaps Porzingis, who played just his fourth game tonight with Curry.

Golden State has dealt with several injuries all season long, including a knee injury to Curry that sidelined him 27 games and Jimmy Butler tearing his ACL.

The Warriors struggled to deal with these injuries, going 9-18 in this stretch from Feb. 3 to April 2 without Curry, and finished the year with a 37-45 record.

Still, just as they showed tonight, Curry and the rest of the team's playoff experience could play a huge factor in Friday's matchup.

No matter what the Warriors present, one of the biggest obstacles for the Suns will be themselves and trying to overcome their own recent struggles.

"The goal is get in (the playoffs), just get in any way possible. It's been our goal for a while. So we got to move on. Got to move on. It sucks. These are hard to take, but there's stuff to learn in here that we got to learn fast and do everything we can to get ready for Friday night," Suns coach Jordan Ott told reporters after the loss to Portland.

Phoenix will get homecourt advantage once again, so we will see if it can make the most of it this time around.

Friday's game will tip off shortly after 7:00 p.m. MST on Prime Video.

Add us as a preferred source on Google