Horford, Porzingis help lift Warriors in play-in, could give Suns trouble in tonight's win-or-go home game

PHOENIX – Overshadowed by Steph Curry's 2016-esque shotmaking and Draymond Green's vintage game-sealing defense, the Warriors' blast from the past extended to their frontcourt, too.

Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford rarely played together, but each contributed meaningfully to the Warriors' 126-121 victory over the Clippers in Inglewood on Wednesday night.

Golden State will hope to get repeat performances from its old but effective centers tonight against the Suns in a do-or-die play-in game. Porzingis is listed as questionable with ankle soreness and was seen limping postgame Wednesday.

Horford made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, each shot keeping Golden State in the game when the Clippers helped off Curry.

"Being able to help our group and be there in those moments, I'm grateful for that opportunity," Horford said.

Porzingis scored 20 points in 28 minutes, mixing in two big putback dunks with old-fashioned fadeaways and new-age trail 3-pointers that kept the Warriors’ offense afloat.

He is an unrestricted free agent after this season, and this postseason is serving as his audition for a new deal to stay in the Bay Area, or perhaps show other franchises he can still be relied upon to perform.

"That's actually a good preview of what could potentially be, or if we win the next one, then we actually could have the real thing," Porzingis said.

If both are available, they could form an effective twin towers lineup with Draymond Green as the small forward against Phoenix.

It would present a real matchup problem for the Suns, who start the non-shooting Mark Williams in the post, and bring fellow rim-runner Oso Ighodaro off the bench.

Neither is known for having much of an off-the-dribble game that could hurt the plodding Porzingis or Horford.

On the flipside, their shooting could draw the Suns' shotblockers out of the lane, giving more space for Curry to run his famous dribble handoffs or split cuts with Green and either Brandin Podziemski or De'Anthony Melton.

In an admittedly small regular-season sample of 43 minutes played with both Horford and Porzingis on the court, the Warriors outscored opponents by an average of 1.3 points in six games and made 45% of their shots according to NBA.com.

"To have him out there with me, where both of us can shoot, it only helps," Porzingis said after a practice earlier this week.

If the Warriors defeat the Suns, they will play Game 1 at the top-seeded Thunder on Sunday afternoon.

A loss will end Golden State's season.

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 4:55 AM.