A 40-point game and a scoring explosion were a fitting end to the season for the NBA’s scoring champion.

Behind 46 points on 16-of-36 from the field and 9-of-22 from distance thanks to Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors (39-33) defeated the Memphis Grizzlies (38-34) by a score of 113-101 to clinch the Western Conference’s eighth seed and set up a road play-in matchup against either the Portland Trailblazers or the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

What ended with a double-digit win, however, and looked primed for a rout actually hung in the balance for Golden State late in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors led by 17 points entering the final period, but Dillon Brooks, who made most of his impact in the contest guarding Curry, then ripped off an 8-0 solo run to open the fourth quarter, and despite Curry’s return at the 9:26 mark, a Brooks three-point play knotted the contest at 91-91 with 6:32 left. The Oregon product fouled out moments later, however, but not before helping his team to a 22-5 run to start the quarter.

Then Steve Kerr’s ancillary pieces stepped up. Down 97-95, Golden State went on a 14-0 run to effectively close the game. Jordan Poole stuck a corner three and Andrew Wiggins emphatically put back a Curry miss before the two-time MVP found the bottom of the net a possession later. Curry then lost Jaren Jackson Jr. off the ball for a triple before another three all but iced the game.

Most of the Warriors’ troubles were self-inflicted, turning the ball over 19 times to the Grizzlies’ 12, and Golden State worked its way back from an early deficit before having to win the game again at the end.

The Warriors opened up their scoring with a Wiggins alley-oop jam over Jonas Valanciunas, but early Curry misses from distance and attacks from the Grizzlies on the inside had the road side jump out to a 17-8 lead. Draymond Green was aggressive early inside the arc against a fellow Spartan in Jaren Jackson Jr. and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, a dish and a board away from his seventh triple-double on the season.

Curry needed a trio of points to become the NBA’s scoring champion, but started 0-4 before getting a layup to fall. A floater over Valanciunas would give him four points and officially push him over Wizards’ guard Bradley Beal for the 2020-21 scoring title, the second in his career after also leading the association in scoring in his 2015-16 unanimous MVP season. He ended the quarter with nine points and gave Golden State a 30-29 lead after blocking Valanciunas from behind and dropping in a beautiful finger roll at the basket.

Without Curry and Green on the floor in the second quarter, a 10-2 run was fueled by Poole, with a shifty stepback triple highlighting how far the second year has come after starting the season almost irrelevant in the rotation.

The margin would narrow by a basket upon Curry and Green’s reentries as the Warriors held a 55-49 halftime lead 24 minutes away from the eighth seed. Valanciunas went to the locker room with a game-high 15 points and 11 rebounds, Ja Morant and Kyle Anderson each dropped 10 and Wiggins came alive for 12 points to Curry’s 13.

After dropping the Memphis scoring from 29 to 20 points from the first to second quarter, Golden State continued its defensive dominance as its anchor in Green rose to the occasion. The Grizzlies scored just 20 in the third quarter – ending the period only converting 40.6% of its field goals – as Curry had 17 points of his own. Poole drained his second triple of the night to give the Warriors an 86-69 advantage before closing out the victory.

Morant was active on social media ahead of the contest, but was limited to just 16 points on 7-of-21 from the field in his first ever meeting with Curry. Curry also crossed 2,000 points in a season for the second time in his career, crossing the threshold with a career-high 36 shot attempts.

After ending the regular season on a six-game winning streak, the Warriors will take on the Lakers if they lose tonight to the Pelicans, but would travel to Portland on Wednesday to play for the seventh seed if the Blazers were to lose tonight against the Nuggets and the Lakers were to win.