The Bay Area News Group (Geoff Lepper) reports: For the first time in 175 games since Don Nelson returned the Warriors’ bench, he’ll be coaching a meaningless game. The Warriors’ regular-season finale Wednesday against visiting Seattle was rendered moot Monday after Golden State was eliminated from the playoffs. The faint hopes of a second consecutive playoff berth flickered during a third-quarter run where Golden State scored 15 consecutive points, but in the end, too much of Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire ended the Warriors’ hopes. A 122-116 loss to the Suns on Monday leaves the Warriors (48-33) one game behind the Denver Nuggets (49-32) and destined to lose a tiebreaker even if they catch up with Wednesday’s regular-season finale. The Warriors are guaranteed of being a historical footnote: The winningest team not to make the playoffs since they expanded to 16 teams in 1983-84.
