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Winners and losers from the first round of the NBA playoffs

With just eight teams left standing, a look back at one of the best first rounds in recent memory.

After a stacked weekend with three Game 7s, the first round of the NBA playoffs is behind us.

The opening round provided plenty of memorable moments from two 3–1 comebacks to Jaden McDaniels’s trash talk and RJ Barrett’s shot that’s probably still floating somewhere in the air at ScotiaBank Arena. And remember that new flavor of Gatorade that stopped Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns in their tracks?

Between the wacky moments, this year brought the most competitive first round in recent memory. Three series went the distance, three more went to six games and, well, the Thunder and Spurs did what we thought they would. Now that just eight teams remain in the chase for the NBA title, we can look back at the intense first round in its entirety before the second-round action kicks off on Monday.

With surprising teams already at home and some surprising new title hopefuls, here’s a look at some winners and losers from an extremely competitive start to the playoffs:

Winners of the NBA playoffs’ first round

LeBron James in his longstanding fight with Father Time

LeBron James was, essentially, asked to act his age during the regular season as his Lakers role required him to take a backseat to the Luka Dončić-Austin Reaves combo. He did so and proved extremely effective as a wildly overqualified third option in Los Angeles. Then both of his co-stars got hurt ahead of the first round of the playoffs, so the Lakers had to ask James to turn back the clock and put the team on his back like he did many times over the years in Cleveland.

James, once again, rose to the occasion and scored another point in his battle against Father Time.

The longtime superstar, at 41 years of age, played 38.5 minutes per game in L.A.’s first-round matchup with the Rockets. He averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game. It didn’t lead to a clean sweep, or even a gentlemen’s sweep. It came against a banged-up Houston team missing Kevin Durant for much of the series. But the end result was remarkable nonetheless—James, in his 23rd NBA season, led an undermanned roster to a playoff series win. Again. Even if the Lakers fold quickly against the overwhelming Thunder, this playoff run will be remembered as the aging James setting an impossible standard for those who come after him once more.

Joel Embiid without an appendix

It would have been easy for Joel Embiid to sit back and watch his team lose quickly in the first round as he recovered from emergency appendix surgery. Nobody would have blamed him. Emergency surgery is scary and recovery times vary quite a bit. Instead, though, the former MVP big man worked hard to return in time to help the 76ers stave off elimination. It was a rocky beginning but he rounded into form quickly and played some of the best basketball we’ve ever seen out of the star big man in the postseason.

In leading Philadelphia back from a 3–1 deficit and to an upset of the rival No. 2 seed Celtics, Embiid averaged 28 points, nine rebounds and seven assists per game while suiting up for 36.5 minutes per night. He knew he was a matchup problem for this Boston team and maximized the damage he could deal, both as a post scorer and a passer. As a result Embiid played the best all-around basketball of his playoff career—impressive in a vacuum, downright astounding when considering he had an internal organ removed three weeks ago.

Nobody can ever call Embiid’s heart into question and the way he stepped up when his team desperately needed him will be remembered for a long time in Philadelphia, even amid a complicated legacy for “The Process.”

The art of the 3–1 comeback

We saw not one, but two successful comebacks from a 3–1 series deficit in the first round. The 76ers got the job done against the Celtics on Saturday, then the Pistons did the same with a win over the Magic in Game 7 Sunday for their third-straight win while facing elimination.

There’s something to say about the collapses from Boston and Orlando, but credit where credit is due to both Philadelphia and Detroit. The Sixers’ win gave Embiid the first win in a Game 7 of his career, while the Pistons avoided a disappointing first-round exit after an incredible 60-win season where they earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Injuries played a part in both as Boston missed Jayson Tatum in Game 7 and Franz Wagner missed all three of Orlando’s losses that ended its season. Still, though, two dramatic comebacks thus far are worth recognizing.

The Nuggets were the last team to climb back from a 3–1 hole when they did so twice in the 2020 playoffs before falling in the Western Conference finals. Before that, the LeBron James-led Cavaliers accomplished the feat with the infamous 3–1 comeback to take down the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. This year’s playoffs already provided the first time two teams came back from a 3–1 hole in the first round. If that’s any indicator of what’s in store the rest of the way, we’re in for a treat.

Victor Wembanyama supporters

The Spurs had the easiest time in the first round of any team that isn’t named the Thunder. It was a rocky start to the series as Victor Wembanyama went down with a scary fall in Game 2 against the Trail Blazers and entered concussion protocol which kept him out of Game 3. San Antonio dropped Game 2, but won Game 3 without Wemby and subsequently finished the Blazers in five games. Wemby is a marvel on the basketball court each time he plays, which continued in the first playoff series of his early career.

He averaged 21.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.0 blocks over the four games he played against the Blazers. He had an incredible 35-point performance in his playoff debut which was a franchise record and just seven points shy of Dončić’s record for the most points in a playoff debut in NBA history. Even more than the excellence on the court, though, he shined as a human being.

Wemby was visibly emotional on the bench as he clinched the first playoff series win of his career, which was San Antonio’s first series win in nearly a decade. He received some unnecessary heat for the visible display of emotion and had the perfect response when he was asked about how emotions can sometimes get perceived as a weakness.

“That’s a tough question. I think it’s first and foremost a fear of judgment. Like this feeling that you have to act a certain way, social codes, I guess,” he said via Maxime Aubin of L'Équipe. “Personally, I refuse to carry the burden of having to hide my emotions.”

A profound answer from the NBA’s brightest young star who’s a must watch on the floor and a must listen whenever he’s in front of a microphone. Next, Wemby and the Spurs will take on the Timberwolves in a second round as fans eye a potential Spurs-Thunder meeting in the Western Conference finals.

Losers

Nikola Jokić

It’s rare to see a playoff loss so terrible it sparks a round of questioning about just how good a three-time MVP really is. But such was the case with the Nuggets and Nikola Jokić’s first-round loss to the shorthanded Timberwolves. Denver was handed an easy opportunity to advance to the second round when Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo both got hurt in Game 4—but Jokić blew it. It was a team effort but the way he came up short will not be forgotten anytime soon.

After another MVP-caliber season, Jokić’s offensive game completely fell apart against Rudy Gobert’s defense. His shooting touch abandoned him for the first time in postseason memory; Jokić finished the series hitting only 44.6% of his shots from the field and a vile 19.4% from deep. He was picked on relentlessly on defense and the Nuggets, shockingly, were outscored by 14 points in his total minutes on the court this series—they outscored opponents by an average of 8.5 points in Jokić’s regular-season minutes. Perhaps worst of all, the Serbian superstar completely lost his composure on several occasions as Minnesota (led by the one and only Jaden McDaniels) got under his skin with regularity.

Jokić remains a generational talent but this was a bad postseason collapse by his team, even taking their own key injuries into account. As the best player he gets the lion’s share of the blame. But this goes beyond that. It was a total meltdown from someone universally seen as the best player in the world a month ago. A loss of that quality lives on for a long time.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics had a 3–1 lead over the 76ers and a double-digit lead in the second half at home in Game 5. Then they completely, utterly collapsed.

There are myriad reasons for why Boston blew its series lead and were sent home early by the seven-seed Sixers. Coach Joe Mazzulla was shockingly slow to adjust to his team’s struggles, especially once Embiid returned to the floor and started causing problems against a scrappy but undertalented frontcourt. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White both played poorly in key moments throughout the series, capped off by both missing shots with their season on the line in Game 7 in front of the Celtics fanbase. As a whole the team completely lost their identity, devolving into hero ball and long stretches of isolation basketball after winning 56 games by pinging the ball around the court at every opportunity. And, of course, they missed shots in great quantity; the Celtics shot 33.7% from deep after hitting 36.7% of their three-point tries during the regular season, the eighth-best mark in the NBA. It’s the second year in a row Boston is going home early after hitting a rough patch shooting the ball and completely failing to find a way to adjust.

But it doesn’t matter who is to blame, really. The fact remains that the C’s choked away an easy chance to advance to the second round and potentially make a Finals run in a year nobody expected them to do anything. As a result it feels like an enormous missed opportunity—one that the organization might deeply regret in the coming years.

Kevin Durant’s latest stop in title hunt

Kevin Durant surprisingly missed Game 1 of the Rockets’ series against the Lakers with a knee injury, then missed the rest of the series with an ankle sprain after his sole appearance in Game 2 where he played 41 minutes and scored 23 points. Houston fell in a 3–0 hole to Los Angeles who was without Dončić and Reaves before Reaves returned for Game 5. The Rockets were able to force a Game 6 without Durant, but the 3–0 deficit was entirely too much to overcome in what was a disappointing first-round exit.

Durant can’t be faulted for the injuries and Houston also dealt without Fred VanVleet all season and a season-ending injury to Steven Adams. Still, the Rockets’ young core of Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. looked poised for a potential postseason run with Durant’s scoring power alongside. Injuries hampered the first year of the Durant era in Houston, which brings concern about whether the roster needs a significant change over the summer to make a title push in the stacked Western Conference. The Rockets hope to capitalize on what’s left of Durant’s career at 37 years old, but general manager Rafael Stone may need to part with one or multiple of his young pieces to build a true contender with Durant.

The Magic in the first round ... again

Orlando’s collapse against Detroit makes the third straight year the Magic lost in the first round of the playoffs. In fact, the franchise hasn’t made it out of the first round since 2010, when Dwight Howard led it on a run to the Eastern Conference finals. This year’s iteration of the Magic had high expectations with the offseason trade for Desmond Bane and the continued growth of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Injuries hampered the Magic’s season and a dreadful loss to the Celtics’ reserves on the final day of the regular season forced Jamahl Mosley’s group into the play-in tournament.

The Magic looked to have turned a corner with a win over the red-hot Hornets in the play-in to clinch the No. 8 seed, then an upset over the top-seeded Pistons in Game 1. Orlando controlled the series with a commanding 3–1 lead until Wagner missed the rest of the series with a calf strain. Still, the Magic had a chance to close out the Pistons in Game 6 with a 22-point lead at halftime, but they had an absolutely dreadful 4-for-37 shooting performance in the second half and scored just 19 points in what was a brutal loss. That sent the series back to Detroit for a decider which the Pistons won convincingly 116–94. Orlando let a great chance to get out of the first round slip away. Mosley’s future with the franchise was in question as the Magic had an up-and-down year. He may have put that noise to bed momentarily as the script flipped early on in the postseason, but now that Orlando failed to get over the hump once again, the franchise could look toward a new face to help it take the next step.