NBA Play-In winners, losers: Warriors saved by old guys — and the Thunder benefit

The second day of the Play-In Tournament is over. The big winners are the Golden State Warriors, who avoided elimination (but still need to beat the Phoenix Suns on Friday to advance to the playoffs), and the Philadelphia 76ers, who will play a seven-game series against the Boston Celtics.

Wait, actually, this doesn’t look like much fun for the Sixers. But hey, they did what they were supposed to do against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, and they earned themselves seventh place in the East. Considering Joel Embiid only appeared in 38 regular season games and Paul George only appeared in 37, that’s quite an accomplishment.

But the Warriors. My God. They trailed by 13 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, then went on a 39-19 run and escaped the Intuit Dome with a 126-121 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. It was absolutely vintage stuff.

2026 NBA Playoffs bracket: Games, schedule as Warriors stay alive, 76ers advance to face Celtics

Brad Botkin

To recap: the winners were Golden State and Philadelphia. The losers were the Clippers and the Magic. But let’s be a little more specific than that, shall we? Here are Wednesday’s winners and losers:

Winners: Age, cunning, champion heart, etc.

If the Warriors had simply given the Clippers a competitive game and lost by 5-15 points, no one in their right mind would have crushed them for it. Stephen Curry hasn’t reached the 30-minute mark in an NBA game since January, and he’s barely played with Kristaps Porziņģis. There’s no shame in losing to a well-rounded team led by Kawhi Leonard, one of the top five players in the regular season! — and Darius Garland.

Before the game, however, Golden State coach Steve Kerr described the play-in as “an opportunity we may never have again.” And boy, did the old guys play like that.

Al Horford, who turns 40 in June, made all four 3s he attempted during the Warriors’ furious fourth-quarter comeback. Curry, 38, also scored 11 of his 35 points in the fourth, including a classic stepback 3 over Brook Lopez to give Golden State the lead with less than a minute remaining.

And then there was 36-year-old Draymond Green, who limped to the bench after appearing to injure his leg with less than two minutes remaining, then immediately returned to the floor and made two massive defensive plays. First, he denied Leonard on an out-of-bounds play and deflected Bennedict Mathurin’s pass directly to Brandin Podziemski, leading to two easy points at the break. Then he directly took Leonard’s pocket on the 3-point line.

Green was the main reason Leonard didn’t score in the fourth until a meaningless dunk with 17 seconds left. He’s one of the best defenders who ever lived, and he was a masterclass.

Unless you’re a Clippers fan, this return was a real reason why you watch sports. It’s also exactly why Curry worked so hard to come back late in the season, even with Jimmy Butler out, even with Golden State stuck in 10th place. What a magical performance from the “We Still Believe” Warriors. As heartbroken as Clippers coach Tyronn Lue must have been, he couldn’t help but smile when he congratulated Kerr.

Loser: Kawhi Leonard’s magnificent season

There was the Aspiration scandal, then there was the Clippers’ 6-21 start. Despite all of this, Leonard managed to put together one of the best seasons of his entire career, averaging a career-high 27.9 points (!), on a career-best 62.9% true shooting, and appearing in 65 regular season games. He was also a terror on defense.

So it’s a shame that it ended suddenly. And it’s possible his tenure with the Clippers is over as well. For most of Wednesday’s game, the Clippers won Leonard’s minutes hands down. (Even after Golden State’s run, Leonard finished plus-six!) The Warriors threw unwanted defenses at him and tried to take the ball out of his hands, and Leonard and Los Angeles handled it pretty well collectively. However, in the long run, when Leonard usually gets where he wants, he has effectively been removed from the game.

Stephen Curry goes into superhero mode and the Warriors are still alive after the Play-In Tournament thriller

Brad Botkin

Giving the Thunder a scare in the first round would have been a great way to cap off Leonard’s season. I guess that’s why you don’t want to start 6-21.

Winner: hops from Kristaps Porziņģis

I recently wrote a story on Porziņģis that highlights his propensity for throwback dunks.

By recently, I mean OVER A DECADE AGO. He was a beginner. I cited Kyle O’Quinn, Cleanthony Early and Jose Calderon. Generally speaking, Porziņģis isn’t really a top-flight player anymore. But on Wednesday, something came over him.

Here is putback dunk #1:

And here is putback dunk #2:

Porziņģis did other good things against the Clippers – he made three 3s, blocked two shots and served as an offensive hub – but the setbacks are what Warriors fans will remember. Savage.

Winners: Tyrese Maxey and Paul George

The two stars of the Sixers still standing were not the only authors of their 109-97 victory, but they were the ones who did the heavy lifting offensively. Tyrese Maxey scored a team-high 31 points (on 11-of-25 shooting), and I wouldn’t say he made things look easy. The man who led the league in minutes during the regular season logged 42:24. After a Desmond Bane 3 cut Philly’s lead to just two points early in the fourth quarter, Maxey responded with a reverse layup, a stepback 3 and a pair of floaters in less than three minutes.

Paul George’s numbers — 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting, five rebounds, five assists, two steals — don’t reflect how important he was to the Sixers. He kept them steady when Maxey (briefly) sat, he took advantage of Orlando’s willingness to hand Bane to him on several occasions, and he generally made good decisions against a Magic team that was as physical as one could expect at this time of year.

Maxey and George were also winners on defense. Maxey blocked Jalen Suggs in transition in critical moments, and George was everywhere (in a good way). It’s remarkable how much ground George has lost at 35, and it had a lot to do with Paolo Banchero’s rough night.

Speaking of Banchero…

Loser: Paolo Banchero

Look, I’m not trying to pile on. We’ve already seen Banchero put up some great performances in the playoffs. However, this was definitely not one of them.

In 36 minutes, Banchero shot 7 of 22 and scored 18 points. He missed all five of the 3-pointers he attempted and all but one of the too many 2-pointers he attempted. He had four assists and six turnovers. He was the worst on the team at minus-17, and that’s how it was. Decision making is a problem, inefficiency is a problem and the two are closely related.

Here he misses a clean catch-and-shoot 3 and launches a desperation shot at George late in the shot clock:

Here is, uh, one of his turnovers:

Let’s move on.

Winner: Andre Drummond, turn 3 specialist

Guess who made dagger 3 with less than a minute to play!

It was his second corner 3 of the game, and, at this point, we really can’t be surprised. Drummond has made 37% of his corner 3s this season (30 for 82), according to Cleaning The Glass. Considering he was totally tied to painting until 14th grade, this is truly a crazy development.

Winner? : Desmond Bane

I think I have to call Bane the winner because he was the best player on the field in Philadelphia. He scored a record 34 points (on 10 of 16 shooting!) in 40 minutes. Bane is by far Orlando’s biggest threat from the outside, but he has done most of his damage inside the arc. VJ Edgecombe has a long list of positive defensive attributes, but Bane’s strength caused the rookie a lot of problems.

As a team, the Sixers couldn’t do much with Bane all night, and they really couldn’t keep him off the line.

In the sense that Bane did everything he could and it wasn’t enough, it was a microcosm of his 2025-26 season. It’s disappointing that the Magic didn’t turn out to be the elite team many of us thought they would be after acquiring them, but that’s not their fault at all. Bane didn’t get off to a fast start individually, but he didn’t miss a single game, and after the first 10 games or so, he was easily the most productive player on the team. If he’s a “winner”, why do I feel so bad for him?

Winner: Sam Presti

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t even need to play tonight to earn a W. By failing to make the playoffs, the Clippers simply gave the Thunder a lottery pick.

This is the result of the 2019 trade that sent George from OKC to Los Angeles. A 2026 pick trade is one of several assets the Thunder got back in this deal.

OKC will have either a 2% chance (if the Warriors make the playoffs) or a 1.5% chance (if Phoenix advances) of winning the lottery. I’m sure it will happen.