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 make the playoffs), and the Philadelphia 76ers, who get to play a seven-game series against the Boston Celtics.

Wait, actually, that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun for the Sixers. But hey, they did what they were supposed to do against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, and they earned themselves the No. 7 seed in the East. Given that Joel Embiid appeared in only 38 regular-season games and Paul George appeared in only 37, that is an accomplishment.

The Warriors, though. My goodness. They trailed by 13 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, then went on a 39-19 run and escaped Intuit Dome with a 126-121 win against the Los Angeles Clippers. This was absolutely vintage stuff. 

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

Winners: Age, guile, the heart of a champion, etc. 

Had the Warriors merely 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 is no shame in losing to a well-balanced team led by Kawhi Leonard — a top-five player in the regular season! — and Darius Garland.

Before the game, though, Golden State coach Steve Kerr described the play-in as “an opportunity we might not ever get again.” And boy, did the old dudes play like it.

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

And then there was Draymond Green, 36, who hobbled to the bench after appearing to hurt his leg with less than two minutes left, then immediately got back on the floor and made two massive defensive plays. First, he denied Leonard on a sideline out-of-bounds play and deflected Bennedict Mathurin’s pass directly to Brandin Podziemski, leading to an easy two points on the break. Then he straight-up picked Leonard’s pocket at the 3-point line.

Green was the biggest reason that Leonard didn’t score in the fourth until a meaningless dunk with 17 seconds left. He is one of the best defenders who has ever lived, and this was a masterclass.

Unless you’re a Clippers fan, this comeback was real why-you-watch-sports stuff. 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 the 10th spot. What a magical performance by the “We Still Believe” Warriors. As heartbroken as Clippers coach Tyronn Lue must have been, he couldn’t help but crack a smile when he congratulated Kerr.

Loser: Kawhi Leonard’s magnificent season

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

It is unfortunate, then, that it’s suddenly over. And it’s possible that his Clippers tenure could be over, too. For most of Wednesday’s game, the Clippers won Leonard’s minutes handily. (Even after Golden State’s run, Leonard finished plus-six!) The Warriors threw junk defenses at him and tried to get the ball out of his hands, and both Leonard and Los Angeles collectively handled it pretty well. Down the stretch, though, when Leonard usually gets wherever he wants, he was effectively taken out of the game.

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

Brad Botkin

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

Winner: Kristaps Porziņģis’ hops

I recently wrote a story about Porziņģis that highlights his propensity for putback dunks.

By recently, I mean MORE THAN A DECADE AGO. He was a rookie. I quoted Kyle O’Quinn, Cleanthony Early and Jose Calderon. Generally speaking, Porziņģis isn’t much of a high-flier anymore. On Wednesday, though, something got into him.

Here is putback dunk No. 1:

And here is putback dunk No. 2:

Porziņģis did other good stuff against the Clippers — he made three 3s, blocked two shots and served as an offensive hub — but the putbacks are what Warriors fans are going to remember. Wild.

Winners: Tyrese Maxey and Paul George

The Sixers two stars left standing were not the only authors of their 109-97 victory, but they’re the ones who did the heavy lifting offensively. Tyrese Maxey scored a team-high 31 points (on 11-for-25 shooting), and I wouldn’t say he made it look easy. The man who led the league in regular-season minutes 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 a less-than-three-minute stretch. 

Paul George’s numbers — 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting, five rebounds, five assists, two steals — do not capture how important he was for the Sixers. He kept them steady when Maxey (briefly) sat, he repeatedly took advantage of Orlando’s willingness to switch Bane onto him and he generally made good decisions against a Magic team that was as physical as you’d expect this time of year.

Maxey and George were winners on defense, too. Maxey blocked Jalen Suggs in transition in crunch time, and George was all over the place (in a good way). It is remarkable how little George has dropped off on that end at 35, and he 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 seen Banchero have excellent postseason performances before. This, however, was definitely not one of them.

In 36 minutes, Banchero shot 7 for 22 and scored 18 points. He missed all five of the 3s he attempted and all but one of the far too many 2-point jumpers that he attempted. He had four assists and six turnovers. He was a team-worst minus-17, and it felt like it. The decision-making is a problem, the inefficiency is a problem and the two are very much connected.

Here he is passing up a clean catch-and-shoot 3 and airballing a desperation shot over George late in the shot clock:

Here is, uh, one of his turnovers:

Let’s move on.

Winner: Andre Drummond, corner 3 specialist

Guess who made the dagger 3 with less than a minute left!

That was his second corner 3 of the game, and, at this point, you really can’t be surprised. Drummond made 37% of his corner 3s this season (30 for 82), per Cleaning The Glass. Given that he was totally paint-bound until Year 14, though, this really is a crazy development.

Winner?: Desmond Bane

I think I have to call Bane a winner because he was the best player on the floor in Philly. He scored a game-high 34 points (on 10-for-16 shooting!) in 40 minutes. Bane is by far Orlando’s biggest threat from the outside, but he did most of his damage inside the arc. VJ Edgecombe has a long list of positive defensive attributes, but Bane’s strength gave the rookie a ton of trouble. 

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

In that Bane did everything he could and it wasn’t enough, this was a microcosm of his 2025-26 season. It is disappointing that the Magic have not turned out to be the elite team that many of us thought they’d be after acquiring him, but it is not his fault whatsoever. Bane didn’t have a fast start individually, but he didn’t miss a single game and, after the first 10 or so, was by far the most consistently productive player on the roster. If he’s a “winner,” why do I feel so bad for him?

Winner: Sam Presti

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t even have to play tonight to pick up a W. By failing to make the playoffs, the Clippers just 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 swap is one of many, many assets that the Thunder picked up in that deal.

OKC will have either a 2% chance (if the Warriors advance to the playoffs) or a 1.5% chance (if Phoenix advances) to win the lottery. I’m sure it’ll happen.