Playoff basketball is finally here. Game 1 of each first-round series is in the rearview, so you know what that means: Each series is already decided.
Just kidding.
But, there are some trends and key moments we can pull from each series that could be an indicator of how things may go from here on out. It looked like home teams and higher seeds could have a clean sweep on the weekend, but the Magic weren’t having any of that.
On Sunday night, the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed went to Detroit and dismantled the top-seeded Pistons. The Trail Blazers couldn’t keep the underdog momentum rolling as Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs took care of Portland in front of a fired-up crowd in San Antonio. Elsewhere in the Western Conference, it was assumed that the Rockets could take care of business on the road as the Lakers continued without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. However, Kevin Durant was suddenly ruled out of Game 1 with a knee injury and LeBron James led Los Angeles to an exciting win.
The first round brings some lopsided matchups and we saw a lot of that over the first weekend of postseason play. Here are a handful of winners and losers from the first real games of NBA playoff action:
Winners
Celtics’ Jayson Tatum-centric title hopes
Jayson Tatum put together a strong Game 1 for the Celtics against the 76ers on Sunday. | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
The Celtics were one of the best teams in the NBA all season led by Jaylen Brown. But their championship hopes are tied to Jayson Tatum. A roster with Brown leading the way is hard to beat but capable of falling to equally-talented opponents and would struggle to compete with the true titans of the championship race. A roster with Brown and Tatum is a different story entirely—assuming Tatum can play something like the top-10 player he was before tearing his Achilles last May.
In Game 1, he inspired plenty of hope that he would indeed be able to reach that level. The 28-year-old superstar racked up good numbers across the board in helping Boston blow out the 76ers with 25 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals. His three-point shot was still missing (1-of-7 from beyond the arc) but Tatum’s impact was obvious anyway.
What makes him (and therefore Boston’s title hopes) big winners from the weekend, though, is that Tatum controlled the flow of the game when he was in there. It took him no time at all to start picking apart Philadelphia’s defense once he figured out the defensive coverages Nick Nurse wanted to throw at the Celtics. Tatum turned the ball over exactly once despite running the offense for most of his time on the floor and Boston outscored Philadelphia by 20 points in his 32 minutes.
For a star player the difference between playing well and dominating the floor is much slimmer than we realize; Tatum’s play fell into the latter category in Game 1 and will have to stay there for Boston to hold genuine hopes of raising Banner No. 19. Such hopes got a big boost after this weekend.
LeBron James, both as a player and a father
LeBron James scored 19 and finished with 13 assists as he led the Lakers past the Rockets. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
James once again enjoys an enormous burden on his shoulders as the Lakers’ only healthy star entering postseason play. Despite some doubts surrounding how the 41-year-old version of the longtime superstar would handle that reality, he proved up to the challenge. In leading Los Angeles to a 1–0 lead over the weekend James posted a 19-point, 13-assist double-double as the orchestrator of the offense for the purple and gold. It’s likely the Lakers will need more from him as a scorer, especially if Kevin Durant is able to return for Houston, but this Los Angeles season is now all about survival—all LeBron has to do is keep his team alive, one win at a time.
Seeing a glimpse of old Playoff LeBron makes us all winners along with The King.
On a more personal note James was able to share the floor with his son, Bronny, in postseason play. Which is pretty spectacular. The coverage of the younger James can be eye-rolling at times but it’s genuinely mind-blowing to consider LeBron James, a figure in all of our lives for decades, is playing playoff games with his son. The man himself is in even more awe, calling it the “craziest thing that’s ever happened” in his career—which is saying something given the countless ridiculous things that have happened since his rookie year in ‘03.
What a weekend for the James family.
Jamahl Mosley and his potential future with the Magic
The Magic underwhelmed this season, but chose a great time to play two of their best games of the season to earn a playoff spot and beat the No. 1 seed Pistons in Game 1. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images
There was plenty of chatter about Jamahl Mosley’s job toward the end of the regular season, but the Magic have seemingly turned things around in the matter of two games. Orlando had some of the worst vibes across the league to end the season, but a big win in the play-in tournament over the red-hot Hornets changed things. If that wasn’t enough, the Magic went into Detroit and stole Game 1 from the top-seeded Pistons. Mosley’s bunch dominated from start to finish as he entirely out dueled Coach of the Year finalist J.B. Bickerstaff to start the series.
The win on Sunday was Mosley’s first road playoff win and we appear to have a series, which you normally don’t get in a No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup. Jalen Suggs impacted the game immediately defensively and each starter on the Magic scored at least 16 points. Orlando’s defense neutralized Detroit’s All-Star big man Jalen Duren, holding him to just eight points on the night. It’s just one game and the Pistons have been the class of the Eastern Conference all season, but Orlando has flipped a switch in the matter of days.
Losers
Practice, at least for Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant remained on the bench for Game 1 against the Lakers after injuring his knee in Rockets practice. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Rockets star was surprisingly ruled out of Game 1 against the Lakers Saturday after he bumped knees with a teammate in practice. Houston coach Ime Udoka said Durant’s patella tendon was sore and it was tough to bend the knee in certain ways. The offense completely sputtered without Durant on the floor while James had the Lakers humming on the other end of the floor.
It was presumed the Lakers would have a tough time without Dončić and Reaves, but Durant’s absence flipped Game 1 on its head. L.A. couldn’t miss as it went 61% from the floor and 53% from three-point range Saturday. Houston was just 38% from the field and 33% from three. Now, the Rockets find themselves trailing 1–0 in the series as one or both of Dončić and Reaves could return the longer the series goes. That’s not ideal, but it also isn’t surprising with the Rockets missing one of greatest scorers of all time, and the team’s top offensive option. In good news for Houston, Durant’s injury isn’t expected to be serious and he should be back sooner rather than later. Game 1 showed that the young bunch needs the veteran scorer on the bench to survive over the postseason. Who needs practice, anyway?
Julius Randle
Julius Randle struggled to make a big impact in Game 1 for the Timberwolves vs. the Nuggets. | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
The Timberwolves’ Game 1 loss to the Nuggets wasn’t a Defcon-1 level defeat by any means. Minnesota kept it pretty close on the road and were within as little as two points in the fourth. The defeat came in large part due to an inability to stop the Nikola Jokić-Jamal Murray pairing in crunchtime, which is no great shame—the rest of the NBA fails to stop them most of the time, too. There were positives to take away despite going down 1–0, such as Anthony Edwards looking explosive despite a questionable designation coming into the game due to a nagging knee injury.
However, the Julius Randle situation is now a concern.
Randle needed 16 points to get 16 shots in Game 1. He posted seven rebounds but otherwise didn’t chip in much and finished with a plus-minus of -9 in 31 minutes. It was a continuation of the former All-Star’s struggles in the last few months of the year. More worrying, however, is that Denver is keyed into those struggles—in particular from beyond the three-point line—and are adjusting accordingly.
In something of a surprising sight the Nuggets were content to leave Randle completely alone behind the arc to help on Edwards’s drives and other actions the Wolves were running. The veteran forward shot 31.5% from three this season, which obviously is not good, but his recent numbers are even worse; Randle shot 28.2% from deep after the All-Star break. Denver is now treating him like a non-shooting threat, which is not only a problem for Minnesota but embarrassing for a player of his talent and one of those things that could wreak havoc mentally if he can’t snap out of this funk.
Dillon Brooks’s bold prediction
Dillon Brooks’s Game 1 prediction for his Suns vs. the Thunder didn’t age well. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Dillon Brooks and the Suns were feeling good after they eliminated Steph Curry and the Warriors in the play-in tournament. After the game, Brooks boldly predicted that Phoenix was going to go into Oklahoma City and steal Game 1. That, uh, didn’t happen.
The Thunder waxed the Suns 119–84, making easy work of the No. 8 seed to open the series. That’s not necessarily a surprise, but Brooks is enough of a pest that he can get under any team’s skin. On one hand, what else was he supposed to say? That he didn’t believe his team had any shot against the defending champs? That’s not realistic, but it’s still fun to look back on with the actual events of Game 1 in mind.
“We’re going to go out there and steal Game 1.” 🗣️
Dillon Brooks on the mentality the Phoenix Suns will bring to the OKC series 😤 pic.twitter.com/adiOMP5uba
— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) April 18, 2026
Oklahoma City is a nightmare draw for any team in round one, so you can’t really fault Phoenix for coming out flat against the NBA’s best team. The Suns have had a good season, especially with the uncertainty heading into the year after Durant was traded to the Rockets. Jordan Ott has done a good job in his first year as the Suns’ coach, but Phoenix will need a miracle to make the series against OKC interesting as the Thunder begin their title defense.
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