Sunday in the NBA playoffs felt like a full-on rollercoaster, the kind that leaves you buzzing long after the final buzzer. You had wild comebacks, defensive slugfests, a rookie stepping up in the spotlight, and the old guard—LeBron James—finally starting to show his age. The Raptors managed to pull even with Cleveland. San Antonio stormed back with a second-half run folks will remember for years. The Celtics buried Philly under an avalanche of threes. And the Rockets, facing elimination and running out of bodies, just kept swinging.
But if you dug a little deeper, you saw it wasn’t just about the wins and losses—there was something bigger happening: LeBron looked truly vulnerable. For the first time this postseason, the Lakers’ hope of outrunning Father Time with their superstar began to buckle.
LeBron’s Worst Night in Years
LeBron’s game was tough to watch. In 33 minutes, he scored just 10 points, went 2-for-9 from the field, coughed up eight turnovers, and barely stayed ahead of his assist numbers. It was his third-worst playoff scoring night ever. And honestly, it stung to see. Through the first three games, he’d been dragging the Lakers along, looking almost superhuman. You almost forgot he’s 41.
But against Houston’s swarm of young, hungry wings? He looked tired. The NBA playoffs winners and losers ’ whole plan had been: hit enough tough shots and trust LeBron to pull out miracles. But when those Hail Marys stopped falling—and LeBron couldn’t do everything—there was just nowhere else to go.
The injuries only made it worse. Austin Reaves has been hobbled for two straight games. If he stays out, then all those offensive duties just pile right back onto LeBron, exactly when Houston’s quick, aggressive defense is best able to make him miserable.
So the message is pretty clear now: the Lakers have zero room for error. One more game like that and suddenly, their once-commanding 3-1 lead feels shaky.
The Rockets Just Won’t Go Away
Nobody picked the Rockets to win. Their roster’s been shredded by injuries—Fred VanVleet has missed the whole season; Steven Adams missed half; Kevin Durant, who was supposed to change everything, has barely played. This was supposed to be a quick Lakers win.
But Houston cares nothing for how things are “supposed” to go. They looked shellshocked after letting Game 3 slip away. Coach Ime Udoka told them point-blank: “Grow up. “You’re no longer that young,” one might say—though that feels somewhat unfair, given that their oldest starter is only 24. But whatever Udoka said, it worked.
Amen Thompson had 23 points, finishing around the rim with a soft touch we hadn’t seen before. Every Rocket starter hit double figures—they finally played team basketball. Reed Sheppard, who’s been targeted on switches all series, caught fire from deep. Alperen Sengun backed up his big NBA playoffs winners and losers Game 3 with 19 more points. Even the Rockets’ bench did its job.
Houston started winning the turnover battle, making shots, and actually rattling the Lakers on defense for the first time all series. It took four games, but the young Rockets finally believed they belonged.
History says no NBA team has ever come back from 3-0 down. But after Sunday, the Rockets no longer look doomed. They’re fighting. They’re improving right in front of us. Suddenly, if Durant makes it back and Houston snatches just one more win, things get real interesting—and it all started with LeBron’s worst game in months.
Sunday’s Other Stories: Who Rose, Who Fell
Winner: Collin Murray-Boyles and Toronto’s Nasty Defense
Toronto’s 93-89 win over Cleveland was more battle of attrition than beautiful basketball. Both teams bricked shots all night; the Raptors set a franchise record for worst shooting in a playoff win. But they won because their defense simply refused to blink.
And Collin Murray-Boyles—a rookie—became the unlikely hero. He stacked up 15 points and 10 boards, making him just the third rookie in Raptors history with a playoff double-double. Stats aside, it was the timing that mattered: in crunch time, he made all the big plays.
With 14 seconds left and Toronto barely ahead, Murray-Boyles locked up Donovan Mitchell on a potential NBA playoffs winners and losers game-tying three. Mitchell tried to trick him off his feet, but the kid didn’t bite. Mitchell’s rushed shot thudded away. Rookies aren’t supposed to deliver defense like that under playoff pressure, but Murray-Boyles just played older than his age.
He also was a monster on the glass, grabbing five offensive boards. One turned into a ferocious putback dunk that steadied Toronto when things looked shaky. Late in the NBA playoffs winners and losers game, surrounded by four Cavs, he still came up with a rebound, then whipped a pass to Brandon Ingram for a big three. Without Murray-Boyles’ fourth quarter, the Raptors probably get sent to the edge of elimination. Now? The series is tied and going back to Cleveland…Read more
Loser: Cleveland’s Backcourt of Stars
If you’re a Cavs fan, you’d have expected way more from Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. Instead, for the second straight game, they disappeared when it mattered. They shot a brutal 12-for-38, combining for just 39 points, and turned the ball over 11 times between them. These aren’t growing pains—these are mental mistakes you shouldn’t see from two stars NBA playoffs winners and losers.
Give some credit to Toronto, whose relentless ball pressure forced mistake after mistake. Scottie Barnes, by the way, has been the best player on the floor the last two games. Still, Harden and Mitchell can’t blame everything on defense.
Mitchell at least woke up in the fourth. Harden? He was invisible: only nine second-half points, and just four shot attempts in the last quarter. With the game there for the taking—just a four-point difference—the Cavs needed Harden to assert himself. He didn’t. For one of the most gifted scorers in history, that kind of passivity when your team needs you is tough to explain.
NBA playoffs winners and losers All told, Sunday proved the playoffs are all about pressure—how you handle it, or how it breaks you. And as the young teams rise, you get the feeling the old narratives are cracking. LeBron’s not invincible anymore, and the next generation is coming. They just announced themselves on Sunday.
Winner: San Antonio’s Miraculous Comeback Against Portland
San Antonio’s 114-93 win looked a lot better on the scoreboard than Toronto’s mess of a NBA playoffs winners and losers game. But, honestly, it didn’t start off that way. Even though Victor Wembanyama returned after missing Game 3 with a concussion, the Spurs just couldn’t hit a shot in the first half—the ball kept rattling out, and they ended up at a brutal 34% shooting. No second-chance points, only one fast-break bucket, and, to top it off, they were down 17 going into halftime.
Then something clicked. For the second straight game, the Spurs owned the second half. They began the third quarter with a 13–0 scoring streak. By the end, San Antonio had outscored Portland 73-35 in the second half. Just a complete meltdown from the Blazers, who looked like they forgot how to play basketball after halftime. And here’s the crazy part—this is now the biggest second-half comeback in NBA playoffs winners and losers playoff history by any team that trailed by 15 or more at the break…Read more
De’Aaron Fox, quiet through most of the series (not even cracking 50% true shooting in the first three NBA playoffs winners and losers games), finally showed up when it mattered. He poured in 18 of his 28 points in the second half, finishing 11-for-17 from the field. He tacked on seven assists, two blocks, a steal, and his late-game stepback over Toumani Camara pretty much sealed Portland’s fate. That’s playoff stuff.
Fox wasn’t selfish—when Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper got hot, he let them run things. But when the team needed a closer, he stepped up again and again. He broke down the Blazers’ defense in the pick-and-roll, kicked out to shooters like Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson for open threes, and his jumpers kept dropping. With Fox cooking, the Spurs are really tough to beat.
Wembanyama, even after sitting the last NBA playoffs winners and losers game, played like nothing happened—27 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, seven blocks, and four steals. The Spurs now get the chance to wrap up the series at home on Tuesday.
Loser: Scoot Henderson’s Crash Back to Earth
Scoot Henderson started this series like he’d finally “arrived,” piling up 70 points on 26-of-46 shooting in the first three games. He looked calm, confident, and seriously dangerous.
All of that vanished in Game 4.
Less than two minutes in, Henderson launched a weird, off-balance floater—airball. Things just spiraled from there. In 27 minutes, he didn’t score a single point. Missed all seven shots—drove in and blew a layup, bricked three spot-up threes, tossed up a couple of tough mid-rangers. And when Portland was only down two early in the fourth, he fired a bounce pass into Donovan Clingan’s ankles, just one of Portland’s 18 turnovers.
Every one of his four fouls was messy. He didn’t bring any of his usual energy on the boards or on defense. If this is what regression to the mean looks like, it’s ugly. Lucky for Portland, Henderson’s been so solid the rest of the series that one dud shouldn’t overshadow it all. The key question now is whether he can recover in NBA playoffs winners and losers Game 5.
Winner: Payton Pritchard Shows He’s More Than a Bench Guy
Since Jayson Tatum came back, Payton Pritchard’s been the Celtics’ sixth man, but that kind of undersells what he does. Against the Sixers in Game 4, he just went bonkers—nobody could stay in front of him, and he hurt the defense in pretty much every way possible.
He splashed threes off the dribble, nailed catch-and-shoot looks, got to the rim, pulled up, went stepback—hell, he even dropped a one-legged, off-balance three to beat the buzzer that’ll be on highlight reels for years.
What’s different about Pritchard now compared to when he won Sixth Man of the Year last season is the degree of difficulty on his shots. He’s comfortable pulling up from weird angles, hitting those short midrange jumpers that only T.J. McConnell seems to love anymore, and when Tatum was out, he proved he could create for himself or anyone else.
This year, a career-high 36% of his shots came from midrange, and only 46% of his makes were assisted—he’s become a true self-starter on offense.
So no one was really shocked when he poured in 32 points on 12-for-21 shooting (and hit six threes) with five assists against Philly. Only Kevin McHale’s 34 off the bench in 1991 beats that in Celtics NBA playoffs winners and losers history. Thing is, he scored 30 or more six times in the regular season—so this just feels like a repeat performance, not some postseason fluke.
And get this—he did all that in the first three quarters. If he’d sat the fourth, he still would’ve had 32 points in 25 minutes on 12-for-18. Those are superstar numbers.
Winner: Pat Riley’s Old-School Rebounding Lesson
Pat Riley used to say, “No rebounds, no rings,” back when he ran the Showtime NBA playoffs winners and losers. That might as well be the Celtics’ motto in this series against Philly—because Boston just keeps crushing them on the boards.
Boston grabbed over 41% of their misses and racked up 22 second-chance points in a Game 3 win—that had Sixers coach Nick Nurse about ready to tear his hair out. “Our guys played their butts off,” he said. “It wasn’t about effort.”
But effort isn’t everything if you’re one of the league’s worst defensive rebounding teams, like the Sixers were this season. Now, they’re one loss from going home, and the rebounding gap is a huge reason why.
In NBA playoffs winners and losers Game 4, Boston grabbed almost 40% of their own misses again and scored 18 second-chance points. At one point—you could only laugh—the Celtics pulled down four straight offensive rebounds on one possession, all off missed threes. They didn’t even score there (it ended with Vučević bricking free throws), but the message was clear: Philly just couldn’t finish a stop.
That wasn’t their only problem on the way to a 128-96 blowout, but with the Sixers barely grabbing any offensive boards themselves (only 18.8%), it was like trying to win with one hand tied behind their back. If Philly wanted to survive that beating on the glass, they needed to force a bunch of turnovers or shoot the lights out. They did neither. And now their season’s pretty much on the brink NBA playoffs winners and losers.
Loser: Anyone Who Tried to Guard De’Aaron Fox
Yes, we already talked about Fox as a winner, but he was so unstoppable against Portland that he deserves a spotlight of his own. The Blazers threw everything they had at him and still came away looking helpless.
Here’s the thing about Fox: when his jumper’s working, he turns any defense into a rumor. He dropped 18 of his 28 points in the second half and finished 11-for-17 overall. He knocked down 4-of-8 threes, and one of those was a ruthless stepback that basically ended any Portland hope. When the 28-year-old All-Star gets rolling, forget finding an answer—you’re just trying to survive.
Double him, and he’ll find the open man. Guard him straight up, and he’ll torch you with his pull-up or blow by you with his speed. The Blazers just had no solution. If they want to stay alive in NBA playoffs winners and losers Game 5, they need a whole new plan on defense.
The Celtics’ Three-Point Show: One for the History Books
Boston didn’t just beat Philadelphia 128-96; they dominated every stat you can find. But their three-point shooting stole the show. They made 24 threes on 53 attempts—just one shy of the NBA playoff record. That’s nearly half their shots dropping from deep.
Just think about it: One more three, and the Celtics would’ve broken the all-time NBA playoffs winners and losers mark. Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard filled it up, combining for 62 points while shooting 20-for-37. Philly got Joel Embiid back, but it didn’t matter. The Celtics just rolled over them, grabbing the biggest road playoff win in franchise history.
This wasn’t just another win. This was a statement. Boston’s up 3-1 now, with the Sixers standing on the edge.
A Bigger Picture: The Kids Are Here, and the Vets Are Shaky
Sunday’s games made something clear—the NBA is changing, right in front of us. The young, athletic teams look hungry; the older squads suddenly have cracks.
Houston, missing three of their best players, played with the kind of fight that says, “We’re coming for you, just wait.” Collin Murray-Boyles, barely old enough to rent a car, hit big shots when Houston needed them most. Scoot Henderson had one rough night, but he’s already proving he belongs in the league NBA playoffs winners and losers.
Meanwhile, LeBron James—never one to look human—just had his worst playoff outing in years. Not because he checked out, but because age caught up with him, even if just for a night. Now the Lakers, up 3-1, don’t look so bulletproof.
San Antonio showed that when you have a roster built right—with Wembanyama locking down the perimeter and Fox creating offense—you can climb back from a nightmare start. Toronto evened things up with Cleveland by leaning on defense and timely help from their role guys—even facing the Cavs’ All-Star backcourt NBA playoffs winners and losers.
And Boston? The Celtics act like the regular season was just a warm-up. They’re bombing threes with no hesitation. Their defense looks rock solid, like these guys have played together forever.
What Comes Next: A Few Big Questions
The NBA playoffs winners and losers have to figure out what to do about LeBron right away. One rough night at age 41 isn’t just bad luck—it’s a sign. They need more guys who can create offense, they need Austin Reaves healthy, and their supporting cast has to show up—they just haven’t the past couple of NBA playoffs winners and losers games.
Houston knows it can win now. Expect them to come out swinging in Game 5, riding a wave of momentum.
Cleveland really needs more from their backcourt; Mitchell and Harden can’t afford another dud. Philly’s biggest problem is grabbing rebounds — and honestly, if they can’t get boards against the Celtics, they’re not lasting long.
San Antonio will try to send Portland home. Boston wants to finish off Philly. Toronto heads to Cleveland feeling good. And the Lakers? NBA playoffs winners and losers gotta bounce back, or Houston just might pull off something wild.
One Last Thought
Sunday reminded us of something basic: the playoffs never go the way you think. Rookies play like vets. Legends look mortal. Teams you counted out bite back.
Houston’s young guys refused to give up. The Celtics looked downright untouchable. San Antonio showed that defense and coaching really do matter, even when you dig a 17-point hole. The Raptors kept proving defense wins when things get tight.
But in the end, everyone will remember seeing LeBron James look like everyone else—for a single night, at least. It’s a reminder that nobody’s invincible forever. The NBA playoffs winners and losers don’t have room for slip-ups now, and the door’s cracked open for Houston.
That’s the beauty of playoff basketball. All you really need is a chance.
