The second round of the 2026 NBA playoffs kicked off on Tuesday with a surprising twist. The highly anticipated face-off between New York and Philadelphia, expected to be the most fiercely contested series of this stage, turned into a one-sided affair. Fans had hoped for another thrilling encounter reminiscent of their intense six-game battle in 2024. Instead, New York dominated the court, crushing Philadelphia 137-98 in Game 1.
The second clash was predicted to be straightforward. The Timberwolves were limping into the series, missing key players like Ayo Dosunmu and Donte DiVincenzo, with Anthony Edwards limited by injury. Their triumph over Denver in the first round was seen as a major feat, but against a younger, more dynamic Spurs team at full strength, prospects seemed bleak. Yet, defying expectations, Minnesota, listed as 9.5-point underdogs, pulled off a surprising Game 1 victory in San Antonio.
Monday’s NBA playoff scoreboard
- Game 1: Knicks 137, 76ers 98
- Game 1: Timberwolves 104, Spurs 102
With half of the second round games in the books, it’s time to evaluate the winners and losers from Monday’s Game 1 action.
Winner: Chris Finch
There are plenty of accolades to hand out to Minnesota. Mike Conley, who barely played in their Game 3 victory over Denver, started strong with four successful three-pointers. Despite Anthony Edwards suffering a knee injury just nine days prior, he contributed significantly by playing 25 minutes and shooting an impressive 8 of 13, helping secure a crucial fourth-quarter lead. Terrence Shannon also provided valuable minutes, and the team’s defense was on point. The choices for standout performances are abundant.
However, the true credit belongs to the mastermind behind these playoff surprises—the coach. Something about the Timberwolves’ environment seems to thrive in the postseason as opposed to the regular season. They’ve consistently risen to the occasion, winning playoff series as underdogs for three consecutive years and now pulling off an upset against a title contender on their turf, despite being undermanned.
This success stems from a blend of cultural and tactical elements. Coach Finch orchestrated a masterful Game 1, utilizing innovative strategies. He experimented with a three-big lineup against Denver, featuring Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Julius Randle, and found even greater success using it against San Antonio. During most of the fourth quarter, he opted to bench Gobert, allowing the team to spread the floor and pull Wembanyama away from the basket. This tactic resulted in Minnesota scoring their highest quarter total of 35 points in the game. Finch also managed Edwards’ playtime judiciously, ensuring he had the energy to finish the game strong after a moderate workload in the initial quarters.
Really, this is an organizational victory for Minnesota. They’ve had a lot of those recently. Somehow, the Timberwolves built a team that consistently outperforms playoff expectations. If we’re going to condense it to a single name, though, it has to be Finch.
Loser: Victor Wembanyama
Here’s how high of a standard Victor Wembanyama has set: entering tonight, the record for blocks in a single playoff game (at least since they were officially tracked dating back to the 1973-74 season) was 10. Wembanyama tied that record in the third quarter of his fifth playoff game. I struggle to imagine anyone breaking the new record of 12 he set on Monday — except, well, him. He finished the night with a triple-double (11 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocks), but his offense still underwhelmed.
Wembanyama’s 3-point attempt rate dipped from 47% last season to 32.4% this season. It was a welcome change. He shouldn’t cut triples out of his shot diet, but he’s so dangerous near the basket that the bulk of his shots should be inside. Denver’s struggles against Gobert in the first round were tied to Nikola Jokić’s poor 3-point shooting. The idea, clearly, was to drag Gobert away from the basket to open the rim up for everyone else, and the Spurs did score well at the basket. But Wembanyama missed all eight of his 3-point attempts.
Now, it’s hard to blame him too much for a bad shooting night. That will turn. But Wembanyama did have success attacking Gobert in pick-and-roll and as a driver. When Minnesota went away from Gobert in the fourth quarter, they were very intentional about packing the paint with help whenever he had the ball. The Timberwolves game-planned Wembanyama out of the paint offensively, and that’s the problem the Spurs need to solve in Game 2.
Winner: Jalen Brunson
You could pick pretty much any core Knick as the Game 1 winner. Mikal Bridges seems back on track after a 7-of-10 shooting night in which he defended Tyrese Maxey very well. Karl-Anthony Towns continues to thrive as a top-of-the-key hub, racking up six more assists in a role opposing defenses haven’t cracked yet. OG Anunoby took his playoff 3-point percentage up to… checks notes… 63.75%. Josh Hart just did Josh Hart stuff all night. You can’t really go wrong.
But I’d like to point out that Jalen Brunson has now scored 35 or more points in five consecutive playoff games against the 76ers:
- Game 3, 2024: 39 points on 13-of-27 shooting.
- Game 4, 2024: 47 points on 18-of-34 shooting.
- Game 5, 2024: 40 points on 15-of-32 shooting.
- Game 6, 2024: 41 points on 13-of-27 shooting.
- Game 1, 2026: 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting.
Guard defense was a well-known problem for the 76ers coming into this series, and Joel Embiid’s mobility in pick-and-roll defense isn’t great. Philadelphia could take Embiid off of New York’s big men and instead let him serve as a helper off of Josh Hart, but the Knicks have seen plenty of that over the past two seasons and seem more comfortable than ever in dealing with it. Besides, Embiid wasn’t particularly active defensively in this game regardless.
What’s so scary about this outburst, specifically, is the number of shots. Brunson got his points without completely monopolizing the offense. Three other starters scored at least 17. If New York can keep Bridges in a rhythm and maximize Towns as a weapon away from the basket without sacrificing Brunson’s individual offense, that’s probably checkmate for Philadelphia. The Knicks are at their worst when they’re a one-man band. They found the proper balance in the last three games against Atlanta and are absolutely humming thus far against the 76ers.
Loser: Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid
Boston is a juicy matchup for Maxey and Embiid. Derrick White is a great defensive guard, but more so in a help role than straight up against stars. Maxey was too quick for him. Boston’s center rotation consists of two players making minimum money in Neemias Queta and Luka Garza and a career-long defensive liability in Nikola Vučević. Queta couldn’t stop fouling him, Vučević was too slow to contest Embiid’s pick-and-pop jumpers. It’s not terribly surprising that Philadelphia’s two best players thrived in that series.
The Knicks represent an entirely different set of problems. Philadelphia got Karl-Anthony Towns into foul trouble, but Mitchell Robinson is far more defensively capable than anyone Boston had. The Knicks have a number of quick reserve guards who can at least keep pace with Maxey, most notably Deuce McBride and Jose Alvarado, and Mikal Bridges had one of his better defensive games of the postseason as his primary matchup.
Embiid and Maxey still managed to get to the line. They almost always will. But they combined to shoot 6 of 20 from the field. The volume there is as concerning as the efficiency. They took between 40 and 44 field goals combined in Games 5, 6 and 7 against Boston, which is probably around where the Sixers would like them in any big game. But the Knicks are so much better equipped to guard them and were so stout in help on Monday that very few easy points were available to them. Philadelphia played a Game 7 two days ago. They’re at a rest and game-planning disadvantage against a Knicks team that closed its own series out far less stressfully two days earlier. There’s plenty of room here for the old “play better” adjustment, but if they come out this flat in Game 2, this won’t be much of a series.
