It’s only natural for most people to not want to fix what they don’t believe is broken. It’s also fairly natural to suspect ulterior motives in any new plan or scheme. While those questions are worth asking, it seems clear to me that if the answer was not to change anything, ever, we’d still be living in caves with dinosaurs.

There is something to be said for novelties, even those with a profit motive of some sort, that succeed. I would argue that the NBA Play In system has succeeded. I understand some people have a need for a certain sort of mental tidiness, or a desire to make accomplishments more meaningful. The NBA’s play in games would seem to go against both things. Is a number seven seed in or out? Why does the 10th ranked team get a shot at a playoff series?

For the mental tidiness people, well, it’s a bit untidy not knowing exactly who the bottom ranked playoff teams will be, but there’s an upside to be gained in giving the teams that were not in the Play In more rest after the regular season. The system itself is also pretty easy to understand, and once you get how it works, it ceases to be untidy, just uncertain. If you are the sort that wants to get rid of all uncertainty in life, well, good luck with that.

There’s also hope for teams that say lose a crucial player for part of the season to be found in the Play In. They might still get into the playoffs, and create a better match up for the top teams, as opposed to ritual execution found in the typical 1v8 match up.

That goes for the sense of accomplishment argument people, too. Don’t want to keep playing games after the regular season, and before the Real Playoffs begin? Win more games. I believe the Play In bracket produces more incentive to win, for good teams, rather than less. A playoff team is guaranteed at least four post season games. A play in team is guaranteed nothing.

There’s something else the Play In offers while we wait for the more successful teams to being their playoffs: fun. These games are the NBA’s way of partaking in the chaotic fun of the NCAA Tournament. It’s one and done for a couple of teams. Their season ends with a loss. We saw some amazing games in that regard, played with real intensity and fire. The Hornets vs Heat game was a true battle, and a ton of fun to watch. It went to overtime, and we saw all kinds of intense things, including potentially dirty play, surprisingly not from Miami. Also, more shockingly, LaMelo Ball coming through in the clutch. Who would have predicted that?

In the end, that’s why most of us are watching basketball, right? To see great competition in a game we love? To see a spectacle?

The Play In, for all it’s gimmickry has worked, if the goal is fun. It’s easy to sneer, because it’s not how things were, but it’s easier to love something that can bring if not joy, then entertainment to the end of the season. There is not some law of the universe that the stricter the playoff system is, the better it is. There might be some logical contradictions, but the goal of sport is not to achieve logical consistency, at least as I see it.

That said, I’d much rather the Rockets be in the playoffs, not the Play In. Too much uncertainty in the Play In.

On another note, I’d say the play in may not have entirely (or sadly, largely) accomplished one of its goals, to curtail tanking, but it has brought fun to the league. Playing for stakes of some sort brings more fire, more interest, to competitions, generally. That’s why tanking is so bad, to me. Sure, it’s rational, but if we’re watching sports for their pure rationality, we might be missing the point. Or one might be better served watching competitive chess. Further, tanking, however you choose to define it, destroys intensity, destroys the idea of stakes in a contest. A tanking team isn’t so much playing basketball, as it is playing lottery ball odds, which might loom over a season, but are not part of the competition in any immediate sense. We’ve seen what immediacy does for a single game, with the play in. Tanking does the opposite, but spread, depressingly, across a season. A teams’ reward for tanking might be heaven, but their actual games are hell, as we well know.

Because winning, keeping a season alive, is possible in the play in, teams go all out. The stakes are real. Tanking is the opposite, it destroys in game stakes, and competition, and that’s why it must be ended, somehow, some way. We can expend a lot of words on what the best way to do that is, and maybe there isn’t a best way, as any system has trade offs built in. The NBA is going to do something in the off season. I’m sure we’ll discuss it when it happens. Anything, though, that is in favor of good basketball, in favor of striving to win, instead of working to lose, has to be better for the game of basketball, and the NBA.

Meanwhile, GO ROCKETS. A genuine playoff team.

The city of Cleveland has fallen in love with Donovan Mitchell. It seems the feeling is mutual, as the seven-time All-Star once again opened up about his time in the land.

“I love Cleveland,” Mitchell told The Athletic. “I’ve said it before: I want to play here for as long as I can.”

Mitchell is on contract until the 2027-28 NBA season, with a player option that he’s likely to exercise in 2027. The Cavs have an incentive to extend him as soon as possible, and he’ll be eligible for another max payday when that time comes.

“The goal is to win — as long as we’re continuing to win at the highest level,” said Mitchell. “But I love it, man. It’s a place that I feel like I can call home, you know what I mean? And I feel good. My fiancée feels good about it.”

It certainly bodes well for the Cavs that Mitchell appears to be happy in Cleveland. He’s proven he can raise their floor significantly in the regular season and potentially gives them a championship-caliber season.

Even with all of the injuries this year, Cleveland finished 4th in the Eastern Conference with 52 wins for just the ninth time in franchise history. Mitchell’s 27.9 points per game made that possible.

The Cavs start their playoff journey on Saturday with a first-round series against the Toronto Raptors. If both Mitchell and the Cavs want to justify another long-term commitment to each other, then success in the upcoming postseason will be a good place to start.

Go all the way back to the Christmas Day matchup between the Lakers and Rockets and you’ll see a dominant performance from Steven Adams on the offensive glass en route to a controlling Rockets victory.

Rewatch the Lakers’ pair of wins over the Rockets in Houston from just a month ago and you’ll witness back-to-back brilliant offensive showings from Luka Doncic, in addition to important supporting moments on both ends of the floor from Austin Reaves.

This is why the regular-season matchups between the Lakers and Rockets, which the Lakers won 2-1, are difficult — but not impossible — to learn from entering the first-round playoff series.

The Lakers saw different versions of the Rockets each time they played: 

• A fully healthy Houston squad (minus Fred VanVleet, who’s been sidelined the entire season after tearing his right ACL during an offseason workout) on Dec. 25; 
• The Rockets without Adams and All-Star big man Alperen Sengun on March 16;
• And a Houston team without Adams and Jae’Sean Tate on March 18 – which is as close to the version of the Rockets the Lakers are expected to see in Saturday’s Game 1 at Crypto.com Arena.

But each version of the Lakers that the Rockets played against featured Doncic, Reaves and LeBron James in the starting lineup — which won’t be the case Saturday. Doncic (left hamstring strain) and Reaves (left oblique strain) are out “indefinitely” after suffering their regular-season-ending injuries April 2. 

So, the ball-screen-heavy offense led by Doncic and Reaves that the Rockets had to battle against in the three regular-season matchups?

It’s been replaced by an offense that’s more reliant on off-ball screens to create advantages.

The combined 47.4 points and 11.7 assists Doncic and Reaves combined to average in the three games against the Rockets, including 52.5 points and 13.5 assists in the games Reaves finished after leaving midway through the Dec. 25 matchup because of a calf injury, have been distributed throughout the roster. 

“We’re going to lean on everybody; it’s going to be balanced,” Marcus Smart said. “We’re going to lean on [Deandre Ayton] a lot, we’re going to LeBron, myself, Rui [Hachimura], obviously, Luke [Kennard], those guys, and it’s going to take everybody. It’s a different style of play, and I think that’s something that Houston isn’t prepared for, or are going to try to prepare for because they haven’t seen us without those guys. They’ve always played us with them, so they always have a matchup and game plan for them. It’ll be interesting to see how they play us without them.”

Even though the Lakers aren’t as talented without Doncic and Reaves, they’ll also be unfamiliar entering Game 1.

The Rockets only played against the version of the Lakers that featured James averaging just 13.3 field- goal attempts (leading to an efficient 22 points) and four assists as he picked his spots while Doncic led the way with carrying the offensive load. Not the version of James who averaged 17.5 shot attempts (25.5 points) and 11 assists in his final four regular-season games as the No. 1 option with Doncic and Reaves sidelined.

Kennard averaged 6.4 assists in the final five games, in addition to 12.2 points, after having a combined five points and three assists in the two games he played against the Rockets. 

The Lakers went from one of the teams making the fewest passes per game (269.7; 27th) to top 10 in passing (296.2; 10th) without Doncic and Reaves. 

Their assist percentage (the percentage of field goals that were assisted) spiked from 60.6% in the first 77 games (22nd) to 76.2% in the final five games (second). 

The Lakers are worse off without Doncic and Reaves. 

But they’re also less familiar. Which, at least for a game or moments within games, can work to their advantage.  

“They got guys that can step up and fill some of those roles they were missing,” Kevin Durant told reporters in Houston. “Obviously, missing two of the best players in the league is tough to make up for. But they got guys that can come in and make a huge impact. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

The Lakers will still have to work through issues — some familiar and some not.

A familiar one: How will they manage the defensive glass against a Rockets team that led the league in offensive rebounding? 

An unfamiliar one: How will they try to create offensive advantages against a Rockets defense that’s less likely to hedge or blitz ball screens without Doncic and Reaves on the floor?  

The regular-season matchups provided some clues, while also making it clear the playoff series will be unfamiliar territory for both teams.

With the Lakers set to begin their playoff run, now is a perfect time as any to unpack a question that’s nearly as old as basketball itself…

What matters more: offense or defense?

There are clichés such as “offense wins games and defense wins championships” that have been used for ages, but what’s the actual answer?

Modern offenses push the pace of play and shoot more threes each year, making it feel like offense is king. This decade, Nikola Jokić has won three MVP Awards because of his offense. There is no defense, no matter how elite, that has figured out a way to stop Steph Curry.

The beauty of basketball.

You know what's coming but still can't stop it.

Decades long dominance of the Steph Dray DHO. https://t.co/oNMWLFYFx1

— Raj C. (@RajChipalu) April 16, 2026

At the highest levels, it’s starting to feel like the best defenses can’t measure up to the best offenses. However, coaches still view them as equally important.

“I think you need both,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “And there’s been three outliers in the last 25 years. I know the Lakers, I think it was ‘01, were a bottom-third defense, but they were number one in the playoffs. Really, Denver in ‘23 was the only team that had an average defense, and then they were average in the playoffs.”

In the regular season, the 2001 Lakers had the seventh-worst defense in the NBA, but improved to first in the playoffs. With a dramatically improved defense and the most dominant offensive force in Shaquille O’Neal, that LA team won it all, losing just one game in the postseason.

During the 2020s, 18 of the 24 teams that have reached the conference finals ranked in the top ten offensively. And three of the champions finished in the top five. The only two exceptions were the 2020 Lakers, who were 11th in offensive rating, and the 2022 Warriors, who were 16th.

However, in the postseason, both teams morphed into elite scoring machines. With an offensive rating of 115.6, no one was better on that end of the floor than LA in the bubble. Golden State was fourth in 2022 at 114.5.

The defensive numbers for title contenders in this era have been high as well. During the 2020s, 14 of the 24 teams that have reached the conference finals were top-10 in defensive rating. But four of the five NBA champions were in the top five. As Redick mentioned, the only outlier was the 2023 Nuggets, who were 15th.

The Lakers will play the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, and head coach Ime Udoka discussed the balance between offense and defense before the Christmas Day matchup against the Lakers earlier this season.

“For us, we try to be balanced and we’re somewhere up in the top five area of both,” Udoka said. “I want to do that and that’s where you have the great balance, great scoring, but you need to have the versatile of pieces to do it.

“I think we have a ton of defenders, naturally. We talked about keeping our identity the last few years of being a high-level defensive team and improving on the offense, and I think we’ve done that.”

Udoka did keep his team near the top five in both categories. During the regular season, Houston had a defensive rating of 112.1, which ranked sixth in the league, and an offensive rating of 117.5, which ranked eighth in the NBA.

The Lakers finished with offensive and defensive ratings of 117.0 (10th) and 115.5 (20th), respectively. While that defensive rating for LA is discouraging and perhaps an indicator that they are not at the level needed to win, they did improve as the season went along.

Post All-Star break, their defensive rating was 113.4, good for 14th in the league. That’s still not ideal as a top-10 defense seems to be the standard for a Conference Finals appearance, but it’s progress.

For the Lakers to have postseason success, they’ll need to figure out how to elevate their play in both categories. And there are subcategories they need to improve on that will help them find success. Redick has mentioned wanting to improve their rebounding and turnovers in their series against Houston.

Based on how the 2020s have gone so far, it seems a top-10 offense is more likely to get you deep in the playoffs, but an elite defense is necessary to win it all.

So, the answer to what matters more between defense and offense is still a combination of both.

“I grew up in San Antonio, believing in and knowing that defense wins championships,” Pelicans head coach James Borrego said. “We always hung our hat on that end of the floor and I still believe that.

“But I think it’s a balance of both, and really leaning into the strength of your roster is where you need to lean. Every roster is built differently. Some’s a little bit more offensive. Some’s a little bit more defensive. To me, the best teams maximize the roster, though. They lean into the strength of their players and how they play together.”

If there is one thing Redick has done well, it is maximizing his team’s potential. He’s had back-to-back 50-win seasons with very different rosters and with major shake-ups midseason.

In the playoffs, with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves out indefinitely, he has to figure out how to balance both and get offensive production without his starting backcourt and come up with a defensive plan to stop Kevin Durant, who is one of the best scorers the league has ever seen.

It won’t be easy, but to have a long postseason run, the Lakers will have to find new solutions offensively and come up with enough defensive stops to make a run.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

Just two days remain until the beginning of the Knicks’ playoff journey against the Atlanta Hawks, and there are a lot of compelling storylines with this series.

While the Knicks are favored, national pundits believe this series will be among the closer ones in the first round of the NBA playoffs, so what do the Knicks need to do to silence the critics and get to Round 2 unscathed?

Controlling the Pace

There are inherent, stylistic differences between the Knicks and Hawks that will be apparent throughout the series.

The Knicks, despite their head coach being hired to increase the pace, remain a half-court-based offense that prefers to take its time to find the best shot. The head of the snake, Jalen Brunson, crosses half court with 16 on the shot clock every possession. 10.7 percent of their shot attempts are with four or fewer seconds on the shot clock, which is fifth in basketball. They’ve found a way to be a top-five offense with this strategy, so they haven’t tried to change it.

Compare that to Atlanta, which is fifth in the NBA in pace and will often try to sprint up the court regardless of how the previous possession ended to get into the frontcourt with 20 on the shot clock. The stylistic difference can be described best with this:

Percent of shot attempts with 4 and 7 or fewer seconds on the shot clock:
Knicks: 10.7%, 21.6%
Hawks: 7.7%, 13.3%

Percent of shots with at least 15 on the shot clock:
Knicks: 32.3%
Hawks: 41.6%

The Knicks take their time, the Hawks want to run. The Hawks are third in fastbreak points with 18.1, while the Knicks are 14th. Whoever is able to play their game will have a massive advantage in this series.

We saw this with the Pacers the last two seasons. The Knicks let them play to their pace and struggled mightily. The Knicks are vulnerable in transition defensively, but are able to sink their teeth in once they get in the halfcourt. The Knicks are the second-most efficient offense when it comes to shooting “grenades”, while the Hawks are middle-of-the-pack. They thrive when they have to make tough shots.

2025-26 Grenade Leaders…

⬆️ Higher eFG%
➡️ More Very Late Shotclock FGA

What stands out? pic.twitter.com/pszsMiPKZJ

— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) April 7, 2026

If the Knicks can hold down the Hawks in transition like they did down the stretch of these teams’ most recent meeting earlier this month, they’ll have a lot of success in this series.

Containing Nickeil Alexander-Walker

The easiest way an underdog can pull off an upset is a breakout performance that puts the league on notice. There aren’t many players capable of doing this on the Hawks, and as good as Jalen Johnson is, he isn’t a threat to average 30 for a series.

Alexander-Walker could be. The cousin of reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he left the shadows of Anthony Edwards in Minnesota and has done his best Jalen Brunson impression in thriving for his new team. He should win Most Improved Player and he showed what he can do when everything is clicking earlier this month against the Knicks:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker 36 PTS, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 12/19 FG, 7/11 3FG, 84.9% TS vs Knicks

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER. pic.twitter.com/lGZd58r59fhttps://t.co/8AJsCFrRYk

— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) April 7, 2026

It wasn’t your typical “leave a role player open, and he makes you pay”; he was cooking on some high-difficulty shots. If the Hawks have any chance in this series, he needs to be going shot-for-shot with Brunson and not be sitting in the corner down the stretch, which is part of the reason the Hawks melted down late in the early April matchup.

Dominate the Paint

This one is pretty clear. One team has Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns, the other has Onyeka Okongwu and Tony Bradley. The Hawks just effectively ruled out Jock Landale for the series, so there’s no reinforcements coming for an overmatched Atlanta center rotation.

Towns has had two efficient and dominant games against the Hawks this season and Okongwu has had absolutely no answer for him. While they could switch a wing onto Towns and put Okongwu on Josh Hart, that won’t work out well for them if Towns is assertive with the ball in his hands. As for Robinson, the Hawks will need to put several bodies on him to keep him off the glass, but that might not even be enough.

If there is one thing that Mitchell Robinson will do, it's grab contested rebounds and make your favorite team's bigs feel small…

One of the best glass eaters of all time. pic.twitter.com/zgY9pHklRT

— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) April 15, 2026

On that note, the Hawks are bigger than the Knicks pretty much everywhere else but center, so the Knicks will need Robinson and Towns to gobble up boards and not let one of Atlanta’s wings pick up loose balls and run out in transition.

The NBA's 65-game rule, forcing players to play in at least 65 regular season games in order to be eligible for end-of-season awards, has received mixed reviews from fans and players.

Several fans believe it incentivizes stars to play in games, creating a better product for people in attendance. Others believe such a rule being implemented while individual players may have clauses in their contracts that offer bonuses for earning end-of-season awards creates a system that hurts players for situations that often are out of their control, such as injuries or family emergencies.

Well, it appears the NBA has heard these complaints and is making an adjustment.

Although neither the Detroit Pistons' Cade Cunningham nor the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic played in 65 regular season games, both have been reinstated for end-of-season awards.

Just in: The NBA and NBPA have ruled in favor of Lakers' Luka Doncic and Pistons' Cade Cunningham on their Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge for the 65-game award rule, making both eligible for all 2025-26 season honors such as MVP and All-NBA teams, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/gUYdUn1q4k

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 16, 2026

The NBA announced that Cunningham (63 games played) would be exempt "due in part to missing 12 games as a result of a collapsed lung that was diagnosed on March 17." Meanwhile Doncic (64 games played) earned exemption "due in part to missing two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia."

Here's what to know.

Will these exemption keep up moving forward?

The decisions to re-implement both Doncic and Cunningham came as part of the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) under the "extraordinary circumstances provision."

However, the league did not reveal what exactly constitutes an extraordinary circumstance, only that both Cunningham and Doncic applied.

That said, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards didn't receive an exemption. Edwards played in 60 games — or 61 when counting the game where he played only three minutes, which the league did not count — and filed "an extraordinary circumstances challenge under the CBA, seeking award eligibility before an independent arbitrator."

Why was Anthony Edwards denied?

Edwards missed 11 of the Timberwolves' final 14 games this season while dealing with a right knee injury. Furthermore, several of those games missed were in an effort to ensure Edwards would be good to go for the playoffs.

Edwards also missed time due to hamstring issues and illnesses earlier in the season.

Despite this, Edwards still played 2,137 minutes on the season, more than other players who are qualified for end-of-season awards like Kawhi Leonard, Victor Wembanyama and LaMelo Ball.

Will Doncic, Cunningham win any awards?

While neither player is likely to win MVP, both players will likely be named to All-NBA teams, which qualify under the 65-game rule. Edwards will not be eligible.

Edwards' ineligibility actually hurts his future. An All-NBA selection for Edwards would have ensured the 24-year-old supermax contract eligibility when he is eligible for a new contract in the 2027 offseason. While Edwards can still earn his third all-NBA bid next season, it puts added pressure on him to succeed. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that another injury forces him out of significant time next season, which could yet again cost him another All-NBA selection.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Luka Doncic, Cade Cunningham eligible for NBA awards after appeal

In today’s Dub Hub:

• Steve Kerr reacts to Steph Curry’s 35-point night in Warriors’ 126-121 Play-In win vs. Clippers: “This is why Steph came back.”
• Kawhi Leonard compliments Draymond Green for his defensive performance against him.
• Sixers secure the 7th seed in the East after beating the Magic, 109-97. 

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t need many words to convey what Stephen Curry did on Wednesday night.

After the Warriors kept their season alive with a 126-121 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the Play-In Tournament, Kerr’s postgame message said everything about Curry’s performance, and why it mattered so much for the superstar point guard to play again this season.

"This is why Steph came back."

Steve Kerr shared a blunt message to the people who wanted Steph Curry to sit out the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/mdTBjC0BeK

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 16, 2026

For weeks, there was outside noise suggesting Golden State should shut Curry down as he worked his way back from a knee injury that sidelined him for 27 games to close the regular season. Instead, he delivered the exact kind of performance that made that idea look foolish, finishing with a game-high 35 points to lead the Warriors to a comeback win when the team needed him the most.

Warriors INCREDIBLE COMEBACK in the fourth to beat Clippers in Play-In 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/zaUh91xdnJ

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 16, 2026

"These nights make everything worth it." 🙌

Steph Curry reflects on the Warriors win tonight along with their journey this season. pic.twitter.com/BqGC72rXEh

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 16, 2026

Draymond Green — who had an excellent night himself on the defensive end — echoed Kerr’s sentiment, pointing to Curry’s presence as the key difference in high-pressure moments like this.

"When Steph's on the floor, you always have a chance."

Draymond on Steph's inspiring road to recovery 👏 https://t.co/ArwkSO5BtRpic.twitter.com/GFuPfocpIe

— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2026

That’s what superstars do in win-or-go-home games.

And with the season on the line, Curry reminded everyone exactly why the Warriors were willing to ride this out.

C'MON!

That was fun 🤩 pic.twitter.com/tp51HdGZoJ

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 16, 2026

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Thursday, April 16th:

Warriors News:

Warriors rally over Clippers in 4th to advance in play-in | ESPN

Kerr gave a postgame speech to the team in the locker room, stating that it was one of his favorite wins of this Warriors run that has lasted longer than a decade.

Kerr’s coaching future is uncertain. The 37 wins were the second-fewest in his 12-season tenure. The core is aging. Injuries caught up this year. But Kerr felt they’d turned back the clock for a night to remind the world what they were in their prime.

“There’s a reason we have four championships,” Kerr said. “With all the wins we’ve ever had here — a lot of them with a lot more at stake – this is right up there. Just because of where we are and our age and the decline of our performance this year and our injuries. It was just a beautiful display of competitive will.”

Al Horford, Kristaps Porziņģis provide big boost in comeback win over Clippers | The Athletic

“I had flashbacks to Game 1 in the ’22 Finals,” Curry said, referencing when Horford, then a member of the Boston Celtics, racked up 26 points and hit six 3-pointers in a win over Curry and the Warriors. “Because it was just like that, where all of a sudden — he was 0-for-3 at one point from 3, and then he hits the first one. It was just a sign of how confident he was shooting it. There was no hesitation, there was no doubt. There was just ‘I’m open. I’ll shoot it.’”

Kawhi Leonard compliments Draymond Green’s defense: “It was hard to even get shots up”

Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green exchange compliments about one another following an epic @SoFi Play-In 👏 https://t.co/LFqgSBDgLYpic.twitter.com/eUfXCC9d3A

— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2026

NBA News:

Tyrese Maxey scores 31 and Sixers beat Magic 109-97 to advance out of SoFi Play-In Tournament | NBA

Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points, V.J. Edgecombe added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers weathered the absence of Joel Embiid to beat the Orlando Magic 109-97 on Wednesday night and secure the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Sixers moved on to a first-round series that begins Sunday at Boston.

Desmond Bane and the Magic aren’t done yet. They will host Charlotte on Friday night in the SoFi Play-In Tournament finale, with the winner earning the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with Detroit.

Hornets’ LaMelo Ball fined for tripping Heat’s Bam Adebayo during first round play-in game

The NBA is fining Charlotte's LaMelo Ball $35,000 for his trip of Miami's Bam Adebayo and upgrading the action to a Flagrant, plus fining him $25,000 for cursing postgame, sources tell ESPN.

$60K in fines, Flagrant. No suspension. pic.twitter.com/7oCyuFbxim

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 16, 2026

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

Warriors vs. Clippers player grades: Steph Curry and Draymond Green turn back the clock

Porziņģis looked like his All-Star self in this game. He had numerous highlight defensive plays, single-handedly ending multiple Clippers possessions that looked like easy buckets. He was a walking bucket, scoring from all over the court, largely within the system but also taking matters into his own hands when it was needed. And he had some passes that made your eyes pop wide open.

It was a complete — and completely excellent — performance. And it left no doubt as to whether or not the Warriors will make re-signing Porziņģis a priority this coming offseason.

Grade: A+

Follow @unstoppablebaby on X for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.