NBA playoff winners and losers: VJ Edgecombe keys 76ers' upset over Celtics, Spurs stunned after Wemby injury

Our rook. VJ Edgecombe. 🙌

30 PTS | 10 REB | 6 3PM @PALottery pic.twitter.com/hw34VTFF2Q

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 22, 2026 Edgecombe's 16-point second quarter helped Philadelphia regain control after the Celtics nearly ran away with it early, but the fourth quarter belonged to Maxey. The Celtics briefly pulled the score within two, but two pull-up Maxey 3s gave Philadelphia a cushion it would never surrender. The win itself is, of course, meaningful. Philadelphia stole home-court advantage and tied the series. It bought Embiid a few extra days to potentially return. But in the bigger picture, it's a reminder that Embiid's horrid luck doesn't need to doom this franchise completely. The 76ers have one of the brightest rookie stars in the NBA, and Maxey is going to make an All-NBA Team. The two of them together are enough of a foundation to compete with even seasoned champions like the Celtics. They'll need help and health to hit their ceiling, of course, but the 76ers are in a deceptively promising position for a team seemingly afflicted with some sort of divine jinx. & again! pic.twitter.com/vAtxCDDZ8t

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 22, 2026

Loser: Joe Mazzulla

If Joe Mazzulla has a weakness as a coach, it's how slowly he makes adjustments during games. Boston playoff losses often feel similar. A lot of dribbling. A lot of good 3s that didn't go in. A single, iffy strategic decision that an opponent picks persistently until suddenly a winnable game slips through Boston's fingers. That's largely how Game 2 played out. If Boston had shot as it normally does, the Celtics probably would have won. If Philadelphia shoots as it normally does, Boston probably wins too. The former is just variance. The latter? Well, Boston didn't help matters with its vanilla defensive scheme. The Celtics spent most of the game dropping their big men, Neemias Queta and Nikola Vučević, into the paint in pick-and-roll. That left Boston's perimeter defenders helpless to contest Philadelphia's pull-up 3s. That commitment to locking off the paint was technically successful. The 76ers scored just 32 paint points in Game 2, down from 45 in Game 1 and Philadelphia's season-long average of 50.2, but the exchanges were some of the easiest shots Philadelphia saw all season, especially for Edgecombe. Philadelphia's two star guards combined to shoot 11-of-22 from deep, and the 76ers as a team nailed 49% of their triples. It's an interesting dilemma for Mazzulla, given the roster he's working with. Having Al Horford at center in previous years gave the Celtics the versatility to play almost any pick-and-roll defense. When Boston finally tinkered with more aggressive coverages late in the game, Maxey had little trouble attacking it. Vučević's defense has been an issue in the postseason for basically his entire career. Couple that with the absence of Jrue Holiday on the perimeter this season and the Celtics just aren't as versatile defensively as they used to be. Mazzulla still has plenty to work with, but he'll have to mix things up a bit as the playoffs progress.

Winner: Scoot Henderson

The word "bust" hadn't quite attached itself to Scoot Henderson's name after his first two NBA seasons, but it was certainly circling the former No. 3 overall pick. Portland's additions of Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard had a chance to be enormously beneficial for Henderson in the locker room, but adding two potential Hall of Famers at your position doesn't exactly scream confidence from your organization. Shaedon Sharpe got a big contract extension last offseason. Deni Avdija grew into an All-Star this year while Henderson was injured. A few months ago, it just wasn't quite clear what his long-term place in Portland would be. Well, we're starting to get an answer. In two strong playoff performances against the Spurs, he's staking his claim as a foundational player in Portland. In Tuesday's 106-103 win, Henderson led all scorers with 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting and 5 of 9 from deep.

SCOOT. HENDERSON. pic.twitter.com/fZf3K00TVA

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) April 22, 2026 What's most notable here is the shooting. His long-term upside was always tied to his ability to pair his elite athleticism with a consistent jumper. That's finally starting to happen. The five 3-pointers he drilled in Game 2 tied a season high. He hit over 40% of his triples in his last 20 regular-season games. If he can keep shooting like this, it's going to make it that much harder to keep him away from the basket, and his steadily improving craft as a finisher is making him far more dangerous when he gets there. This is the version of Henderson we waited three years to see. He's met the moment with absolute fearlessness, and whether it leads to a series upset or not, it bodes very well for both his future and Portland's.

Loser: San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs made waves for their fiesta-themed uniforms and fan t-shirts in Game 1, but the whole night played out like a party. Victor Wembanyama's 35-point playoff debut almost superseded the game itself. It felt like a moment in NBA history. The future face of the league was ready to officially start his ascent to the mountaintop. Portland played San Antonio competitively, but victory was never really in doubt. We allowed our minds to drift to what we assumed was coming next. Well, you know what they say about assuming. A second-quarter concussion for Victor Wembanyama changed everything. The series is now tied at one game apiece, and Wembanyama will have to go through the concussion protocol before he can return to the floor. That likely means missing time, and the next two games in this series will be in Portland. The Spurs have won plenty without Wembanyama this season. They went 12-6 without him in the regular season, including much of their surprising run through the NBA Cup. Spurs star Victor Wembanyama exits Game 2 vs. Blazers, diagnosed with concussion after hard fall to floor James Herbert