The first weekend of the 2026 NBA playoffs was decidedly drama free with all eight Game 1s being decided by at least nine points for the first time in league history. The Knicks and Hawks game us our first barnburner on Monday as Atlanta flipped a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit into a 107-106 series-evening win in Game 2.
Elsewhere, the Cavs took a 2-0 lead on the Raptors. The Timberwolves closed out the night by handing the Nuggets a home loss and evening their series at 1-1. We’ll have more on that game later, but for now, here are the winners and losers from Knicks-Hawks and Cavs-Raptors.
Winner: CJ McCollum
Five years after Trae Young took over New York in the 2021 playoffs, the Hawks have another MSG villain in CJ McCollum, who has been superb through the first two games and absolutely took over late in the fourth quarter on Monday as Atlanta evened the series 1-1.
After Game 1, McCollum made a comment that Jalen Brunson, an accomplished on-court thespian, “thought we were at a Broadway show” as a reference to what he deemed a Brunson acting job on a McCollum jumper that resulted in a technical foul and $2,500 fine for the Atlanta guard.
The combination of the foot to their superstar’s nether region and the subsequent dig in the press conference had the MSG crowd chanting “f— you, CJ” prior the start of and throughout Game 2.
McCollum responded with 32 points, including nine in the fourth quarter that New York entered with a 12-point lead. Down the stretch, McCollum cooked Brunson over and over. First, with just over two minutes remaining, he turned Brunson inside out before floating a high kiss off the glass to give Atlanta its first lead since the eight-minute mark of the third quarter.
Thirty seconds later, he blew past Brunson again to extend Atlanta’s lead to three.
After Brunson answered with a 3-pointer to tie the score, McCollum flowed right back into a nasty fading jumper from the left corner to put the Hawks in front again.
Just for the drama, McCollum walked to the free-throw line with 5.6 seconds remaining with a chance to put Atlanta up three and bricked both of his attempts. Without a timeout, New York raced it the other way and got a pretty good look, but Mikal Bridges‘ jumper missed and Atlanta escaped with a shocking win.
There were a number of Atlanta heroes down the stretch. Nickeil Alexander-Walker hit a huge 3, and then after McCollum had put the Hawks up two with that baseline fader, NAW stripped Brunson and raced it the other way for a find-and-finish with Jalen Johnson, who was also big in closing time after a tough game.
But this was McCollum’s night, and it has been his series for the Hawks. Through two games, McCollum has drained 23 shots for 58 points. He has pushed the pace consistently, and in money time, he has been the go-to player for the Hawks. He’s no stranger to this. He’s been one of the league’s better one-on-one creators for years, and in his prime, there were few player you would trust more to get a bucket late in games. So far in this series, he’s proving he’s still got it on the big stage.
Loser: Knicks’ fourth-quarter dominance
During the regular season, the Knicks owned the league’s best fourth-quarter plus-minus by a wide margin. In Game 2, that dominance flew right out the window. The 12-point blown lead matched the biggest playoff fourth-quarter collapse in franchise history (tied with the Reggie Miller choke game in 1994).
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POINTS
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28
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15
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FIELD GOALS
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13
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5
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FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE
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72%
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23%
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After scoring 14 points in the third quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns went scoreless on just two shots in the fourth. He just wasn’t a part of the central actions down the stretch, which was a strange decision by Mike Brown as Towns enjoys a size advantage in this series and was coming off such a hot third.
Brunson was getting trapped all over, and Towns would’ve been a natural outlet, but suddenly he wasn’t being used in ball screens. Again, strange. As was Brown’s decision to play the first four minutes of the fourth with both Brunson and Towns on the bench. The Hawks trimmed the deficit from 12 to nine in that stretch, which isn’t terrible, but perhaps a different rotational deployment could’ve given the Knicks a chance to extend the lead and put the game away before it got tight.
Brown was asked about the non-Brunson/Towns minutes (coaches typically keep at least one of their stars on the court at all times whenever possible in playoff games, let alone in the fourth quarter), and he cited that the lineup in question performed well for the Knicks at the end of the regular season. But the end of the regular season is not the playoffs, and over the long haul, the numbers do not support Brown’s claim.
Brown did the same thing in Game 1, and the Knicks also got away with in then as they only lost one point off their lead. But be wary of small-sample lineup data. Shot luck can make a bad decision look good, or at least defensible, from game to game, but for the Knicks to strip themselves of their two core offensive engines for crucial fourth quarter minutes is playing with fire.
At any rate, this wasn’t the only problem. New York’s defense went in the gutter down the stretch, and a big part of that was Brunson being on the floor if we’re being honest. OG Anunoby coughed up a costly turnover. Their whole energy just turned casual, and the Hawks jumped on the opportunity to steal a huge road win that nobody saw coming 30 minutes earlier.
Winner: Rudy Gobert
No player in the league is more disrespected than Gobert, who is talked about like he grifted his way into DPOY trophies like some kind of flopping free-throw merchant. The man has four DPOYs for a reason, and he should’ve finished in the top three this season again (the Wolves were 12 points better per 100 possessions defensively when he was on the floor, per CTG, performing at what would rank as the second-best defense with him and the third-worst without him).
Gobert isn’t without his flaws, but he’s an all-time defender. Coming into the Timberwolves’ series with the Nuggets, it was fair to question how much Gobert having to guard Nikola Jokić straight up (the last time these two teams met in the playoffs Karl-Anthony Towns drew the main assignment, and Gobert was used as a roaming rim protector off ball), and through two games Gobert has more than acquitted himself against the world’s best player.
Hell, in Game 1, Gobert scored 17 points. He rolled to the rim. Flashed in the pocket. Put back dunks. Sure, Jokić finished that game with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists because he’s Nikola freaking Jokić, but it was not easy pickings.
In Game 2, Gobert’s defense on Jokic was as good as anyone could possibly hope to play. Here, Jokić ends up with a bucket off a random loose ball, but the initial stop is all Gobert.
Here he teams up with Jaden McDaniels to put on a two-man defensive clinic before stifling Jokić at the rim.
On the ensuing possession, Gobert straight up stones Jokić and forces the miss that starts a leak-out dunk for Donte DiVincenzo.
These are not second-quarter stops. This is money time. Under five minutes to play in a one-possession playoff game and he’s winning the battle against the world’s best player.
Only two points of the game were huge, moving Jokić out of the way for an offensive board and poster put-back to give Minnesota a late four-point lead. And while his offense wasn’t nearly as impactful as it was in the opener, his lone bucket of the night was a huge one, and it again came as Jokic’s expense as Gobert muscled the three-time MVP out of the way for an offensive board before jamming the put-back dunk in his face to put Minnesota up four with two minutes to play.
After Game 1, Jaden McDaniels said it was the best game that Gobert had played all season, and that if he kept it up, “we’re going to win this series.” Well, he did it again in Game 2, and the Wolves are headed home in a 1-1 tie with a chance to seize control of the series on Thursday.
Winner: Cleveland’s Big Three
The Cavs took a 2-0 lead on the Raptors on Monday thanks to an extraordinary collective effort from a trio of stars. Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Evan Mobley combined for 83 points on 66% shooting. It marks the fourth time in franchise history that three Cavaliers have scored at least 25 points in the same playoff game. Jarrett Allen was the only other player to score in double figures (10). This one was all about Cleveland’s Big Three.
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POINTS
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83
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32
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FIELD GOALS
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33-50
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11-33
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3-POINT FGS
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8-20
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5-20
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REBOUNDS
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20
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15
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ASSISTS
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11
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11
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Mitchell, one of the most electric postseason scorers in history, has been dominant with 64 points through the first two games. Harden is averaging 25 points, seven assists and 3.5 steals for the series. Mobley wasn’t as effective defensively in Game 2 as he was in Game 1, but he has been a force offensively from the jump.
Mobley isn’t going to have the huge numbers because of place in Cleveland’s hierarchy behind Mitchell and Harden, but the key is his energy and decisiveness in attacking every time he has the leverage to do so and he has done that to the tune of 20.5 PPG so far on a blistering 17-of-21 shooting.
Loser: Brandon Ingram
Ingram had a brutal go of it in Toronto’s Game 2 loss, finishing with just seven points on 3-of-15 shooting. His 23.5 true-shooting percentage is the worst mark in franchise history for a single playoff game in which at least 15 shots were attempted (tying DeMar DeRozan‘s 4-for-17 stinker in Game 4 of the conference semis against Miami in 2016).
Ingram came out hot in Game 1 but managed just one attempt in the second half as the Cavs kept a defender attached to him and Toronto fazed him out of focus.
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PPG
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27.0
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13.5
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FG%
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48%
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34%
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3PT%
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41%
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25%
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RPG
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6.2
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4.0
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APG
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6.2
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3.3
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If Toronto has any chance of winning Game 3 at home and getting back into this series, Ingram has to play big. The Raptors are already playing uphill trying to keep up with the Cavs offensively. Without Ingram chipping in big time, they have no chance.
;)
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