2023 NBA Playoffs:  5 Winners & Losers from Round 1

With the defending champions Golden State Warriors prevailing over the Sacramento Kings in game 7, the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs ended.

What an exciting two weeks it was! Over the previous decade, NBA fans have grown accustomed to the first round being a mere formality. Superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo go about their business as usual. Games are blowouts. Upsets are few and far between.

But the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs flipped the script entirely. Chock-full of surprises, be it stunning upsets, close games with many a game winner or role players stepping up, it was anything but business as usual.

Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers from the most exciting first rounds in recent memory.

#1. Mike Brown - Winner

Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings

Kings fans will be disappointed that the "beam team's" first NBA playoff appearance in 16 years ended in the first round. However, with a young core centered around De'Aaron Fox, who is looking like a perennial All-Star, things are certainly trending upwards for the Kings.

The architect of this transformation is the newly crowned Coach Of The Year Mike Brown. By taking the defending champions to 7 games, Brown who returned to head coaching duties after 8 years, proved that he still has what it takes to coach a contender. Watch out for the Kings next year because they'll be a menace.

#2. Dillon Brooks - Loser

Memphis Grizzlies v Los Angeles Lakers - Game Six

Dillon Brooks was writing checks with his mouth that his body couldn't cash. The Memphis Grizzlies player started the series by taking verbal shots at LA Lakers superstar LeBron James. But those were the only noteworthy shots he made throughout the series.

Brooks shot an abysmal 31.2% from the field on 12.8 attempts per game. Combined with ducking the media after losing the series, Brooks proved that he is just 'all talk'.

#3. LA Lakers role players - Winners

Los Angeles Lakers v Memphis Grizzlies - Game One

When a team has LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it is expected that one of the two will be the leading scorer in each game. This didn't turn out to be the case in this series thanks to the Lakers' role players stepping up in a major way.

Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell & Austin Reaves each lead the way in scoring in three of the Lakers' four wins. They will prove to be a handful for the Golden State Warriors in the second round.

#4. The Milwaukee Bucks - Losers

Mike Budenholzer - a deer in headlights

The Milwaukee Bucks, who had the best regular-season record in the NBA, crashed out in embarrassing fashion, losing in 5 games to the Miami Heat.

They became just the fifth first seed to lose in the first round in NBA history. While a lot of the blame can be placed on the lackluster performances of their stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, their veteran coach Mike Budenholzer also deserves a lot of flak.

Budenholzer failed to make any in-game adjustments and forgot to call a crucial timeout at the end of regulation in the decisive game 5. Bucks fans have started calling for his head on the chopping block and it remains to be seen whether he will be back next season.

#5. Jimmy Butler - Winner

Milwaukee Bucks v Miami Heat - Game Four

Jimmy Butler, who always seems to elevate his game come playoff time, did not disappoint this year either.

In Game 4, he willed his team back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter with a legendary 56 point performance. Butler could do no wrong and hit clutch shot after clutch shot and the Bucks could do nothing but stand around and watch. He followed this up with another clutch shot in the waning seconds of regulation in Game 5 to tie the game up and send it into overtime.

Regardless of how the Heat do in the subsequent rounds, Butler has shown once again that he is one of the premier NBA playoff performers of his generation.

Other takeaways from Round 1 of the 2023 NBA Playoffs

Injuries

Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers

Despite a lot of close and exciting games, the first round of the NBA playoffs also bore witness to a slew of injuries.

Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo of the Miami Heat, Giannis Antentokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, and likely MVP Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers were all victims.

Perhaps the worst hit were the Los Angeles Clippers, whose star player Kawhi Leonard suffered another debilitating injury despite being load managed throughout the regular season. It remains to be seen how the injuries to their stars will affect the teams that have progressed to the second round.

Parity

It's Anyone's Game

With the sixth-seeded Warriors finishing off the third-seeded Kings for the first time in NBA history, all eight seeds are represented in the second round.

There is no clear title favorite and every series seems up in the air. This is a welcome change from the previous decade when it felt like only two or three teams had a legitimate shot at winning the title.

The league feels wide open and it's anybody's best guess who will end up lifting the Larry O'Brien trophy in June to become NBA champions.