I managed to pull off a dramatic comeback, and win my quarterfinal matchup, by outsmarting my opponent: my league has "negative" stats, and I noticed that I was in range of FG% and TOs, so I pulled all of my players after the matinee game (Trail Blazers/Pacers), and then let him shoot himself out of the playoffs.
Of course, now my reward is a semifinal matchup, where I will be without two of my three best players (Steph, Domas), and a key role player (Hart) whose team has four games this week, but who doesn't play in back-to-backs.