📷 Photo Gallery from the Buzzer-Beater of the Year Game 🏀

And don't worry: Numbers Game has returned to its rightful place in the Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza

I can't say it was the best game I've seen all season … but the best ending?

Sunday's St. Patrick's Day matinee at the American Airlines Center, on that basis, was hard to top.

People are still talking about it two days later and, as promised, we are devoting lead space in the Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza to a photo essay furnished by our photo editor Aaron Stein.

To the pics …

The release point on Kyrie Irving's lefty game-winner Sunday … from our photographer's vantage point at the top of the lower bowl.

Everybody shoots it lefty during warmups ...

An array of Luka Dončić conversations ...

Fadeaway form from a couple of MVP candidates ...

TOP LEFT: Can't deny that there was a brief moment pregame when I thought Luka's left hamstring wasn't going to cooperate; TOP RIGHT: It was staggering to see how no one seemed to pay any attention to the presence of Nikola Jokić when he came out for his pregame routine ... just a few days after the Golden State Warriors had frenzied fans in their seats at the American Airlines Center long before tipoff even though Stephen Curry wasn't even in town; BOTTOM LEFT: The ending was obviously flames and the pregame display wasn't bad, either; BOTTOM RIGHT: I have a suspicion that Nuggets coach Michael Malone was not of a huge fan of the Mavericks' football-inspired, ball-shielding alignment that ran several seconds off the clock in the second half.

Mavericks fan courtside … didn’t catch his name … this is a Josh Allen household.

When the photographer is named Aaron, you're going to get some shots of Aaron Gordon.

An assortment of game action shots ...

If you're in the building early enough to watch Luka's pregame routine, you’ll see him rising high on occasional practice jumpers with an amount of elevation he never tries during games. (Also notice the splashes of green on the shoes he chose for St. Patrick’s Day.)

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Numbers Game

🏀 19

If the 34-35 Chicago Bulls can muster an 8-5 finish, we'll have 19 teams with winning records this season ... which would establish a new NBA single-season record.

🏀 18

In three previous NBA seasons, there have been 18 teams with winning records: 2004-05, 2017-18 and 2021-22 (per research from our trusty fellow Substacker

Justin Kubatko

).

🏀 8

Only eight teams, entering Tuesday's play, had winning records against teams with records of .500 or better: Boston (28-13), Oklahoma City (25-14), Minnesota (25-16), Milwaukee (23-16), Denver (24-17), New Orleans (21-17), Indiana (20-19) and Sacramento (22-21). 

🏀 2

Good find from my friends at Mavs Film Room: Kyrie Irving's buzzer-beater Sunday kept the Mavericks on the short list of teams (along with Jalen Brunson's Knicks) yet to go to overtime this season. 

🏀 2004-05

The last team to go an entire 82-game season without playing at least one overtime game (per Mavs Film Room research): Houston in 2004-05. 

🏀 40

Roughly 40 miles separate the cities of Oceanside, where the Clippers' G League affiliate will base itself next season, and San Diego. But we don't care about such technicalities; I love that the Ontario Clippers will soon become the San Diego Clippers. 

🏀 1,230

We noted in Monday's piece that the NBA plays a 1,230-game regular season. I guess that number still applies because the In-Season Tournament championship game does not count in the regular-season standings ... even though some would say it represents game No. 1,231.  

🏀 8

The Magic on Monday began an eight-game, 16-day homestand ... tied for the longest in franchise history. Orlando also had an eight-gamer late in the 1999-2000 season. 

🏀 4

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley recently signed a four-year contract extension ... and you can safely presume that Orlando's rise to No. 4 leaguewide in defensive rating was no small factor. 

🏀 16-5

Denver is 16-5 this season when Nikola Jokić registers a triple-double. The Nuggets were 27-2 last season when Jokić had a triple-double. 

🏀 4.8

Bronny James completed his freshman season at USC with averages of 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 19.6 minutes per game for the 15-18 Trojans. That includes 36.6% shooting from the field, 26.7% shooting from the 3-point line and 67.6% shooting on free throws.

🏀 12

The 12 men's senior national teams that will participate in this summer's Olympics in Paris were divided into three four-team groups Tuesday … with Nikola Jokić's Serbia landing in the same group with the United States. (OQT refers to the four six-team, last-chance qualifying groups that will be hosted in June by Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico and Spain.)

🏀 97.1

One last reminder before we go: I'm on the radio Saturdays from noon to 1 PM CT on 97.1 (FM) The Freak in Dallas with an hour of live NBA talk presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Join us online by clicking the link embedded in this sentence or via the iHeart radio app to listen to The Saturday Stein Line on this or any Saturday ... or catch the podcasted version of the show once it drops via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or #whereveryougetyourpodcasts. And we repeat: Click the microphone icon on the 97.1 (FM) The Freak feed on the iHeart Radio app to leave a 30-second message or a question for me to answer on an upcoming show.