This Week In Basketball can only say that the NBA's postseason is really here

I'm testing out a new format with one of my go-to column presentations. Input is welcomed and encouraged

Stuff I can’t wait to see during the NBA postseason* …

🏀 Tuesday night's Lakers/Pelicans opener in the Play-In Tournament after New Orleans face-planted twice on the big stage this season against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Co. No. 1 was the 44-point loss to L.A. in the In-Season Tournament semifinals in Las Vegas; No. 2 was Sunday night's home game that could have sealed a top-six seed and a 50-win season for the Pels … who wound up losing by 16. What sort of response can New Orleans muster? It'll be five successive NBA seasons with no playoff basketball for Zion Williamson if the Pelicans don't escape the Play-In round.

🏀 Sacramento playing host to Golden State in Tuesday night's other PIT opener. The 10^th-seeded Warriors, remember, have won 17 of their last 21 road games. The season ends for the loser. It's a rematch of Golden State's Game 7 victory on the road in last season's first round. Who would dare pick the Kings given all those variables?

🏀 Eighth-seeded Miami at seventh-seeded Philadelphia on Wednesday night in a titanic PIT matchup. The winner advances to a best-of-seven series against Jalen Brunson's New York Knicks after Milwaukee and Cleveland (intentionally?) landed at Nos. 3 and 4 in the East. The loser plays a win-or-go-home game against the Chicago/Atlanta winner … for the right to advance to a best-of-seven series with the 64-win Boston Celtics. The Heat, of course, used a similar path last spring (losing to visiting Atlanta; squeaking past visiting Chicago) as the platform for a Cinderella run to the NBA Finals.

🏀 The participation of Sacramento and Philadelphia means that, by week's end, 20 franchises — exactly two-thirds of the league's 30 teams — will have participated in the full-scale PIT in its first four years of operation.

🏀 How the Hawks handle the chance to improve to 4-0 in their PIT history and qualify for the playoffs via the PIT for a record third time if they can win at Chicago.

🏀 How the Lakers handle the opportunity to improve to 3-0 in their PIT history and beat the Hawks to becoming the first three-time playoff qualifier from the PIT … provided they can take care of the Pelicans one more time.

🏀 What sort of prelude all this PIT tension will represent heading into Denver's defense of its first NBA championship in franchise history … and the fact that anyone else but the Nuggets winning this season's championship will give the league its sixth different titlist in six seasons (which hasn't happened since the 1970s).

🏀 Seeing the better basketball we are all owed now from this week's three Play-In games in each conference after how far short of the hype Sunday's slate fell. Despite all the hoopla and buildup to the final day on the regular season schedule, with 15 of 20 seeding positions in both conferences undecided, we were treated to almost nothing but unwatchable blowouts.

*Our use above of the word postseason was intentional. Remember: Play-In Tournament games are not regarded as playoff games according to official NBA bookkeeping. So I restricted the discussion on this Sunday night to PIT matchups and what's at stake in the week ahead. Stuff I can’t wait to see in the actual NBA playoffs would be a much longer list/discussion.

On now to the rest of the week-in-review roundup that I've begun publishing on Sundays …

Stories of the Week (published here)

Monday:  A column on the Western Conference rebounding with authority from last season's struggles.

Tuesday: A historical look at the NBA's Play-In Tournament.

Thursday: Contract extensions, coaching carousel chatter, trade murmurings and an April address from Commissioner Adam Silver all featured in this around-the-league notes compilation.

Friday: My take on this season's MVP race featured in the latest survey of voices from throughout NBA Substack by my longtime colleague Royce Webb.

Games of the Week (that I attended)

Tuesday: Stars 3, Sabres 2

What keeps me grounded as a spoiled Manchester City fan even after Liverpool and Arsenal stunningly lost matches at home Sunday that had me dancing in my own house? My Buffalo Sabres fandom. The Sabres have missed the playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons — which is an NHL record and tied with the New York Jets for the longest active playoff drought in major North American team sports — and I was in attendance Tuesday night when Let's Go Buffalo clinched this shameful status with a 3-2 loss in Dallas. Hold me …

Courtesy of the @BannersSabres Twitter feed.

Friday: Pistons 107, Mavericks 89

Podcasts of the Week (that I co-hosted)

Tuesday with Turner Sports' Chris Haynes:

Thursday with Turner Sports' Chris Haynes:

Friday with special guest Hannah Storm of ESPN:

Radio Show of the Week (that I hosted)

The Saturday Stein Line on 97.1 (FM) The Freak:

Plus my Radio Guest Spot of the Week with Sportsnet 590 AM in Canada:

Tweeted Factoid of the Week

Meal of the Week

Failed to get a single memorable snap this past week of a meal or coffee out of the norm. Will hopefully rectify that with some looming playoff travel because, yes, I will indeed make my way to a handful of playoff games (home and road) this spring after stunningly attending zero in 2023.

Quote of the Week

"I think there was a sense earlier in the season that there was too much of an advantage for the offensive players. I think Steve Kerr said offensive players were using themselves as projectiles or hunting for fouls, however you want to call it."

— NBA commissioner Adam Silver … essentially confirming that the very public criticism levied by Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Christmas Day about the league "legislating the defense of the game" and "enabling players to BS their way to the foul line" actually contributed to what Silver described as "a bit of an adjustment" in terms of the frequency in whistles after the All-Star break.

NBA teams were averaging 115.5 points per game at the break. That average dropped to 111.6 points per game after the break … with fouls dropping from 38.8 per game before the break to 34.8 per game after. Free throws, not surprisingly, also dropped after the break … from 45.3 per game to 39.7 after.

So now we wonder …

Is the lesson here that public complaints from coaches about officiating suddenly, uh, work?

Final Word(s) of the Week

As I've mentioned often previously, I loved loved LOVED This Week In Baseball in my youth and have frequently compiled what I have referred to as TWIB Notes on this Substack to pay homage to the great Mel Allen and that life-changing show which debuted in 1977. Now my goal is to make it more of a full-on roundup every Sunday of what I wrote, said, did, saw and maybe even ate, bought, etc., in a given week … with categories that I suspect will evolve as I get a better handle on what this piece should look like. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated in the comments section below.