This Week In 🏀 can only revel in our first raffle ... and tip off a new month with some basketball nostalgia

I guess we can also admit to some Vegas longings ... even if they are connected to the NBA Cup

The NBA (Not A) Cup is still not really much of a tournament in Year 2, as we've ranted many times previously, but this much it can virtually guarantee us now:

A new champion.

The Los Angeles Lakers are all but eliminated from advancement to the quarterfinal stage and (finally) some knockout games. That will become official Tuesday after the last burst of group play allows us to confirm all eight quarterfinalists. (Golden State, Houston and Atlanta are the only three teams that have already clinched quarterfinal spots.)

I have enclosed breakdowns from the league to click on that explain everything that's at stake Tuesday night … since you might not share my Cup grumpiness. I also unashamedly repeat my long-held desire that, as critical as I've been of the tournament format employed by the NBA until we reach the Final Four, I do still long to make it to Las Vegas for the Dec. 14 semifinals and Dec. 17 championship game.

Because (duh) Vegas.

The fact that the Dallas Mavericks can (almost certainly) clinch a Western Conference wild-card berth with a home win Tuesday over the Memphis Grizzlies certainly enhances my chances of getting to Sin City (I think). My work for DLLS Sports makes a Vegas trip pretty much mandatory if the Mavericks can get that far.

Right?

(I am indeed seeking some moral support here for you guys.)

Anyway ...

This TWIB compilation will not feature the usual Monday Musings because The Committee (of One) will on Tuesday be publishing its musings on all 30 teams in a long-awaited fresh batch of NBA Power Rankings. We actually wanted to publish a piping hot helping of Power Rankings last Tuesday — before Thanksgiving — but the first week-plus after Jake Fischer joined The Stein Line squad was newsier and busier than anticipated.

Onto the rest of the standout stuff, NBA and otherwise, from The Week That Was both leaguewide and in my sphere.

Momentous Announcement of the Week

On this Cyber Monday, we are excited to reveal the first raffle winners in the history of The Stein Line:

🏀 Josh Christopher

🏀 Bryan Heck

🏀 Jon Weinbach

🏀 R. Woolen

As promised last Friday, to help ring in Holiday Shopping Season, any new subscriber to The Stein Line was entered into a drawing for four $100 e-gift cards from the massive Jake Fischer fans at Wingstop.

The aforementioned foursome was selected from a drawing expertly conducted by Mrs. Line.

Momentous Follow-Up Announcement of the Week

That, however, was merely Step 1 in our Wingstop Giveaway Plan.

We saved one $100 e-gift card for a drawing that will be conducted among participants in our next Subscriber Chat session. That chat was originally going to happen Wednesday, but we are now forced to reschedule due to circumstances beyond our control. Details forthcoming ASAP.

Any reader who posts a comment in that chat will be entered into a raffle to claim one more $100 Wingstop prize.

Nostalgic Burst of the Week

I cannot properly describe how happy it made me to see this tweet on Thanksgiving Eve about, well, maybe the greatest TV show ever.

The White Shadow debuted on Nov. 27, 1978, and starred Ken Howard as a fictional former Chicago Bull named Kenny Reeves who agreed to coach the basketball team at fictional Carver High School in South Central Los Angeles when a knee injury ended his NBA career.

I know I have blathered on and on and on over the years about how much I loved this show — and, more recently, how giddy I am that Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis brought back Reeves' No. 14 — but you have to understand: We had so, so, SO much less NBA basketball available to us on television from 1978-1981 when The White Shadow aired compared to now.

It was truly ahead of its time as a show in terms of subject matter and a blessing to young hoops lovers in those days who desperately wanted to see more roundball on TV.

Plus the theme song! Melodious, magical sweetness:

Stories of the Week (that I wrote)

Tuesday: In additional to the usual Numbers Game goodness on a Tuesday, we unveiled plans for the first Superchat in the history of The Stein Line. That chat went down here.

Wednesday: My deep dive on the growing amount of behind-the-scenes connections that have intertwined the Knicks and the Mavericks since the Kristaps Porziņģis trade in January 2019.

Wednesday: To get into the Thanksgiving spirit,

Royce Webb

commissioned a survey of voices from all over NBA Substack to weigh in with thoughts about what has us feeling optimistic about today's NBA. Not for the first time in one of these surveys, I found joy in some standings quirks.

Sunday: The usual around-the-league NBA notebook.

Games of the Week (that I attended)

Wednesday: Mavericks 129, Knicks 114

Podcasts of the Week (that I participated in)

In addition to my usual four weekly appearances on the DLLS Mavs show for DLLS Sports, I had a fun Friday night visit with my pals at CHGO Bulls ... including my former ESPN Radio teammate Will Perdue!

Check that wild show out here ... with a lengthy breakdown from yours truly on the Bulls' Trade Season ambitions after the excellent piece from the aforementioned Fischer that is spotlighted in the next category:

One click gets you subscribed to the DLLS Sports YouTube page to stay abreast of my four weekly appearances there.

(Substack) Note of the Week

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've 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 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 appreciated in the comments section below.