LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are back in the play-in tournament. So is Stephen Curry, as he and Golden State will be fighting for their season. And Jimmy Butler returns as well, after this round last year was the first step on Miami’s way to the NBA Finals.
The postseason -- not technically the playoffs, yet -- gets underway tonight with a pair of Western Conference matchups. The Lakers visit New Orleans with the winner securing the No. 7 seed and a series with defending champion Denver in Round 1. And then the Warriors go to Sacramento, an elimination game for both teams.
The Eastern Conference takes the stage Wednesday: Philadelphia plays host to Miami in a game to decide the No. 7 seed, and Atlanta visits Chicago with the season on the line for those clubs.
The Lakers forced a rematch of Sunday’s regular-season finale with a 128-104 victory in New Orleans that knocked the Pelicans out of the sixth seed. Now the Lakers expect the Pelicans to respond as if this were Game 2 of a playoff series.
“You win that first game and a team has multiple days to kind of sit on that feeling, sit with that taste in their mouth of defeat, so they’re going to be extremely ready for us and we have to come in with the same sense of urgency,” said the 39-year-old James, who is playing in his 21st NBA season.
The Lakers and Heat showed the play-in can be a springboard to bigger and better things last year; the Lakers reached the Western Conference finals, the Heat reached the NBA Finals.
“We’re not the same group as last year,” Butler said. “We -- I -- are very confident in the guys that we do have, and we know what we’re capable of. We’ll see what we got whenever the time gets here.”
Golden State gets a short bus ride north for an elimination game against the Kings, on the same floor where the Warriors won a road Game 7 in Round 1 last season.
“We’re happy to have a shot,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
So are the Kings, who had an up-and-down season -- but have a chance to vanquish the memory of falling in the playoffs to the Warriors a year ago.
“Let’s frickin’ go get it,” Sacramento coach Mike Brown said.
This is Year 4 of this format, and technically, Year 5 for the play-in tournament overall. A reminder of how the format works:
• There are six games of the tournament. All six either have a team qualifying for the playoffs, or getting eliminated, or both.
• No. 7 plays No. 8. The winner is in and gets the No. 7 seed for the playoffs. The loser has a second chance.
• No. 9 plays No. 10. The loser’s season is done. The winner moves on to visit the loser of the 7-vs.-8 game.
• The remaining teams (the 7-8 loser and the 9-10 winner) play at the higher seed, with the winner getting the No. 8 seed in the playoffs. The loser’s season ends.