The world according to Jim:

- When the NBA decided to take a page from the NCAA playbook and make the play-in round an irreversible function in 2021, I at first considered it a gimmick, a method to pump up the postseason and please the television partners.

- OK, I miscalculated. Consider not simply Sunday's last day of the regular season however the whole last week. Yes, the system is still imperfect, due to the fact that until the NBA embraces a stern mindset (pun meant, as we'll show) toward groups sitting their best gamers, there's an imbalance between teams playing for something and those who aren't.

However on Sunday alone the matches for the play-in video games and for the first round in the West boiled down to four video games, and it wasn't up until the Minnesota-New Orleans game ended that we knew for sure who was going where.

- Remember, the initial play-in was a concession to the COVID-19 interruption of the 2019-20 season, and the unequal number of video games played as soon as play resumed in the Orlando bubble that July. Portland was in 8th at 34-39, Memphis in ninth at 34-38, and so the two played one additional video game with the winner-- Portland, 126-122-- moving on.

If one play-in game is excellent, five are that much better, right? … …. - As for the Lakers' chances of polishing off Minnesota Tuesday and getting to a first-round date with Memphis? When the Timberwolves suspended Rudy Gobert for one game Monday after he threw a punch at colleague Kyle Anderson throughout a timeout Sunday, they improved. With Gobert and Jaden McDaniels (damaged hand after punching a wall) both sidelined … … well, this need to be a suggestion to the entire NBA of the value of impulse control.

- I still believe the play-in games should be considered part of the NBA postseason, in the very same manner that the NCAA's First Four are thought about a main part of March Madness ™. - In an associated note, provided the method Dallas went from going all-in with the Irving trade to turtling at season's end, what's the over/under on when Doncic will ask to be traded? Here's a hint: In April of 1990 the then-commissioner slapped then-Lakers coach Pat Riley with a $25,000 fine for benching Magic Johnson and James Worthy for the final regular season game at Portland, with the Lakers already assured of the best record in the league, 63-19.

Riley was livid, stating: "If (the league) is going to begin obstructing of who I wish to play and when I wish to play them, possibly they should come out here and place on the coach's shirt themselves." As it turned out, the Lakers were knocked out by Phoenix in the 2nd round and Riley resigned less than a month later on. ……. - It has been a week, but I can't dismiss the thought: When the Rams' Aaron Donald pointed at his ring finger following the February 2022 Super Bowl, nobody appeared to have an issue with it. When LSU's Angel Reese did so after the females's championship game last Sunday-- and directed it at Iowa's Caitlin Clark, including wrestler John Cena's "can't see me" gesture for great step-- the social media rules police had method excessive to say.

Is there really any factor for the pearl-clutching beyond the obvious? ……. - Incidentally, let's hope that (a) the huge uptick in TV scores and attention towards the females's tournament is an irreversible pattern, and (b) that Reese and Clark someday become the WNBA equivalent of Magic vs. Bird. ……. - Still, till the ladies's professional video game in this nation becomes really professional in terms of travel and other player facilities, this quote from UCLA females's coach Cori Close to the New York Times is explanatory.

…. - As it turned out, Osborne decided to utilize that COVID year of eligibility and remain a Bruin, and possibly by the time she enters the WNBA the travel conditions will be really big league. - It's a start, and they've come a long method.

The representation of the fictional star's first objective lets you understand that the show's developers were paying attention if the guy bun does not give it away. (And Zlatan's real-life goal, versus LAFC in his first MLS game, is also a pointer of just how much things have actually changed for many years with L.A.'s 2 franchises.).

jalexander@scng.com.