There are just under four weeks remaining in the NBA’s regular season, which means only one thing.
The regular season is over.
It’s a reality that might make those who fancy themselves as purists cringe, but it’s the truth. The point in the NBA calendar where most teams start looking ahead — either to next month or next season — has arrived. A half-dozen or so teams know they’re going nowhere. A few others are still trying to secure spots in the play-in tournament. Everybody else is gearing up for the postseason.
Or as Miami guard Kyle Lowry succinctly called it, “the real season.”
He’s not wrong. The 82-game marathon of a regular season is a compulsory exercise, a prerequisite to quality for what matters most. And the focus is clearly shifting in a lot of places, almost as if training camps for the playoffs are opening.
Some of that is dictated by health. Milwaukee finally has Brook Lopez back, after he missed 67 games — he was there for ring night back in October…