The NBA playoffs are here!
After some tense one-off play-in games, we can now look forward to thrilling back-and-forth series.
LeBron James, Kevin Durant and all the usual big names will be backed to deliver, but some of their contemporaries have previously found life a little tricky in the postseason.
For five players in particular, it may be do or die as they aim to bolster their reputations or secure their futures.
With the aid of Stats Perform data, we look at the issues this high-profile quartet have encountered in the past...
GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
In consecutive seasons, Antetokounmpo won the MVP award on a Milwaukee Bucks team with the best record in the NBA. Then, in the playoffs, the 'Greak Freak' failed to inspire a suddenly one-dimensional side.
Those freakish regular season performances were back again in 2020-21, but Antetokounmpo and the Bucks might have run out of excuses if there is no evidence of postseason improvement.
Last year's approach evidently did not work. Antetokounmpo was on a strict minutes restriction across the campaign, averaging 30.4 minutes per game, but he was still unable to make the difference in the playoffs.
As in all but one of his playoff campaigns, the forward's points return was down on the rest of the season – 29.5 to 26.7 – while the Bucks superstar's shaky shooting came to the fore as he made just 58.0 per cent of his free throws, the worst rate of any of the 23 players to visit the foul line more than 50 times.
Now with additional support in the form of Jrue Holiday, Antetokounmpo simply must deliver this year – and Milwaukee start against the Miami Heat team that beat them in five in round two in 2020.
JAMES HARDEN
The man Antetokounmpo followed as MVP has too often had the same problem. Harden is a regular season great, but his career to date has been tarnished by playoff failings.
Although Harden had a big role from the bench as the Oklahoma City Thunder reached the 2012 NBA Finals, he averaged just 12.4 points on 37.5 per cent shooting in that 4-1 series defeat to the Heat.
The dominant scorer has never returned to that stage, subsequently joining the Houston Rockets and repeatedly finding the Golden State Warriors a step too far.
The closest Harden and the Rockets came was in 2018, up 3-2 against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals before letting big leads slip in both Game 6 and Game 7 – the latter seeing Houston's star man shoot two-of-13 from beyond the arc as his team missed a record-breaking 27 consecutive threes.
Now on the Brooklyn Nets, the 31-year-old will at least have former champions Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to turn to if he needs help, although the guard – still battling a hamstring problem – will no doubt be determined to succeed himself and alter his legacy for the better.
PAUL GEORGE
Without ever coming close to a title, despite losing back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals with the Indiana Pacers, George has regularly put up impressive numbers in the postseason. There have also been occasions on which he has looked lost on the big stage, however.
George's career playoff average has been kept to 20.1 by some alarming single-digit displays, notably contributing only five points in 45 minutes on two-of-16 shooting in a decisive Game 6 defeat to the Utah Jazz while with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And despite joining a talented Los Angeles Clippers team, George's woes were only magnified in the 2020 'bubble', where he later revealed he was in a "dark place" and "checked out".
The forward shot 25 per cent or lower from the field in four of 11 games, including the Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Back on song and playing in something approaching normal conditions, George has the opportunity to answer his critics, starting against a Dallas Mavericks team he struggled to master last year. The Clippers will need him in a competitive West.
CHRIS PAUL
There has generally been little wrong with the level of Paul's performance in the playoffs, his points average climbing to 20.9 from a career regular season mark of 18.3.
However, his deepest run was on Harden's 2018 Houston team as a hamstring kept him out of those painful last two defeats. For Paul, team success this year outweighs any individual achievements.
In his 16th season, he is entering a 13th postseason campaign but still waiting on a first Finals appearance more than 4,000 minutes in.
One of the great point guards of the modern NBA, Paul will be acutely aware of what a title would do for his legacy. He has helped transform the Phoenix Suns into a real force.
The Lakers in round one represent a daunting start for the Suns – especially having secured the number two seed – but fitness issues throughout the West might make this Paul's best and last chance to get to the Finals.
BEN SIMMONS
The Philadelphia 76ers ended the season with the best-rated defense in the East (105.1), but will that be enough in the playoffs? It might have to be.
On offense, Joel Embiid led the team by far with 28.5 points, with Simmons, the Sixers' second superstar, only able to contribute 14.3 – low even by his modest standards at that end of the floor.
Those numbers are unlikely to be able to hang with the Nets' 'big three' or a high-scoring Bucks team unless Philly come up with some significant stops.
Embiid, Simmons and Matisse Thybulle were among five 76ers players counted in the 22 best individual defensive ratings this year, but the pressure will ramp up in the postseason.
Simmons, a former first overall pick and the subject of trade rumours this year, is therefore required to become a playoff difference-maker, whether through improvement on offense or series-turning defensive contributions.
LeBron James reiterates desire to bring NBA expansion team to Las Vegas
LeBron James has previously talked up the prospect of bringing an NBA franchise to Las Vegas when he retires, and he reiterated that desire after Saturday's in-season tournament final in Sin City.
James had 24 points in support of team-mate Anthony Davis, who finished with a season-high 41 as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers 123-109 in the Vegas showpiece to become the first winners of the tournament.
The four-time NBA MVP is into his 21st season in the league and has previously opened up on his desire to own a franchise when he calls time on his glittering career.
James – who already owns stakes in Premier League outfit Liverpool and MLB team Boston Red Sox – said last year that he would "love" to take a franchise to Las Vegas.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver joked about those hopes as he presented James with the tournament's MVP trophy after Saturday's game, prompting laughter from James as he said: "This doesn't come with a franchise".
However, the 38-year-old is deadly serious about his ownership ambitions, saying: "My enthusiasm about being here post-career and bringing a team here has not changed.
"The fans are amazing here. They have everything already, a WNBA team, they have a baseball team [the relocating Oakland Athletics] coming in soon, an NFL team, hockey team, Formula One was just here.
"This is a place that loves great attractions, and I think the NBA will be another great addition to this city."
Haliburton admits Pacers were outplayed by Lakers, vows to bounce back with playoff run
Tyrese Haliburton acknowledged the Los Angeles Lakers deserved Saturday's in-season tournament final victory as he vowed the Indiana Pacers will bounce back with a playoff push.
Haliburton has emerged as one of the breakout stars of the inaugural in-season tournament, but he was unable to help the Pacers triumph in Las Vegas as they fell to a 123-109 defeat to the Lakers.
Haliburton finished with 20 points and 11 assists but was upstaged by Anthony Davis, who had 41 points and 20 rebounds for Los Angeles, while LeBron James added 24.
Speaking after the Pacers' defeat, Haliburton accepted the Lakers had brought a playoff-level performance and deserved to go home with the trophy.
"Yeah, we're sick, frustrated," Haliburton said. "We just got outplayed tonight from the start of the game to the end of the game.
"We just didn't do the job on loose balls, didn't rebound, didn't get enough stops when needed. They just outplayed us, and it's frustrating.
"Every team doesn't have Anthony Davis and a bunch of 6-8, 6-9 wings, so there's that, as well. It's just about understanding how different looks are going to come.
"This doesn't have a regular-season feel at all. I'm used to playing LeBron whatever he plays, 30, 35 minutes. It felt like him and AD never came off the floor. It was like a playoff-type deal."
There are still plenty of reasons for positivity in Indiana, though, with the team fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 12-8 record after winning their last three regular-season games.
Haliburton is determined to help the Pacers end their three-season playoff exile in order to enjoy more of the games that matter, adding: "Getting accustomed to that was good for me and makes me want to play some more games that have some meaning to them.
"So we have to handle the season the right way so I can get to the playoffs and feel that."
'Thursday, LeBron had it going. Tonight, it was me' – Final hero Davis relishing James partnership
Anthony Davis was the star of the show as the Los Angeles Lakers won the first NBA in-season tournament final on Saturday, but he put their success down to his partnership with LeBron James.
Davis recorded season highs of 41 points and 20 rebounds as the Lakers overcame the Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas to be crowned champions of the inaugural tournament, while James backed him up with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
That represented something of a role reversal from their semifinal success against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, when James scored 30 points in under three quarters on the court.
Davis is now into his fifth year playing with James – who received the tournament's first MVP prize after Saturday's win – and he says the pair enjoy an almost telepathic connection.
"We've been doing it together for a long time, five years now, and we just figure it out," Davis said of his combinations with James.
"We know each other's tendencies, what we like to do. Obviously in crunch time, we get to our infamous pick-and-roll and it's tough to stop.
"We feed off one another. Thursday, LeBron had it going. Tonight, it was me, and he still did his thing."
Saturday's game was the only one in the in-season tournament which didn't count towards the NBA's regular-season standings, but the Lakers are going well on that front too, sitting at 14-9 after winning 12 of their last 16 games.
Davis is determined to ensure the in-season tournament is not the only thing they win this season, saying: "I just try to do everything I can to win a basketball game. My team-mates put me in a great position to be successful.
"Obviously, this is special for us, just winning the inaugural in-season tournament. But we want to also win the same thing in June.
"It's a step in the right direction, obviously, but even though it's a big performance, it's another game and we've got to continue to get going, starting on Tuesday."
The Lakers face a three-game road stretch next week as they return to regular-season action, taking on the Dallas Mavericks before back-to-back games against the out-of-form San Antonio Spurs.
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