The official NBA in-season tournament knockout-round power rankings

For all the start-and-stop, hurry-up-and-wait frustrations that have clung like a fog to the New Orleans Pelicans, the trio of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum has actually played 172 minutes together over 10 games in the past two seasons and has actually outscored opponents by 60 points. Which, according to some sophisticated statistical analysis I’ve conducted with the help of the Elias Sports Bureau, are bigger numbers than what the Nuggets’ guys had before last season.

The standard small-sample-size caveats apply, but the success New Orleans has enjoyed in the vanishingly rare opportunities they’ve had to see their actual squad on the floor feels important — especially considering we just saw a proof of concept for what a (more-or-less) full-strength Pelicans team could do in a crowded Western Conference. Namely, lead it … if only for a few months.

“In that locker room is the No. 1 seed in the West,” veteran big man Larry Nance Jr. told reporters late last season. “Whether we can get on the court at the same time or not is a different question.”

It’s also one of the most important questions in the NBA — one with immediate ramifications for the playoff race in the West and, if the situation doesn’t stabilize and improve, the potential for significantly larger changes down the road.

In three even seasons on the Knicks, Randle is averaging 19.6 points on 43/29/74 splits, including a dreadful 31.6 field-goal percentage this season. His team missed the playoffs in 2020 and 2022, failing to make the play-in tournament both times. Randle has been the basketball bellwether in New York for half a decade, vacillating between dynamism and disappointment. On any given night, he can restore glory to Madison Square Garden or be the focus of its ire, and that unpredictability carries from year to year, too.

If either of Randle's two postseason appearances were as promising as his regular-season peaks, we might entertain him as the backbone of a contender. Instead, his playoff statistics — 17.1 points on 16.1 field-goal attempts per game (34.4 FG%, 28.3 3P%) and more turnovers than assists — suggest Randle's even years are closer to his standard, and the standout odd seasons are the deviation from his true basketball nature.

In theory, Randle's accolades make his contract, which owes him roughly 20% of the salary cap through the 2025-26 season, a bargain. In practice, his presence is weightier. He is one of 34 players who attempt 17 or more shots a game and the least efficient of them by a wide margin. There is nothing from his career to say he will cede his spot in New York's pecking order to anyone, which is why it is so hard to imagine Randle sliding into an effective complementary role if the Knicks were to acquire the bigger star they seek.

It is also difficult to conceive of a team that views Randle as its missing piece. This is New York's dilemma. Until further notice, the Knicks go as Randle goes, and that lands them somewhere south of seriousness.

If it seems like the Pacers get a good shot every time [Tyrese] Haliburton is on the floor … well, you’re not wrong. He made his first All-Star team last season and may well have made All-NBA if not for injuries, and he’s been even better this season: 24.7 points and a league-leading 12.7 assists per game, shooting 62% on 2-pointers, 44% on 3s and 93% from the free-throw line, all while posting the lowest turnover rate of his career. Indiana leads the NBA in offensive efficiency, has been dominant in the half-court with Haliburton unlocking every coverage he sees, and absolutely rams the ball down opponents’ throats, even after made baskets. As it turns out, when you’re this good at scoring, you don’t want to waste any time before going and doing it again.

The team boasts a +8.7 net rating when James is on the court and a -23.2 net rating when he is not — a difference of 31.9 points per 100 possessions that nets out to a negative point differential for the team. He has played 52 of their 60 fourth-quarter minutes, where the difference with or without James is even starker.

There is a very real chance the Lakers would be 0-5 if [head coach Darvin] Ham had stuck to the 30-minute limit for James. Again, this is remarkable for a soon-to-be 39-year-old. And again, we should worry the Lakers are so dependent on him.

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James is trying to manage his own minutes on the floor. According to the NBA's tracking data, his average speed on defense is the slowest of any regular in the league. He has all but abandoned chasing offensive rebounds, and the percentage of his shots taken from 3-point range is the second-highest of his career.

And the Lakers have followed suit. They are the slowest team in the league — ranked 29th on offense and 30th on defense — and second from the bottom in contesting 3-pointers. Nobody scores fewer second-chance points, and they rank 24th in allowing them — a deficit of 8.4 points per game topped only by the Houston Rockets. They move the ball with less regularity (267.8 passes per game) than all but seven teams.

So much for the cavalry coming to alleviate James' responsibilities.

Lillard has sought extra footage of his budding pick-and-roll partnership. Lillard has never paired with such a dynamic screener. Antetokounmpo is not the most eager screener or the most terrifying threat to pop and rise from distance, but he may be the most damaging downhill player the league has ever seen.

“They’re still learning, still growing together, still finding chemistry. So this is just another step in the right direction,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. “It takes time. This is just gonna be a snapshot of where we are today. And we’ll continue to get better tomorrow. But they’re both pros and working extremely hard. But we also keep everything in perspective. They’ve just had a small body of work together.”

It worked quite seamlessly through one night and one game. Milwaukee knows that nothing more is guaranteed or given. These are largely the same Bucks who built the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, only to falter to the Heat in five first-round games, part ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer and ultimately swap All-Star guard Jrue Holiday in favor of Lillard.

The Bucks are still enduring change. The sudden departure of assistant coach Terry Stotts has left a gap in Milwaukee’s staff as Bucks officials are still working through the process of determining whether to replace Stotts’ role, league sources told Yahoo Sports, or simply move each assistant up the ladder. But they will move through any staffing adjustments while Lillard is closing games and while knowing Antetokounmpo is more than approving of the blockbuster move.

Beal was asked how he was feeling about starting the season somewhere new, and he paused, looked up and put his hand on his chin. Enough time passed before he was given the perfect word by the observer.

“Rejuvenated?”

Beal’s eyes lit up, and pointed at the man as confirmation.

“Exactly,” he said.

Kevin Durant and Devin Booker smiled, perhaps knowing that’s how they felt in moments. Durant, finally freed from the Brooklyn drama and trade demand that hung over the franchise for months. Booker, finally seeing the fruits of teams after years of toiling and hoping fortunes would change.

They could all relate.

“I’m trying to find a big word, but simpler is better,” Beal told Yahoo Sports a few days later. “Exciting. It rejuvenated my mind, transformed my mind where I know that every single day I have to work my tail off to get better.

“I have to work my tail off so that we’re reaching a goal. That’s probably the first time I can say everybody in our entire organization is working towards a championship.”

"I'm trying to be the best player I can be, trying to be one of the best players in the world on both ends, and it inspires you when guys like Jrue [Holiday] and [Derrick] White are getting chase-down blocks," Jayson Tatum said. "You don't want to be the weak link out there."

That's a back-to-back All-NBA first-team forward trying not to be the weak link. It is early, obviously, but the Celtics are acting like a team whose biggest problem so far is figuring which of many mismatches to attack.

"If we want to have a chance to maximize our talent and our team, each guy has to be at their best, and so that is where the sacrifice comes in," said Joe Mazzulla, also more poised than in his chaotic rookie season. "We're not going to be able to replicate this every night, but what we saw was each individual guy being their best and playing together. So, the more we replicate that, the more we can maximize who we are."