Sixteen magnificent teams remained after the NBA’s long 2023 regular season. Another 8 were to fall after the first round of the brutal it’s-you-or-me killer playoffs. And the eight survivors – bloodied all, but alive nonetheless – move on to do battle yet again for the right to make the Final Four. Like the gladiators of old, eight teams prepare with their weapons of choice, to meet yet another team, in a duel to the death. It is kill-or-be-killed time, it is lose and begone!
