Western Conference kicks off play-in games Tuesday to set official playoff field

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are back in the play-in tournament. So is Stephen Curry, as he and Golden State will be fighting for their season. And Jimmy Butler returns as well, after this round last year was the first step on Miami’s way to the NBA Finals.

The postseason — not technically the playoffs, yet — gets underway Tuesday with a pair of Western Conference matchups. The Lakers visit New Orleans with the winner securing the No. 7 seed and a series with defending champion Denver in Round 1. And then the Warriors go to Sacramento, an elimination game for both teams.

The Eastern Conference takes the stage Wednesday: The 76ers host Miami to decide the No. 7 seed, and Atlanta visits Chicago with the season on the line for those clubs.

The Lakers forced a rematch of Sunday’s regularseason finale with a 128104 victory in New Orleans that knocked the Pelicans out of the sixth seed. Now the Lakers expect the Pelicans to respond as if this were Game 2 of a playoff series.

“You win that first game and a team has multiple days to kind of sit on that feeling, sit with that taste in their mouth of defeat, so they’re going to be extremely ready for us and we have to come in with the same sense of urgency,” said the 39-year-old James, who is playing in his 21st NBA season.

The Lakers and Heat showed that the play-in can be a springboard to bigger and better things last year; the Lakers reached the Western Conference finals, the Heat reached the NBA Finals.