All the work that the North Pole elves put into making toys 364 days per year is rendered meaningless if Santa Claus has sleigh problems on Christmas Eve.

Professional sports took another major step in the direction of that lopsided equation for evaluating success — when failure in one highly pressurized situation outweighs all else — this weekend when the NHL’s Rangers fired head coach Gerard Gallant and the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks fired head coach Mike Budenholzer.

The subtext to both moves was clear: The regular season doesn’t matter except as a way for franchises to make money and earn a lottery ticket into the championship-or-bust tournaments.

Warning to the Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau and other head coaches still alive in both sports’ playoffs: Ignore the cliché that an 82-game season is a marathon and not a sprint. Only Mile 26 really matters and there is no room for a bad night or the bad luck of facing a hot goaltender.