Andrew Marchand is off this week, so New York Post media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel is pinch-hitting. Andrew will return to his regular spot in the Sports+ lineup next Monday.

The NBA playoffs are having a big early bounce-back in the ratings. The rest of the postseason will provide a fascinating litmus test of how far the league rebounds from a several-year stretch in which the popularity of the postseason had dwindled alarmingly.

First, the good news.

Last weekend’s Nets-Celtics Game 1 on ABC averaged 6.9 million viewers, the most-watched first-round game since 2016. It peaked at 9.8 million viewers. The 4.05 million viewership average across ABC, ESPN and TNT was the biggest number for the first weekend of the playoffs in the past decade.