One of the things I love most about playoff games is how much they teach you about yourself. Every weak link is exposed. You need to make adjustments. Individual matchups become contests of character. And if you’re lucky (while, luck, of course, favors the prepared) you might find yourself drawing on reserves (within yourself as a team) whose depth and value you hadn’t been able to fully recognize until the need for them appeared.
And in the regular season the opportunities for that kind of self-knowledge are relatively rare. For one thing, you need not only a high-level playoff opponent—but you need a high-level opponent with its own distinctly challenging architecture and identity.