When the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs square off on Saturday night, we'll get our first look at something besides how Tyronn Lue and Gregg Popovich interact following the Spurs boss' close-to-the-bone zinger about how the Cavs' new head coach got his job. We'll also get a glimpse of the maiden voyage of a new addition to ABC/ESPN's game presentation that has some worried fans thinking back to the bad old days that our man Greg Wyshynski once wrote about.

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From The Associated Press:

ESPN said Thursday that it is using new technology to show viewers when a player attempts a jumper from beyond the 3-point arc. ''ESPN Virtual 3'' will debut for Saturday's matchup between the Cavaliers and Spurs.

For a made 3-pointer, the line will briefly remain lit up. For a miss, the illumination will end immediately.

In some quarters, the immediate response to the light-up line — which will be used on ABC's Saturday night primetime games throughout the season — was, shall we say, cautious, with the general tone among basketball fans on Twitter seeming to tend toward, "Why do we need this again?"

The latest from the Overthinking Things Department: https://t.co/bEuYOJ2BTe pic.twitter.com/7mnXFRNDgN — Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby) January 28, 2016

@treykerby they know it's in the same place every time, right? — Amin Vafa (@AminNBA) January 28, 2016

And, moreover, it's not like it's hard to see that steady stripe on the hardcourt ... except, of course, for when it is. From Sam Laird of Mashable:

“The idea has definitely grown over time. One good example of an aha! moment was the Ray Allen three-pointer during Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals on ABC," Tim Corrigan, senior coordinating producer for the NBA on ESPN, told Mashable via email. "The shot he made in the near corner – when he made it, the first thing everyone wanted to know was, ‘Is that a three?’ This technology would have provided clarity and let the viewer definitively know it was a three-pointer, in the moment.

"More and more in the NBA, the near side coverage is blocked to the viewer," Corrigan added. "Sometimes it’s fans standing on the court in that spot, so you can’t see the three-point line and it’s hard to make a judgment. We’re always trying to enhance the viewer experience and make what we do better, but in terms of one moment that jumps out – it would be the Allen shot.”

The idea, then, is to produce something closer to the yellow first-down stripe in football broadcasts than the famously obtrusive and diehard-discontenting FoxTrax glowing puck that Fox debuted in its NHL broadcasts 20 years ago. Here's a before-and-after mockup of what the illuminated arc will look like after the shot goes up:

View photos Before the shot. (Screencap via ESPN) More

View photos After the shot, with the Virtual 3 line lit up. (Screencap via ESPN) More

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