Have you noticed something ... different lately? Hasn't the Internet been just a little bit ... better this week?

We're not talking about Twitter Moments, but LOL nice try @jack. And we're definitely not talking about ... um, this.

No, what's spoken of here can only be discussed in the hushed tones of reverent gratitude. We're now a week into the NBA pre-season, which has brought with it one of the Internet's greatest treasures: Basketball Vines.

You've likely seen the latest hits pop up in your Twitter feed already. Some stellar NBA Vines emerged this week, from Vince Carter bricking a dunk to Khris Middleton throwing down a big one.

Just know that plenty more six-second clips just like these are on the way. Winter is coming, bringing with it NBA Vines, which The Wall Street Journal last season crowned "the best way to watch the NBA." Now, with a new season blooming, they're back and better than ever.

So what makes the NBA Vine so special? It's the genetically perfect byproduct of the polyamorous marriage of an ideal sport, a still relatively new mobile technology and a digital culture that often gravitates toward the offbeat. Here are five reasons why.

The freeze-frame poster is so last century. Basketball more than any other sport lends itself to six-second captures of poetry in motion. NBA players' personalities — not hidden by helmets or hats — are more accessible than those of their peers in other leagues. The sports Vine in general is a populist fan triumph. Ordinary fans at home hitting rewind on their DVR as they point their smartphones toward the screen often record and share viral moments with more success than official league or team entities do. This element of crowdsourced creation — millions of eyeballs and smartphones at the ready — means we are often treated to plays, moments and oddities we'd simply never see otherwise.

“They’re these other little things happening within the game,” Ross Pickering, founder of a Lakers fan blog called Lakerholicz told the WSJ. “The biggest Vines don’t seem to be the ones that are actual highlights.”

Indeed, some of the most popular NBA Vines over the past 18 months haven't involved actual basketball at all. Remember Blake Griffin accidentally (or maybe on purpose?) pouring water on a Warriors fan after fouling out of a playoff game?

Remember Lance Stephenson sliding into your DMs with textbook form?

Remember Steve Ballmer losing his shit completely while dancing to Fergie?

We've already seen one similar moment this pre-season, when none other than LeBron James took a selfie with a group of kids mid-game. The NBA uploaded a Vine of the sweet moment to its official page; at time of this writing, the clip had been viewed 770,000 times in 19 hours.

But another clip, embedded below, was uploaded by Vine user James Herbert an hour earlier. At time of this writing, Herbert's capture had been viewed more than a million times, well outpacing the official NBA account.

Then there is Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors point guard and the unquestioned darling of NBA Vines. We counted down Curry's top 10 Vine moments last season, when he was MVP not just of the NBA but also of the video-sharing app. Everyman size, otherworldly skill and a flair for the dramatic make Curry the ultimate player for the six-second highlight.

Curry, more than anyone, is living proof the highlight — not the just the bizarre — is the NBA Vine's biggest appeal. In the Warriors' first pre-season game of the season on Monday night, a game that was not even on local television here in the Bay Area, Curry already delivered a signature moment.

Running a fast break against the Toronto Raptors, Curry made an around-the-back-pass to a teammate. Then he relocated to the right corner, where he received the ball back and shot a three-pointer. With the ball still in the air — that's how sure Curry was of his aim — he turned away from the rim and high-fived a teammate on the bench. The ball fell through the net and Curry jogged back down the court.

A Twitter user called @TheDYNAMICS posted footage of the astonishing play the following day. The clip was shared tens of thousands of times and made Curry a worldwide trending topic for much of the morning.

I know Steph Curry didn't do this last night. pic.twitter.com/BgIst8oRIj — Dynamics • £ (@theDYNAMICS) October 6, 2015

That video of Curry's high-five, however, is 26 seconds long — 20 seconds more than the traditional Vine loop and posted directly to Twitter. But while not technically an NBA Vine in the flesh, it's most definitely an NBA Vine in spirit — as well as a harbinger of the looping bits of amazement and hilarity that await us from Curry and others over the next several months.