The 10-man rotation, starring ‘Jimmy Butler is Your Father’
A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.
C: Froggy Fresh feat. Money Maker Mike and Gator Jones. The genius behind Official Jam Of 2013 “Dunked On” comes in praise of Jimmy Butler. A worthwhile way to spend a few minutes before Thursday’s Game 6.
PF: Bleacher Report. A good read from Ethan Skolnick on the differences between LeBron James’ relationships with Erik Spoelstra and David Blatt, and how it still remains unclear whether Blatt’s the right coach to get the most out of James at this point in their respective careers.
SF: The Triangle. Kirk Goldsberry on how LeBron, dominant as he was in Game 4 and as important as he’s been for the Cavs this season, has started to show some signs of decline in terms of his shooting profile, offensive efficiency and playmaking.
SG: SB Nation. A wonderful conversation between Paul Flannery and Tom Ziller about the ways in which “modern” NBA thinkers tend to criticize “old-school” voices — think about the flak Phil Jackson caught for his “cranky” tweet about 3-point-heavy offenses — and how entrenched folks on both sides can at times miss important things in their cross-talk.
PG: ESPN.com. Kevin Arnovitz on how Al Horford’s stabilizing influence on both ends of the floor helped deliver the Atlanta Hawks their biggest win of the season.
6th: Sports on Earth. Will Leitch on the putback that won Game 5, as perfectly Horford a highlight as you could’ve drawn up.
7th: Daily Thunder. Steve Pierce makes the case that Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti should do whatever it takes to make the newly available Monty Williams a part of newly minted head coach Billy Donovan’s staff.
8th: DraftExpress. An interesting look at some stability and movement testing that lottery prospect Myles Turner underwent prior to the NBA’s draft combine to find out whether his somewhat awkward running gait was a fatal flaw that could hinder the 7-footer’s NBA career or a correctable one that could land an enterprising team with a strong training staff a potential top talent.
9th: Beyond the Arc. Kevin Lipe on the Memphis Grizzlies once again getting outgunned in Game 5 (“It was demoralizing, not because it was unexpected, but because of what it looked like”) and the possibility that more than just their season could end with a Game 6 loss.
10th: Nylon Calculus. A quantitative analysis of the difficulty levels of all the buzzer-beating shots from this 2015 postseason.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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