The 10-man rotation, starring LeBron getting his and the Warriors getting theirs
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: Sports Illustrated. A smart read from Rob Mahoney on how the Golden State Warriors used LeBron James’ prime objective — “LeBron’s instinct is to make plays, but the overriding logic of his game is to make the right play” — against him en route to a Game 1 win to take a 1-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 NBA Finals.
PF: USA TODAY Sports. Sam Amick on the Warriors’ satisfaction ad having just barely lived to tell the tale after carrying out the task of letting LeBron get his. Quoth Harrison Barnes: “We iced out most of his teammates. […] If he beats us doing that, and the other guys don’t get going, we’ll live with that. But chances are, I think we’ll be all right.”.
SF: Hang Time. A great film-room breakdown by John Schuhmann of how the Warriors made it all work.
SG: SB Nation. Paul Flannery on just how close the Cavaliers came — one LeBron jumper made, one Iman Shumpert put-back converted, one Kyrie Irving injury avoided — to starting a very different Friday morning conversation: “It was all there, right up until the moment when it wasn’t.”
PG: The Triangle. Zach Lowe’s Game 1 breakdown touches on the topics ranging from nitty-gritty (the Cavaliers’ plan to string out Stephen Curry pick-and-rolls, and how Golden State adjusted to it as the night went on) to simply neat (“T-shirts attached to mini-parachutes dropped from the ceiling: a winner every time”).
6th: Mashable. Sam Laird checks in with “Sweetie,” the 105-year-old Golden State Warriors superfan whom the team put up in a suite to watch the opening contest of the 2015 NBA Finals, on the experience of watching Game 1 in person: “It’s a lot, but I can take it,” she said. “Oh, I can take it.”
7th: Sports Illustrated. Lee Jenkins on the unique brand of joyful noise you encounter at Oracle Arena, whether it makes any meaningful difference to visiting teams on the court, and whether it can somehow be transported from Oakland across the Bay to San Francisco when the Warriors eventually open up their new gym.
8th: Deadspin. Judging by the NSFW headline, I think it’s fair to say Kyle Wagner’s pretty excited about the effort turned in, and the attendant attention received, by Andre Iguodala on Thursday night.
9th: Brew Hoop and Milwaukee Business Journal. Frank Madden and Rich Kirchen run through the particulars of the announcement made Thursday afternoon by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Wisconsin state Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on the long-negotiated financial funding package for a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks.
10th: Salt City Hoops. I know that Rodney Hood played pretty well for the Utah Jazz down the stretch last season, but I was unaware that there was much speculation that returning-from-injury swingman Alec Burks would be traded this summer. Aaron Hefner runs through the reasons why folks might think that, and why he thinks it doesn’t make very much sense.
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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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