Paul Allen poses with Robbie Robertson, who takes credit for founding Microsoft (WireImage).

In addition to recording his players' in-game conversations, New York Knicks owner James Dolan has been known to lay down some tracks in the studio as frontman of the "blues" band JD and the Straight Shot. While Dolan's band has only occasionally covered his work with the Knicks, it's safe to say that the majority of the band's fame comes from his off-stage associations. Nevertheless, when it comes to NBA owners with somewhat embarrassing musical careers, Dolan stands above all others.

However, it looks like a new challenger has emerged. After years as a budding amateur guitarist and benefactor of various music-oriented causes, billionaire Microsoft cofounder and Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen will release his first album on August 6 via the Legacy Recordings imprint of Sony Music. From Randy Lewis for the Los Angeles Times (via Blazersedge):

George Hill and Lance Stephenson have to step up in Game 2. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBA/Getty Images)

While the Miami Heat might not have played their best game yet in these 2013 playoffs, the Indiana Pacers know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they didn't play their best game in Wednesday's Eastern Conference finals opener, either — and they still came up just one remarkable play by LeBron James (and one arguably unwise decision by Pacers coach Frank Vogel) from scoring an upset overtime win that stripped home-court advantage away from the No. 1 overall seed. They were right there, and they think — they know — they can get there again.

Still, they've got some stuff to clean up in Friday night's Game 2 if they want to close the deal and send the series back to Indiana tied up with a chance to take a commanding lead at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Here are three areas where the Pacers must improve to come away with a win:

1. Slow the march to the front of the rim. In our series preview, I noted that the Pacers had done an excellent job during the regular season of keeping the Heat from feasting on shots from their favorite, and the most valuable, spots on the floor — the restricted area (the semicircle directly in front of the basket) and the 3-point arc, especially the shorter corners.

That's the centerpiece of the philosophy that made the Pacers the league's best defensive team this year — play tight D outside, don't give shooters space to rise and fire, stay true to your one-on-one assignments and close out like demons when you have to step away, offer help without over-helping and force drivers/pick-and-roll ball-handlers to have to pull up from midrange rather than meet 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert at the basket. It figured to be a critical element in the Pacers' attempt to overcome the Heat, and Indiana didn't do the best possible job of it in Game 1.

Following the San Antonio Spurs' Game 2 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, our own Eric Freeman wondered whether Grizzlies guard Tony Allen — renowned throughout the league as one of the toughest, most physical, hardest-nosed players in the game — faked the severity of any injury he might have sustained when fouled on a layup attempt in the final minute of regulation by Spurs guard Manu Ginobili. In case you've forgotten what went down, watch it again:

After coughing up the ball for an Allen runout, Ginobili raced back, grabbed Allen's left forearm and pulled him down to the ground. It was a hard fall, but Allen appeared to get both of his hands down in front of him to break it; after impact, though, he grabbed his head with both hands and began writhing along the baseline in apparent pain. The referees on the scene called a flagrant foul, headed over to the replay monitor to review the incident and, despite widespread perception that Allen had embellished things, upheld the call, granting Allen two free throws (which he made) and the Grizzlies another offensive possession (with which they tied the game and forced overtime).

While the officials on the scene apparently saw nothing untoward in Allen's behavior, after a couple of days to review the play, the league office begged to differ. The NBA announced Friday afternoon that Allen has been fined $5,000 for violating the league's anti-flopping policy with his embellishment on the play.

Tim and Amy Duncan celebrate following the 2005 NBA Finals (Getty Images)

There is never a good time for a relationship to end or divorce proceedings to be put into place, even if the move is necessary and agreed upon by both sides. Working through a divorce trial while working as an All-NBA member of a team two wins away from the NBA Finals, though, would be quite the mental task. It has not been completely confirmed by the player, team, or representatives, but the San Antonio-Express News is reporting that it’s more than likely that Tim Duncan and his wife have engaged in divorce proceedings, and that the San Antonio Spurs big man is attempting to delay the trial because of his postseason commitments with the team.

The Express-News’ Patrick Danner discovered the case’s paperwork this week, and deduced that the initials utilized in the paperwork (the case is listed as “A.S.D. vs. T.T.D,” Tim’s wife’s name is Amy and Duncan’s middle name is Theodore), some of the language regarding the timeliness, and (sadly), the ages of the couple’s two children to deduce that the Spurs legend is trying to put off the divorce proceedings in order to concentrate fully on the playoff run.

From the Express-News:

The case is playing out in Bexar County District Court. Court papers filed last week include a request that legal discovery in the case be postponed until after the Spurs' last playoff game.

"I don't know if you could say I won the jump ball. But I didn't lose the jump ball." — San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner, who is the best, to Deadspin's Alan Siegel in a "brief oral history" of his hilarious jump ball vs. Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph early in the fourth quarter of the Spurs' Game 2 win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday.

Do yourself the service of heading over to Deadspin for the rest. You deserve it. And whether or not Bonner considers himself the "winner" of the jump ball, I think it's fair to say that, every time we watch it, we all win.

Everyone makes a weird face, 11 years ago (Getty Images)

The NBA’s newest set of Finals promos is based around legendary Finals moments from current players. This is a nice idea, but also one that severely limits the league’s choices, especially in regard to the four active teams fighting for the right to make it to the final round.

Thumbing their nose at convention, in the wake of highlighting a Dirk Nowitzki one-legged jumper from the 2011 Finals, the league went Kobe Bryant this time around, dunking on Todd MacCulloch during the 2002 Finals:

Sweet dunk, Kobe.

(BVB)

With two German clubs in the Champions League final, their London hosts are probably a bit more apathetic about the event than they would otherwise be. So to combat that lack of enthusiasm and win over the locals, Borussia Dortmund have organized a rather impressive friendship campaign in the lead-up to the match against more well known Bayern Munich.

The ad above is just one of many parts of their "From Dortmund with Love" campaign in London, urging citizens to enjoy the match while also positioning BVB as the underdog fairytale club that neutrals should get behind. But just how much campaigning are they doing in the city?

From the London Evening Standard:

A black and yellow double-decker bus will tour central London with an onboard team handing out gifts on both tomorrow and Saturday.

The bus will stop off at a number of destinations to celebrate the final with fans.

There will also be men in yellow and black busbies standing guard over some of London's iconic tourist attractions while in various locations such as Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, there will be life-size cardboard cut-outs of star players including Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus to showcase the club's love of football.

Here's a map (it's a PDF file) that shows all the landmarks they have covered with their scarves on statues, hot air balloon rides, BVB busbies, touring yellowing bus and player cut-outs. They also have moving signs driving through the city with pandering slogans like "thanks a million for inventing the game we love" and Beatles imagery.

Fred Tedeschi, in 2007 (Getty Images)Chicago Bulls head athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi has won the 2012-13 Joe O’Toole NBA Athletic Trainer of the Year Award. The honor was revealed by the team’s website on Friday.

Fred Tedeschi is the trainer for a team that cleared former Bulls center Omer Asik to play in the 2011 NBA playoffs with a broken leg.

Tedeschi is on the staff of a team that presided over the mishandling of Luol Deng’s infamous absence in the 2013 playoffs, when the Bulls announced Deng’s severe reaction to a spinal tap procedure (one that Deng himself had to personally disclose on Twitter, after the Bulls denied a procedure took place) as “flu-like symptoms.”

Deng also played through the last two months of the season with a fractured thumb, when he was cleared as game-workable, alongside torn ligaments in the same hand.

Fred was also on the staff when center Joakim Noah – who has a history of falling prey to plantar fasciitis due to overuse – averaged 40 minutes a game for the first three months of the season. The Bulls staff also has an Internet connection, which would reveal that Noah runs more during those particular minutes than any other player in the NBA.