The 10-man rotation, starring John Wall's ascent
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: Prada's Pictures. Wonderful work from Mike Prada on how John Wall has shredded the Toronto Raptors and, now, Atlanta Hawks by not only taking what their defenses give him, but making sure they give him something good: "The reason The Old John Wall Scouting Report doesn't work anymore is because Wall has learned how to avoid worst-case scenarios."
PF: ESPN.com. After watching the Hawks cede home-court advantage to the road-warrior Wizards on Sunday, Kevin Arnovitz wonders why Mike Budenholzer won't unleash his dominant starting five, even now that we've reached May.
SF: Sports Illustrated, Eye on Basketball and ESPN.com. Rob Mahoney, Zach Harper and Ethan Sherwood Strauss come in praise of Stephen Curry, your 2014-15 NBA Most Valuable Player, a seemingly impossibly dominant guard whose rise perfectly personifies a decades-in-the-making shift in the NBA game.
SG: The Hook. Tom Ziller celebrates the fact that Chris Paul finally has a signature moment to call his own.
PG: The Triangle. Bill Simmons on whether Tim Duncan's The Clash moment.
6th: Bleacher Report. During a radio interview with BR's Howard Beck and Ethan Skolnick, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver suggested that if the National Basketball Players Association intends to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement following the 2016-17 season in an attempt to regain ground lost in the last round of negotiations, "There will be things that we're going to bring back to the table, too" — things like a hard salary cap and perhaps even the end of guaranteed contracts, for starters. (So, is it still "premature" to worry about a labor stoppage, Commish?)
7th: Nylon Calculus. Ian Levy takes a look at how the Golden State Warriors' defensive cross-matching moved Marc Gasol away from the elbows, where he does such a brilliant job of facilitating for the Memphis Grizzlies, in Golden State's Game 1 win.
8th: Only a Game. A good look from NPR at how David Blatt's experience in the crucible of European playoff basketball — where fans literally threw "hot coins" at opposing players — prepared him for his maiden postseason voyage as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
9th: Posting and Toasting. Joe Flynn on the challenge facing Phil Jackson as he works to rebuild the New York Knicks this summer: convincing good players to leave good teams to take James Dolan's money.
10th: SLAM. Ryan Jones tracked down the "LeBron Jaaaaames" Vine kid, and interviewed him, his brother and his mom about what it's like to become a Vine celebrity at age 6. Pretty fun.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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