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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 : Blazersedge . Dave Deckard prepares for a do-or-die Game 4 by lamenting the fashion in which Terry Stotts' team hasn't done/has died in Games 1 , 2 and 3 : "If the strutting, composed Portland Trail Blazers who just played against Houston met the cringing, dodging squad we've seen against the Spurs, half the state would implode from the swagger/anti-swagger discharge." (Quoth All-Star point guard Damian Lillard on Sunday, according to The Columbian : “The first thing was I don’t want to be swept.” Swaggy.) PF : Grantland . If you haven't yet made time for Jonathan Abrams' oral history of the 2002 Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, do yourself a favor and do so. Someone offers the following in discussing a basketball game: "I felt like I had seen my first child in a car wreck or something." And, in context, you kind of get it. SF : New York Times . With the prospective ouster of Donald and Shelly Sterling as the owners of the Los Angeles Clippers earning headlines, John Branch offers a look back at the Clippers' awkward history and how Sterling came to own the team in the first place. SG : ESPN . Brian Windhorst on how the Sterling saga has left Doc Rivers as one of the most powerful men in the NBA: "He controls everything from who starts, who sits, how much the assistant coaches earn, who gets drafted, who is gets dealt and who gets hired and fired at every level of basketball operations. This sort of brass ring is a prize top coaches have been chasing for decades and very few have actually been able to secure." PG : Pounding the Rock . Charles Barkley won't apologize for calling the women of San Antonio fat, which Travis Hale thinks is fine, so long as Chuck's cool with freedom of speech working both ways and people continuing to say he's being a jerk by making fun of the women of San Antonio. Talkin' 'bout freedom, y'all. 6th : San Antonio Express-News . Buck Henry on how the more things change for Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs, the more they stay the same … at least, when it comes to the Big Fundamental's trouble with the lob. 7th : Daily Thunder . Reviewing what we've learned about the Oklahoma City Thunder 11 games into the 2013-14 postseason. 8th : New Orleans Times-Picayune . Eric Gordon doesn't sound particularly excited about the prospect of sliding to the New Orleans Pelicans bench behind a Tyreke Evans-Jrue Holiday backcourt next season: "I won't get into that because I thought they brought me here to lead and set the tone for the team." 9th : Los Angeles Times . Ben Bolch on Darren Collison's "game ball"-worthy performance down the stretch of the Clippers' critical come-from-behind Game 4 win on Sunday. 10th : Hang Time . The numbers are a game out of date now, but I'm still using a late pass to shout out John Schuhmann's piece on how Tiago Splitter's defense — first on Dirk Nowitzki, now on LaMarcus Aldridge — has been one of the big keys to the Spurs being within one win of another trip to the Western Conference finals. (The big Brazilian just keeps earning that big contract he got this summer, as Jeff McDonald of the Express-News writes .) - - - - - - - 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! Follow @YourManDevine Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL , "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow BDL's Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.
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