Ronny Turiaf cheers. Of course he does. (Getty Images)

Excited for the NBA Finals? Join the BDL crew for a live Finals Chat on Twitter during Thursday night's Game 2. We'll be cracking jokes, sharing observations and talking about the game with NBA fans like you. Participate by using the hashtag #FinalsChat, and don't forget to follow @YahooBDL for your daily NBA fix.

Barring injury, Ronny Turiaf probably won't play a lot in the NBA Finals.

He's seen 118 total minutes of action in 11 appearances off the bench for the Miami Heat this postseason, with the lion's share of it coming in a second-round win over the Indiana Pacers in which Erik Spoelstra needed big bodies to match up with a strong, gifted Indy frontline headed by Roy Hibbert and David West, especially after starting center and All-Star Chris Bosh went down with an abdominal injury in Game 1. Since Bosh came back late in the Heat's Eastern Conference finals win over the Boston Celtics, though, Turiaf's mostly stayed sidelined. With Miami favoring a starter-heavy lineup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Bosh, Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony all ahead of him on the depth chart, it seems likely that Turiaf's biggest contribution will be cheering his teammates from the sideline.

While he'd certainly rather be playing, that's still pretty OK by Turiaf, for two reasons. For one thing, he's really good at that. (Like, really good at it.)

Mostly, though, as he told "Zorgon" from Thunder blog Welcome to Loud City, it's because he never forgets that he nearly missed out on the chance to do even that much:

[...] You're known as one of the league's most energetic bench players. You sit on your bench and really cheer for your team. Are you normally that excited, or do you just do it to kinda support your team?

RT: Uh, I'm always excited. I'm either excited or not excited. So whenever I play ... I escaped death one time. And basketball was almost taken away from me, so to be able to live my life and be able to play basketball is definitely fun. I enjoy my time out there, and sometimes I can't control myself.

Russell Westbrook will surely be pleased to hear who has now weighed in. (Getty Images)

Excited for the NBA finals? Join the BDL crew for a live Finals Chat on Twitter during Thursday night's Game 2. We'll be cracking jokes, sharing observations and talking about the game with NBA fans like you. Participate by using the hashtag #FinalsChat, and don't forget to follow @YahooBDL for your daily NBA fix.

As literally everyone now knows, the NBA playoffs are all about fashion, which is great, because everybody who blogs about basketball for a living is obviously a skilled style professional with a keen sense of couture who is definitely not wearing an 11-year-old T-shirt and mesh shorts right now/always. One player who has become a focal point for roundball runway talk is Russell Westbrook, who celebrated a fantastic performance in Game 1 of the Oklahoma City Thunder's second-round series with the Los Angeles Lakers by sporting a fishing-lure-flecked T-shirt and bright-red glasses (or, rather, frames without lenses, because he sees better without them) in the postgame press conference.

The look got laughs and, more importantly for Westbrook, national attention. He has continued to sport the frames and wear routinely outlandish shirts, prompting commentators like Jeff Van Gundy to rock the red on TV, leading to OKC coach Scott Brooks weighing in on his point guard's fashion sense and spurring a hilarious disagreement over who started this important, important trend.

Now, though, it seems the national dialogue on the glasses has reached its zenith (or nadir, depending on your vantage point). Sally Jessy Raphael, noted red-spectacled talk show host of the '80s and '90s, has been tapped for comment about the style choice of a player whose look reminded many of hers.

Erik Spoelstra acts out what he wants Dwyane Wade to do. (AP)

Excited for the NBA Finals? Join the BDL crew for a live Finals Chat on Twitter during tonight's Game 2. We'll be cracking jokes, sharing observations and talking about the game with NBA fans like you. Participate by using the hashtag #FinalsChat, and don't forget to follow @YahooBDL for your daily NBA fix.

Coming off a lackluster offensive turn in Game 1, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra's got a bold new strategy he'd like to see Dwyane Wade deploy. Let's see if it works out for him in Thursday night's Game 2.

Best caption wins something smaller than a breadbox, by the looks of it. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Serge Ibaka makes it work. Or, at least, he tries to.

NBA Commissioner David Stern. (Getty Images)

"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" NBA Commissioner David Stern asked sports talk radio personality Jim Rome during a contentious interview on Rome's nationally syndicated radio program on Wednesday afternoon.

Stern's remark — the textbook example of a loaded question, intended to suggest that the subject has been asked a question he cannot answer without incriminating himself — came in response to a question asked by Rome about public perception that the NBA had rigged the 2012 NBA draft lottery to ensure that the New Orleans Hornets came away with the No. 1 overall selection, despite having fewer chances at the top prize than the Charlotte Bobcats, Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers heading into the proceedings.

The NBA has owned the Hornets since December 2010. The league recently sold the Hornets to New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, who will reportedly pay $338 million to take control of the franchise. That sale is expected to be finalized this week, according to Stern; at present, the league still maintains control of the team.

Rome, a well-known radio host and former ESPN personality whose radio show is syndicated nationally by Premiere Networks and who hosts a daily television program on the CBS Sports Network, is married with two children, according to the bio on his website.

Deadspin's Timothy Burke has audio of the contentious segment of the interview; we've got a transcript after the jump.

During their chat on the afternoon after the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Rome asked Stern about the belief held by some — including, as Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski reported immediately following the lottery, multiple NBA executives — that the league office put its thumb on the scales and rigged the lottery drawing in favor of a team still under its stewardship and that it just sold, as a favor to its new owner.

"You know, New Orleans won the draft lottery, which, of course, produced the usual round of speculation that maybe the lottery was fixed," Rome said. "I know that you appreciate a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy — was the fix in for the lottery?"

Stern bristled.

[Related: Thunder, not Supersonics, are in the NBA Finals, and Seattle is stewing over bitter departure]

"Uh, you know, I have two answers for that," Stern said. "I'll give you the easy one — no — and a statement: Shame on you for asking."

After emphasizing that his line of questioning intended no disrespect, Rome noted that he still thought the question valid, since many NBA fans and observers have openly questioned the validity and purity of the lottery. This time, Stern not only bristled — he swung.

"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Stern asked.

"Yeah, I don't know if that's fair," Rome responded. "I don't know that that's fair."

Serge Ibaka tries out a new gimmick. (Getty Images)

I mean, it's really admirable that Scott Brooks is trying to talk Russell Westbrook into supporting Serge Ibaka as he tries out something different. That's the sign of a coach who's really into fostering a sense of togetherness and unity within a roster that's now just three wins away from an NBA championship. Doc Rivers called it "ubuntu." I am pretty much 100 percent positive that Scott Brooks does not call it that. Either way, I think we can all appreciate it.

But the hands behind the head, the tongue, the insinuation of gyration ... it's all too much, Serge. Too sexy mid-game. Too distracting to the officials, and not in a way that will help you get calls. And it seems to be transfixing Mr. Westbrook, who has to get back to the business of beating Dwyane Wade off the dribble again. So, seriously cut it out. Or, at least, put a pin in it until the offseason, will you?

Best caption wins a very important Rick Rude tribute. Good luck.

In our last adventure: LeBron James' face shrinks

Shortly after Game 1 of the NBA finals ended late Tuesday night, I found myself clicking around and looking for the postgame press conferences of Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. (I know, I should've just gone to NBA.com and streamed it, but I didn't think of that right away.) In the search, I landed on ESPN's postgame coverage, which at that time featured the following graphic (captured by CBSSports.com's Will Brinson) breaking down LeBron James' Game 1 performance:

Wait ... carry the one ... hmm. (Screencap via @willbrinson)

The intent is to seize on the notion that James shrinks late in big games, a widely held belief that certainly has some basis in reality but is also somewhat overblown, since "clutch" remains a pretty problematic construct that tends to ignore the critical non-highlight plays that can lead to wins in favor of harping on missed shots. But when the Heat lose, that means LeBron lost; when LeBron lost, that means we're going to be talking about whether or not he shrank late. Hence, the graphic.

Except ... look at the graphic. What part of the information there indicates that James "didn't finish how he started"?

In the grand scheme of things, it was a small play early in the third quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 105-94 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. But if the commercials for "Prometheus" have taught us anything, besides the fact that Stephen A. Smith and Coors Light will combine to make you less excited about a movie you previously wanted to see, it's that big things come from small beginnings. Such was the case with this brilliant dish by Thabo Sefolosha.

Setting the table: After trailing for the entire first half and entering the third quarter down seven, the Thunder are down 58-53 with 9:30 left in the third. With the shot clock winding down, Serge Ibaka takes a not-so-hot perimeter jumper, which misses. Udonis Haslem goes after the rebound, but is beaten to the ball by Kendrick Perkins, who didn't have a good game and whose replacement in the lineup by Nick Collison was a major plus for the Thunder in the second half, but who does definitely hustle and

Problem, Pat Riley and Alonzo Mourning?

Seems like the Miami Heat's team president and vice president of player development didn't much enjoy their visit to Chesapeake Energy Arena, what with the Oklahoma City Thunder erasing their team's 13-point first-half lead en route to an 11-point win in Game 1 of the NBA finals on Tuesday night. That's very understandable; letting a road win slip through your fingers is the kind of thing that can justifiably make you mad.

And as this young Thunder fan helpfully points out, Riles and 'Zo, are, indeed, mad:

Road losses stink. (Screencap via @cjzero)

Hater, in this case, to the right.