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: Eight Points, Nine Seconds. A pointed look at the Pacers as they prepare for perhaps their penultimate performance.
PF: Vice. David Roth on Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic.
SF: Magic Basketball. Eddy Rivera on Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic.
SG: Orlando Pinstriped Post. Evan Dunlap on Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic.
PG: True Hoop. Kevin Arnovitz: 'The unthinking brilliance of Tim Duncan.'

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Hey, are you in need of something that is the greatest to get you through the remainder of your Thursday afternoon as you wait for a Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers game that will all but certainly kill your soul? WORRY NOT, FELLOW TRAVELER! I have just the thing for you: Dancing!

And not mere "tomato-soup-awaiting, Siri-spurred" dancing — real dancing. From the mean streets of Springfield, Va., where it seems there ain't ish to do but cook or create dances dedicated to Washington Wizards rookie guard Shelvin Mack and venerable multi-team guard of the '90s Robert Pack. Behold:

This unbridled brilliance comes to us from Springfield's Ryan Kopf, 23, who has apparently been doing this sort of thing since he was knee-high to a shoefly, and does it pretty often. From the fantastic Sarah Kogod of the Washington Post's venerable D.C. Sports Bog:

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Once a laughingstock, Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee is turning into a capable NBA player right before our eyes. On Tuesday night, he was one of the best players on the floor for the second time in the series in Denver's 102-99 win over the Lakers in Los Angeles. McGee, for his part, had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. The Nuggets, who once seemed at danger of getting swept, now have the chance to even up the series at home in Thursday's Game 6.

[Marc J. Spears: Andrew Bynum's 'arrogant statement' costs Lakers against Nuggets]

While teammate Andre Miller arguably had a bigger effect on the outcome, McGee was awarded the game ball and earned a postgame interview with TNT's Craig Sager. At the end, as a means of congratulating JaVale, Sager told him to "hold on to that game ball" for a long time. So, naturally, McGee launched it into the crowd right before walking through the tunnel and to the locker room. It's unclear if anyone caught the ball, or if McGee just threw it into an open space. Whatever the case, it was weird.

Somehow, though, I think the reaction might have been very different if McGee had done this after a random game during his time with the Washington Wizards. When a player helps win a really important road playoff game, actions like this one showcase his confidence. When that same player does it in a meaningless January contest, it's a sign that he'll never grow up. It's amazing what a little success can do for a guy's reputation.

More news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:

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• Criticism of the Clippers' flopping extends to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin

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: Larry Coon's CBA FAQ. Larry Coon is an Internet legend. When his first collective bargaining agreement FAQ came out following the last lockout season, it helped a whole generation of us burgeoning NBA scribes figure out the following offseason, and the would-be boffo free-agent class of 2000 that followed a whole heap of teams using questioned-about cap machinations to clear space. This is required reading, re-skimming, bookmarking, what have you. You are not allowed to comment on a website, a message board, a blog, or on talk radio until you've gone over it. And this goes for you, professional scribes and TV talking heads. You don't get to just offer the "I don't know if that's cap-legal" caveat, after discussing a hypothetical deal. Now you know. Thank you, once again, Larry.
PF: Hardwood Paroxysm. Curtis Harris on the late Knicks coach Andrew "Fuzzy" Levane.
SF: Meloship of the Ring. Amar'e Stoudemire's late-game defense was pretty happenin' on Sunday.
SG: Washington Post. John Wall is touring the playoffs with Sam Cassell, learning from the top PGs.
PG: Grantland. Jonathan Abrams on the divergent careers of Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, 11 years on.

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Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee has been the subject of jokes and goofs throughout this season. You've probably seen the "highlight" where he ran the wrong way after a missed shot back when he was on the Washington Wizards, and there have been many more similar "highlights" throughout the year. However, as our Kelly Dwyer noted, McGee was pretty great in the Nuggets' Game 3 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, entertaining viewers with active, athletic play and putting in 16 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks in 28 minutes.

Yet McGee was often overshadowed during the ESPN broadcast by his mother Pam, one of the greatest players in the history of women's basketball and still an ultra-intense woman. In the video above, you can watch her react to one of her son's best baskets with an epic staredown. But she did a lot more than that, and you can join us after the jump for more.

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Coming off perhaps the worst regular season in NBA history, the Charlotte Bobcats announced Monday that head coach Paul Silas would not return to coach the team during the 2012-13 NBA season.

Rod Higgins, Charlotte's president of basketball operations, announced the separation — it's not a firing, per se, as Silas' contract ran out at the end of the season — in a press release, saying that the "search for [Silas'] successor will begin immediately."

"I would like to personally thank Paul for everything he has done for this team under some pretty unique circumstances," Higgins said. "His basketball experience as a coach and a player speak for themselves. We have been fortunate to have someone of his character associated with this franchise and we hope he will continue to be a valuable resource to us in the future."

During a Monday afternoon press conference, Silas thanked the Bobcats for the opportunity and said he would not pursue another head-coaching job.

"It's time to move on and I'm OK with that," Silas said, according to the Bobcats' official Twitter feed.

Silas said he was offered an as-yet undefined consulting role with the team, though most outside observers would likely suggest that the best thing for him, now that he is without a contract, is to run away from the Charlotte Bobcats as fast as your 68-year-old legs can take you.

Higgins didn't set a timetable for a hire to be made, but did say the front office is "going to start as soon as this [press conference] is over." General manager Rich Cho said the ideal candidate for the team's head coach would be "someone [...] who wants to be here and [the] opportunity to be part of building this team up going forward."

That raises an interesting question: Who the hell wants this job?

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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: South Park Studios. Via The Basketball Jones, the Clippers and Nuggets eagerly listen to Eric Cartman.
PF: NY Mag. Rather frightening list of every Knick to appear with the team since its last playoff win.
SF: Bucksketball. Scott Skiles, going out like he usually does.
SG: Off the Dribble. Will Amar'e Stoudemire work as a sixth man? Does he have a choice?
PG: Piston Powered. Austin Daye, wrapped in duct tape, five months too late.

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It's been a rough season for Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche: he called out his coaching staff and teammates after the first game of the season, talked about accountability at a team meeting two weeks later with no sense of irony, was made to sit out to "get in shape" after returning from injury (he hasn't played at all, of course), and capped everything by understanding it was his fault things went so poorly.

So how is he choosing to cap off such a terrible season? By throwing a party on Thursday night, of course! Via the always-awesome DC Sports Bog, check out the full flyer for the soiree at Eden, one of only four clubs in the D.C. area whose website automatically plays an Enrique Iglesias song, check out the full flyer of details after the jump.

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The walls of NBA blogs are lined thick with endless missives that chide teams for hiring and re-hiring the same revolving cast of either veteran players, recycled coaches, or general managers. And it's never easy criticizing anyone's employment in this day and age — any day and age, really — so understand that we don't go into this giddy at the prospect of wondering why someone got a gig. But Washington re-signed longtime GM Ernie Grunfeld on Tuesday, and it's safe to say that we're a little dubious about his extension.

Grunfeld is a respected ex-player and longtime personnel chief. As GM of the Knicks, he orchestrated two controversial trades for Marcus Camby and Latrell Sprewell, deals that seemed to take the Knicks nowhere fast until he was dismissed just weeks before then-coach Jeff Van Gundy started to play the two speedsters more often. On the back of Camby and Spre, the Knicks made the Finals that year, though Grunfeld was gone by then, and on his way to Milwaukee. With the Bucks, Grunfeld worked with George Karl to put together the team's first postseason turns in years, before taking a gig with the Washington Wizards in 2003. Though Grunfeld took in some early success in the wake of Michael Jordan's disastrous era with that team, it's been a tough few years since the Wizards last made the playoffs in 2008.

They won't be making the postseason again this year, as the team prepares to slide into home with the league's second-worst record. More frustratingly, the team's last two lottery picks have had to work through inconsistent turns with the team, while Grunfeld determines just who the squad's next head coach is going to be. The group will have impending cap space and another high pick, and it's clear that owner Ted Leonsis wants Grunfeld to head up his latest rebuilding project. Is he the dude for the deals? We're not entirely sure.

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If you asked me to bet on which NBA player would earn the first ejection following Metta World Peace's highly publicized tossing after firing an elbow into the head of James Harden on Sunday afternoon, I probably would have guessed Larry Sanders. After all, the Milwaukee Bucks center has gotten himself run twice in the past two weeks, once for arguing against the Oklahoma City Thunder and once for nearly starting a brawl against the Indiana Pacers. He's not the most violent sort — his play of late has been more whiny/upset than thorough/scary — but given his recent run-ins with NBA law, he seemed like a pretty decent bet.

As it turns out, you guys should have asked me; you'd have taken all my money. Because the answer — obviously, cosmically, perfectly — was Tyrus Thomas, who exited, stage left, after elbowing, stage face, James Singleton in the closing seconds of the opening quarter of Monday's a-capella-friendly avert-your-eyes matchup between the Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards. Behold:

The elbow/ejection continues what you might say has not been a good month for Thomas.

More on the play, from Rachel Shuster at USA Today:

Thomas [...] was dribbling and Singleton defending in front when Thomas swung his elbows and brushed across Singleton's face with 3.6 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Thomas was called for a flagrant foul and Singleton made two free throws.

"We made contact. A basketball play happened," Thomas said. [...]

Singleton admitted to being shaken up on the play.

"He connected. It had me a little woozy for a second," Singleton said.

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