The Atlanta Hawks are without a superstar but had the best record in the Eastern Conference.

“I think we’re just tired of hearing about that,” Mike Budenholzer told Grantland this week. “Everybody would like a superstar, but I definitely think you can win the way we are doing it.”

Kyle Korver was on the Chicago Bulls when Derrick Rose won MVP and prefers playing in the Hawks' team-oriented system.

“I’ve been on teams where it’s all about one guy,” Korver said. “This is way more fun. I believe in this vision, and I think we’re eventually gonna get it done.”

Kyrie Irving told the media that his health has been steady since the end of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Irving sat out Games 2 and 3 of that series with knee tendonitis. 

Irving expects to start out defending Stephen Curry, but added that it will be a team effort to limit his effectiveness.

LeBron James praised the offensive ability of Stephen Curry while also complimenting his own game.

James was asked how the Cleveland Cavaliers might be able to down Curry.

"The same way you slow me down ... You can't," said James.

James' scoring efficiency has been down in the playoffs, but he continues to carry the Cavaliers' offense with his passing.

The Cleveland Cavaliers ranked just 18th in defensive rating during the regular season, but they became a vastly improved side on that end of the floor following the acquisition of Timofey Mozgov.

During the playoffs, the Cavaliers have become even better on defense, allowing 101.9 points per 100 possessions during 14 games against the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.

The Golden State Warriors were the best team in the regular season on the defensive end, allowing 101.4 points per 100 possessions. In the playoffs, they're also allowing 101.4 points per 100 possessions.

On the offensive end, the Cavaliers scored 111.1 points per 100 possessions, which ranked third in the regular behind the Warriors at 111.6.

The playoffs is heavily skewed by the quality of the competition.

Regular Season (Off / Def / EDiff)

Warriors: 111.6 / 101.4 / 10.3

Cavaliers: 111.1 / 106.3 / 4.8

Playoffs (Off / Def / EDiff)

Warriors: 109.9 / 101.4 / 8.5

Cavaliers: 111.5 / 101.9 / 9.7

The Philadelphia 76ers own the draft rights to Dario Saric and Chad Ford was asked during his chat how he would rank in this year's class.

"Probably Top 10. But maybe higher based on the NBA's infatuation at the moment with playmaking fours," writes Ford. "Everyone wants a Draymond Green right now and Saric is one of the best playmaking fours I've seen in the draft for a while. Zach Lowe did a great story on this yesterday worth reading. But given that criteria, Saric would be very intriguing to teams. I think given the way the NBA is playing right now, he could be a very valuable piece for the Sixers when he decides to come."

Saric was the 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and currently plays for Anadolu Efes.

LeBron James will return to the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers, taking on either the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets.

James discussed his return to the Cavaliers and the Finals.

"I'm a guy who believes in unfinished business," James said.

This will mark James' fifth consecutive Finals appearance.

A few executives have dumped the term “stretch 4” altogether and replaced it with “playmaking 4.”

Traditional stretch-4's like Ryan Anderson, Ersan Ilyasova and Channing Frye are multidimensional, but can only thrive in specific offensive systems. 

A "playmaking 4" can shoot the ball, but also drive into the lane and make some sort of play when an opponent successfully contests a jumpshot opportunity.

“In a playoff series, you can figure out shooting,” George Karl says. “You just cover Kyle Korver. All that cute stuff they ran for him all year long — they only get that once in a while now. The shooters who have playmaking ability — those are the guys that are really kicking ass.”

Draymond Green and Boris Diaw are two examples of the "playmaking 4."

“I’ve always felt that in the playoffs, the more ways you can score, the better chance you have,” Jeff Van Gundy says.

The post-up game has become increasingly phased out of modern basketball

Only eight teams this season finished even 10 percent of their possessions with a post-up, according to Synergy Sports. A decade ago, 22 teams hit that mark, and every team ended at least 7.5 percent of its trips with some kind of post-up. One-third of teams finished with a lower post-up share than that this season.

“We are losing a part of our sport,” Jason Kidd says.

“The game is getting out of balance,” says George Karl. “But until we figure out a way to make the post-up more efficient, we’re not going back. You just can’t win throwing the ball into the post 60 times per game.”

Steve Kerr believes it is something players need to work on before they arrive in the NBA.

“You need to work on your post game against Vanderbilt, not against the Spurs,” Kerr says. “If you come into this league, try to post up, and some 10-year vet swats your shot into the fifth row — that’s hard to deal with.”

AAU and the one-and-done system have been blamed, but young players also simply want to play the same way as the NBA players they watch on television.

“Go to any AAU game, and no one wants to play in the post,” says Kiki Vandeweghe, the league’s senior vice-president for basketball operations. “Everyone wants to dribble and shoot jumpers. But at the same time, NBA coaches have looked at the numbers and found that 3-pointers are efficient, the pick-and-roll is efficient, that it’s more efficient to shoot early in the shot clock.”

The Golden State Warriors have the fourth best composite Elo rating in NBA history.

Elo points depend only on the final score of each game and where it was played.

Elo ratings above 1800, which imply a team would be able to sustain at least a 67-15 record over the long term, are extremely rare. Only three teams have achieved them: the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (whose 1853 Elo rating from June 9, 1996, is the all-time record), the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls and the 1985-86 Boston Celtics. This year’s Golden State Warriors have a chance at an 1800-plus rating, depending on how the rest of the playoffs go.

LeBron James had a good floor game and scored 31 points, but he continued his postseason inefficiency as a scorer in Game 1.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' 18-point fourth quarter lead was cut down to four by the Atlanta Hawks.

“We can’t worry about how many points we’re up or how many points we’re down; we have to continue to play our game. It starts with me. I take all the responsibility for it,” James said. “In the fourth quarter, I played way too much isolation basketball, one-on-one basketball [with] a lot of the defenses set, and I was letting the clock run down way too much. I just had to take the shot or I was giving it to my guys late in the shot clock, and they couldn’t do nothing with it besides shoot it or turn the ball over.”

He used even stronger language during his interview on the court with Fox Sports Ohio’s Allie Clifton immediately after the game, saying, "I allowed them back into the game with my offensive nonsense."

James' 18 isolation possessions in Game 1 were the most by any player during the 2015 playoffs, according to SportVu. While he had some success with it, shooting 8-for-17 on those possessions, it clearly took the rest of the Cavs out of any sort of flow. 

Thirty-five percent of Cleveland’s possessions in Game 1 came out of isolation play, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

James vowed a more team-centric approach to the offense he'll initiate should that occur.

“I’ll be more conscious about that in Game 2 if that opportunity presents itself, where at least I can get the ball moving to start [the possession] and then maybe at the back side or like the third option, I can get it back at the end,” James said. “At least we get the defense moving instead of them just watching me pound the ball for 24 seconds. That’s not good basketball.”