The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers had no real problems facing the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers respectively.
Stuck in neutral

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY SportsBut when the Thunder play the Heat, their biggest strength becomes their biggest weakness. Given that the Thunder probably have to go through Miami to win the title, this is a problem.
Miami’s defense is predicated on creating scramble situations to force turnovers and get the opposing offense out of rhythm. To beat the Heat, you need to move the ball quickly and make decisions on the fly. They want you to take an extra second to think about where the ball should go, because that’s all they need to close down the passing lane. Whenever the Thunder play the Heat, they too often take that extra second, or more, to think about the next move, ruining offensive flow and playing right into the Heat’s hands.
Read Article >Heat, Clippers both win easily

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY SportsHeat 110, Thunder 100
While the shot clanked off the rim and the streak ended, James could not be too disappointed with a performance of 39 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. He “only” shot 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) and made 4-of-8 three-pointers to lead the Heat to their second victory over the Thunder this season.
Read Article >Steve Blake behind the back to Kobe for the dunk


DeAndre Jordan free throw attempt makes doves cry


This one makes Scott Norwood feel better about himself.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the play preceding the foul was a terrible airball, too. Just an all-around feel-good time for Clippers fans with this possession.
Read Article >Lamar Odom return to game doubtful

Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY SportsBefore the injury, Odom had a pair of rebounds, two blocks and one point from a free throw.
Read Article >Heat cruise to win in OKC

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY SportsOklahoma City will enter the NBA All-Star with the second best record in the Western Conference. At the moment, the Thunder are 39-14 overall, trailing only San Antonio in the standings.
Read Article >Wade, Nick Collison throw basketball at each other
Some good advice when it comes to reacting to technical fouls is to, well, not react.
Or maybe some better advice is to just be Dwyane Wade instead. If it helps, Wade would be ejected from the game with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter after recording his sixth foul.
Read Article >Chris Bosh hook shot goes over the backboard


Annnnd whoops! Bank shots look a lot harder without the bank part.
Read Article >BREAKING: LeBron is crazy good at basketball


I mean, goodness, LeBron’s just making contested stepback jumpers like it ain’t no thang.
And why’d it start? Well, per this Miami Herald beat writer, a Thunder fan started heckling him. Then LeBron didn’t miss for the rest of the half, reeling off 10 quick points. #LeBronIsNotNice
Read Article >KD takes hard fall, stays in


It looked like Durant might have injured his elbow, shoulder or hip on the fall, but he somehow popped up and stayed in the game. Thunder fans and NBA fans everywhere dodged a huge bullet there. That could have been reeeeealllly bad.
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Read Article >Craig Sager’s wishes you a happy Valentine’s Day


Never have I seen anyone dress for Valentine’s Day as well as Sager. Where do you even get a tie like that?
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