The Lakers have the NBA Championship Belt

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

LEBRON IS PHENOMENAL: During Cavs-Celtics, the C’s honored a local Special Olympian who was courtside. He’s a 16-year-old named Aaron Miller, a kid who has worked his ass off in hours and hours of therapy to compete in two high school sports despite getting a diagnosis of likely paralysis. LeBron caught the story on the Jumbotron ... and went over to pay respects to the young man (who is in clear disbelief that this is happening). LeBron gave Aaron his shoes after the game, too. LeBron is fantastic.

THE HAWKS ARE NOT PHENOMENAL: What’s wrong with the Hawks? Nothing in particular. THAT’S what is so scary, writes Jason Patt.

BRITT ROBSON SIREN: Britt Robson on the rise of Evan Fournier ... which didn’t altogether surprise the Magic.

TOO DAMN COOL: Researchers have uncovered an 80-year-old recording of James Naismith talking about the birth of basketball -- the only such recording known to exist. In a 1930s radio interview in New York, Naismith describes the very first basketball game, in which one player was left unconscious, several earned black eyes and one dislocated his shoulder. Sounds like Knicks-Heat in the ‘90s to me.

SCORES SCORES SCORES ...

CLE 89, BOS 77
DEN 112, MIN 100
SAC 107, HOU 97

LAL 113, MIL 95

THAT’S RIGHT: With a thorough beatdown of the Bucks, your Los Angeles Lakers now hold the nonexistent NBA Championship Belt. They might be 4-21, but no one can take this away from them. (Until the next time they play, of course.)

OH MY: What a throwback rainbow (and stinkface) from Kobe!

AND FINALLY: Larry Nance Jr. bangaranged all over John Henson. Nance can DUNK, man.

WELL, OKAY: Jason Terry got into a spat with ... DeMarcus Cousins’ manager. JET ran into him (fruitlessly) trying to catch Ben McLemore on the break, the manager slapped JET’s hand away and Cousins ran over to make sure everything was cool. The refs reviewed the tape (!) and ejected the manager. He tried to come back later and the refs booted him again. This team is never short on the subplots! Speaking of which ...

RONDO APOLOGIZES FOR REAL: After receiving much criticism for his non-apology apology (including from yours truly), Rajon Rondo put out a much stronger apology. Good on him.

AND FINALLY: Rudy Gay dunked on Patrick Beverley so hard that Rudy Gay went flying into the baseline row while Patrick Beverley just stood there in awe of the history he had just witnessed.

AS IT TURNS OUT ... there’s a logical explanation for Gerald Green’s brother dunking on his own basket in Germany (as linked yesterday).

YOUR WEEKLY ZACH LOWE: How do the Mavericks always survive?

YUP: Carmelo Anthony is sounding all the right notes in becoming a mentor and friend to Kristaps Porzingis.

NOTED: If you’re a bad Uber driver, Andre Iguodala is going to leave a trail of foul odor to mark your backseat.

OPTIMISM: Ken Berger with an important, positive update on what the NBA and players’ union are trying to achieve in the next year: a full new bargaining agreement that renders the looming opt-out obsolete.

INTERESTING: It appears that the next owner of the Timberwolves franchise will be Steve Kaplan, an L.A. businessman who is currently in the Grizzlies’ organization. Jerry Zgoda reports that Kaplan is in talks to buy 30 percent of the Wolves, and as a part of that will agree to buy a controlling stake from aging Glen Taylor when the time comes.

TONIGHT TONIGHT: There are actually a number of interesting game on Wednesday. ESPN has Grizz-Bulls followed by Warriors-Suns.

Happy Wednesday. See you next time.