On this night five years ago, the Boston Celtics ended Houston’s 22-game winning streak. They nearly did it to Miami last night, up 13 with only eight minutes left. But then LeBron James happened … In Miami’s incredible 105-103 win, James (37 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists) scored twice in the last minute – once on an inbounds play and another on a jumper in Jeff Green‘s face – and Boston missed a couple of gimmies before Paul Pierce was short on a wild three in the closing seconds. It capped a weird night for Miami – how many times did you say to yourself “How the Hell is this game close?” It felt like Boston was dominating, and they were at times. But they gave up too many quick spurts to the Heat. In the end, the Celtics let a lot go to waste. First, Jason Terry literally put his life on the line. Then, Green poured in 43 points, living at the rim and doing it all with his patented “I should be a librarian” facial expression. None of it mattered … In Indiana’s 21-point win over Cleveland, Gerald Green showed up for the first time in what feels like months, scoring 13 points in the first half and finishing with 20 on the night … On the other side, C.J. Miles dropped 21 points on his birthday, including three consecutive threes in the second quarter. That barrage prompted Cleveland’s broadcast team — always a highlight — to yell, “If Alicia Keys was here, she’d be singing that he’s on fire!!” … Luke Walton has now become the fourth Cavalier this season to wear a facemask, and last night he was jocking Kyrie‘s style with the Dark Knight all-black mask. But when Irving wore it, it was badass. When lil’ Walton rocked it, it was like a bad horror movie … The Nets put a smackdown on Detroit, winning by 37 and getting 31 points from a rejuvenated Deron Williams. Speaking of The Artist Who Was Formerly The “Best” PG In The League, they showed a stat during the game of guys who have the most double-digit assist games since 2010. Rondo was first. Nash was second. CP3 was third. Williams was fourth… and Jose Calderon was fifth. That surprised us … We noted in yesterday’s Smack that Marshall Henderson and Doug Gottlieb had some beef over Ole Miss’ tournament resume. Henderson is known for possibly missing a few ice cubes in his tray, and back when we did a feature with his teammate Murphy Holloway, the big man said of Henderson, “Not everyone in the SEC likes him but I love having him on my team.” So it wasn’t a surprise when Henderson tweeted this: “AITE!!! IM OFF THIS HOE!!! GOT THESE HOES TO TEND 2!!! #YALLBEEASY.” Did Ole Miss just become one of the “must watch” teams of the tournament? Hell yeah. Let’s hope they go deep so we can get some more of Henderson unfiltered … Keep reading to hear about the end of Andrew Bynum’s season …
How bad do those people who bought Andrew Bynum Philly jerseys feel right now? After months of delays, setbacks and more target dates than a heavily-bootlegged hip-hop album, the big man is opting for season-ended surgery on both knees. According to a statement from the Sixers, the arthroscopic procedure is meant to remove loose bodies from within the knees in an attempt to alleviate pain and swelling. Bynum, who will be a free agent this summer, now may never play in Philly (although he’d be stupid not to, and Philly is sort of in a bind in that they almost HAVE to give him a max offer to keep him around… considering what they gave up to get him). All this means is that eBay is going to get flooded with “Bynum” swingmans selling for like $10, but at least it’ll give him more time to get creative with his hair … As for the 76ers, they nearly blew a big lead against Portland before holding on when LaMarcus Aldridge‘s (32 points, 14 rebounds) runner was off, 101-100. Jrue Holiday (27 points, eight boards) and Damian Lillard (27 points, seven assists) squared off in a back-n-forth point guard tilt, while someone substituted a good player into Spencer Hawes‘ body (18 points, 13 rebounds) … Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points, and Darren Collison came with 24 off the pine as Dallas once again exposed the Hawks as a flawed, fluky team, 127-113. The Hawks have basically been a .500 team for the last three or four months, and we’ll be surprised if they aren’t rudely dismissed immediately in the playoffs … No Kobe finally caught up to the Lakers. They got pounded in Phoenix, losing 99-76, and completely unraveling in the fourth quarter. Phoenix had four players off their bench reach double-figures in scoring … So not only do the Morris twins have the same tattoos at the same points on their bodies, but they plan this stuff out and go get their ink together? That’s just weird. Do they plan their outfits together too? … Jermaine O’Neal had a move last night against Dwight Howard (16 points, 11 rebounds) where he backed up down, bodied him with a shoulder, turned and dunked right at the rim while Superman stood there begging for a call. Is this real life? Send Bynum to Phoenix … In other storylines from last night: Stephen Curry (30 points) and the Warriors put it on New Orleans, 93-72; J.R. Smith had 20 off the bench to lead New York to a huge win in Utah, 90-83; Memphis got it done against the T-Wolves by 15 as Mike Conley (20 points) took care of business; Andre Iguodala made a triple with 7.1 seconds left to lift Denver to their 12th-straight win, beating Chicago by one. Wilson Chandler threw up 35 points; and John Wall (25 points) was big again against Charlotte, but Washington couldn’t top the Bobcats and Gerald Henderson (28 points), losing 119-114 … We’re out like Philly’s Bynum jerseys.
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