Three-thousand miles away and two big games to start a Sunday afternoon. … Jeff Van Gundy isn’t coming through that door wrapped around someone’s ankle, and Allan Houston won’t be joining, either. Still, that can’t temper a playoff matchup we’d love to see that was previewed Sunday: Heat vs. Knicks. The Garden has seen its high points this season (think Linsanity and ‘Melo’s Easter blowout) but we’d love to watch this series once it gets back to the World’s Most Famous Arena after how Sunday’s game looked until late. Miami pulled away with Dwyane Wade going for 28 points and nine assists and LeBron added 29 and 10 boards. Miami clinches the Southeast in its only trip to N.Y., but we hope this is to be continued in the playoffs. … ‘Melo looked big-time hyped all game with 42, but the threes that were dropping last weekend weren’t going late. J.R. Smith had 16 points and the ball barely leave that pair’s hands — kinda feels like Landry Fields doesn’t get to use his full skillset now as a distributor or “glue-guy.” … Thing to consider if these teams meet again? Miami didn’t want anything to do with Tyson Chandler all game until he left the game in the fourth … On the other coast Coach Kobe was trending worldwide because Bean Bryant missed his fifth straight. The Lakers won in OT, but not before completely shutting out Andrew Bynum (23 points and 16 boards) from getting the ball on regulation’s last possession. Huh? … What was more unexpected: Dirk (24 points) not knocking down a falling vintage J to end the game, or Pau Gasol hitting two threes in OT to finish with 20 points and 10 boards. Will Kobe take credit for pushing Pau to shoot those? … As J.A. Adande noted, Kobe says he doesn’t watch Game of Thrones but you’d be hard pressed to believe that after he sat in a “Phil Jackson chair” all game … Eric Gordon went for 18 in the Hornets’ win over Memphis in a game where he looked fed up and ready to drive on anyone. Jason Smith doesn’t just knock Clippers over, he had a pretty nice putback slam, too. The Grizz were led by Rudy Gay‘s 24 but while they lost, we’re not worried by their two-face ways down the stretch. We gave Juice Mayo dap yesterday and then he went 0-for-7 today from three. So it goes … Boston didn’t unpack its Big Three from the luggage in Charlotte, relying on Rajon Rondo‘s 20 points and 16 assists to win by 12. The game was a five-to-10 point affair most the night, which is closer than Charlotte’s been in seemingly weeks. Make that 22 games in a row for Rondo with double-digit assists. … Noted eraser Bismack Biyombo met Greg Stiemsma‘s own block party and it was denied quicker than any trades for any Bobcats players in fantasy … Marcus Thornton hit the game-winner for Sacramento with 3.2 ticks left to beat Portland. The Blazers shut down Jamal Crawford (likely) for the season, but went on to hit 16 threes anyway at a 50 percent clip. What about the Maloofs? They chilled in their luxury box, which the Blazer broadcast loved to point out … Read on to see why Orlando is falling apart.
Orlando had so many issues already with Dwight Howard‘s herniated disc and Hedo Turkoglu‘s broken face, but then Glen Davis strained his knee right out of the gate in the first quarter against Cleveland. Forget firing Stan Van Gundy, can the dude post up anybody? The Magic still managed to clinch a playoff spot because Jameer Nelson scored 21 points. … How’s this for treatment? A day after leading Cleveland with 16 and 10, Luke Harangody got assigned to Canton of the D-League by the Cavs. … Derrick Rose has had his share of free-throw issues late this season, but Rodney Stuckey‘s (32 points) missing half of two, two-shot fouls late gave Rose a chance to be the hero. Rose (24 points) hit a game-tying three to send the Bulls to OT in Detroit, a game Chi-town would win. Ben Gordon, after getting stuck on the screen that freed Rose, gave a look to his ‘mates like, so none of you was going to tell me? … Joakim Noah couldn’t get off the bench late on Thursday in the win over Miami with the Bulls clicking so well, but he got 20 points and 17 boards Sunday … Jason Maxiell simultaneously ripped away Omer Asik‘s board and knee’d Carlos Boozer in the mug on his nasty putback dunk in the third … Elsewhere the Raptors cruised past Atlanta behind DeMar DeRozan‘s 23. We’d be remiss if we didn’t say gritty Ivan Johnson, fresh off punishment by the Hawks, came back strong to get 14 points … Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo each went for 20 in Denver’s easy win over Houston. … Can a ref get a flagrant 1? Bill Kennedy was running just outside the white line at Pepsi when he bulldozed a worker delivering food courtside. He bounced off her and kept going, too, without even looking. The injury report lists her as day to day but the grub is a loss. … We’re out like the Magic’s frontcourt.
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