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LeBron James and Dwyane Wade carved up one of the strongest teams in the West on their formidable home court, for four quarters, as the Heat extended their winning streak to 9.

Wade and James comined for 71 points. James had 38, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. Wade had 33 points, 10 assists and 4 steals.

It was a massacre on the defensive end for the Heat, who cruised through the second half as the game was all but over at half time.

Portland had no answer for Miami’s slashing wingers, even putting the long and effective defenders of Gerald Wallace, Wesley Matthews and Nicholas Batum on the Heat’s stars.

Chris Bosh was missing as he was at home with his family following the death of his grandmother, but the Heat didn’t miss him in the slightest, as their offensive efficiency killed Portland, turning the ball over just 9 times and shooting over 50% from three.

LaMarcus Aldridge was spirited for the Trailblazers, at times doing it single handedly, and when Jamal Crawford started making shots in the fourth quarter the Heat had to turn off auto pilot and finish off the home side.

Miami travel to Utah tomorrow to play the Jazz.

Without a doubt, Derrick Rose is one of the most unique players in the league and one of the most unique point guards of all time.

He makes a strong argument to be the most athletic point guard we’ve seen since Magic Johnson, perhaps ever.

His game is constantly improving, he has led his team to the Conference Finals and won an MVP, all before he was 24 years old.

By no means am I denying how good he is nor how good he could be, but Rose is severely lacking something that the other stars in the league and the other stars that have come before him have in an abundance.

Personality.

You always hear commentators talking about how Rose’s facial expression never changes whether he’s 0/20 or 20/20, whether he has just dunked on someone’s face or missed a buzzer beater. They say how they admire this, but it never seemed right to me. I just dismissed it as him holding a killer poker face, that was until I saw his comments made following the recent All Star Game in Orlando.

When Rose emerged up the steps during the Eastern Conference All Stars announcements, he was the only guy without a smile on his face. He looked like a kid that had been dragged to the supermarket by his mother.

LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were all smiling, waving and dancing away as Rose stood there like he was above it all.

“There’s a time and place for that and I don’t think it was right, then and there”.

Excuse me?

“There’s a time and place for that and I don’t think it was right, then and there”.

One more time, I must have heard you wrong.

“There’s a time and place for that and I don’t think it was right, then and there”.

There’s a time and place for dancing, but a glorified exhibition game as voted by the fans where you emerge on a stage with smoke and fireworks with dancers and rappers all around you, is not the place?

A few ways I can attack this.

I can be overly dramatic and emotional sports fan guy:

Who are you Derrick Rose? Who are you to comment or criticise on what the others are doing? It’s an All Star Game buddy, zip it up. I didn’t hear LeBron or Dwight come out to the media asking why you were standing there like a sulking child, motionless as the rest of the building rocked out, so what gives you the right to have even the slightest sigh of judgement over your TEAMMATES enjoying themselves?

I can be show some respect guy:

You are the worst player of that starting 5, you are the only one that cannot perform for the crowd that voted you in, but most of all you take shots at those who did? Show some respect kid you haven’t gotten close to earning the right to say that kind of crap yet.

I can be obnoxious Chicago sports fan guy:

Unlike the rest of the stars out there, Derrick Rose respects the game. He doesn’t have time for any of that clowning around. He gets into game mode and has one goal in mind. I love what he said, shows he takes it more seriously than those other buffoons. 

I can be unbearable bandwagon guy (most of the country):

LeBron is a choker.

Let’s move past those cliches and onto the issue I brought forth.

Clearly Derrick Rose is never going to be the energetic, enthusiastic, outgoing sportsman that you either love or hate, but one way or another you feel very strongly about. He doesn’t have it in him. I don’t know what he’s like with his friends or family or girlfriend, but it must be early bed times in the Rose household, no fun going on there.

When you look back over time, what still resonates today is that the stars with the greatest legacies more often than not had a larger than life personality.

Michael Jordan was as known for his attitude, his will, his confidence and his competitiveness as he was for his play. Sure Rose has all of that, but he doesn’t talk about it. Michael Jordan never shut up about it.

Kobe Bryant is the same. Always gritting his teeth, talking at opponents, getting scrappy, yelling at teammates and coaches.

Then you have the opposite yet still hugely outgoing stars.

LeBron James is as friendly and free spirited a star as you will ever see. He has secret handshakes with every teammate he plays with, dances before, sometimes during and after games, plays with the media, pulls pranks on anyone in the building.

Magic Johnson had the golden smile.

Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were brutes who wanted everyone to know they were the toughest dudes on the court.

I can go on and on, but you get the point.

If you have a look at the greatest players of the past few decades, there are very few that are as guarded and downright boring as Derrick Rose.

So as sport evolves into this saturation of tabloid desires, as stars look to move to big markets for business opportunities and social media becomes more powerful by the second, will a star like Derrick Rose be considered less of a player than he is because he has no impact off the court?

Well at the moment, I can’t see it happening. Why? Because he is the darling of the league. Some people have the nerve to call him the best player in the league, or at least top 3. He isn’t the best point guard in the league, so that is ridiculous.

Everyone’s hate of LeBron has elevated Rose to a level he is not on.

However, once this wears off and we realise that Derrick Rose is less interesting than the Charlotte Bobcats, I can definitely see him losing a lot of the gloss he has collected en route to becoming one of the faces of the league. The fact he plays in Chicago, and on a very good team means that the decline won’t be so brutal or obvious, but I still believe it will effect his stance in the memory of those remembering his era in the NBA.

The most recent and relevant parallel I can draw to this is Tim Duncan. Duncan is a four time NBA champion. He is quite possibly the greatest ever at his position AND he is one of the most respected players in the history of the league.

He averages 11.3 rebounds for his career. FOR HIS CAREER. Add to that 20 points and 2 blocks and you’ve got one hell of a player. He is playing less minutes this season than any other season in his career and is still registering 15 points and 9 rebounds. If you average that out to his normal playing time, he’s above career numbers, at age 35.

Yet Kevin Garnett still holds a much greater reputation and standing, at least amongst the media and fans, despite having 3 less titles. Garnett is an amazing player and may even be on the same level if not better, but why is he such a household name and not Duncan?

I think a lot of it has to do with personality. Tim Duncan is a very quiet, very respectful guy who has been in the newspapers 4 times during his 15 years in the league. Those were the four championships. He never creates a stir, never gets in trouble, never calls anyone out. Duncan is a victim of his own demeanour.

KG could not be more opposite. Always in the papers, always yapping at the media, at the fans, at his teammates, at his opposition, at his coaches, at opposition coaches. Making gang signs to the camera, screaming during interviews, crawling down the court like a wild dog, fighting. He is outrageous. Love him or hate him, you feel strongly about him and everyone knows who is he and what he does.

I can’t say the same for Tim Duncan.

You can make the argument that he plays in tiny market of San Antonio, but KG was still a huge personality in Minnesota, LeBron was in Cleveland, Dwight is in Orlando, Barkley was in Philadelphia and Pheonix, the list goes on.

To those that really know their stuff, Duncan is as good as there has been. If Rose continues to improve as he has done, he could be on the level with some of the greats.

But in the end, the thing that separates stars from being all encompassing historic superstars is not necessarily their ability to play the game. It’s their ability to sell their game.

Perhaps it is harsh of me to say his sleeping pill of a personality will ultimately condemn his legacy to that of a lower standing, but surely you cannot argue that it will effect his popularity?

Does popularity have an impact on legacy?

Give us a smile, Derrick.

It may be for your own sake.

Unless you have been living in North Korea the past month, you will have heard the name, the story and the achievements of Jeremy Lin.

Lin burst onto the scene and into the tabloid culture of sports more shockingly and suddenly than anyone before him. His myriad of followers not only within New York or the United States, but encompassing the entire world, have elevated this Asian prodigy into the greatest overnight story professional sport has seen in a very long time.

I am all for Linsanity, I think it is not only great for the kid, but also great for the success hungry franchise and city. There are very few, if any negatives to take out of this situation.

However, it has emerged, over the course of his meteoric rise to fame, that he has began to be compared to other players, as is the case with the NBA. We cannot go 5 minutes within this league without comparing one player to another to justify our beliefs or feelings towards that individual. It is the single biggest problem I have with the NBA and it is the single greatest burden the league carries over every other sport in the world. This need to compare has prompted several media figures, players and fans to compare Jeremy Lin to Steve Nash.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of why this is so ridiculous, can we step back and gawk the acceptance we have with comparing a 10 game rookie with a 2 time MVP and future Hall of Famer? This just is not fair on Steve Nash nor Jeremy Lin. No good can come from this, but since everyone insists on pushing the idea through, I will address it.

Steve Nash has had one of the greatest careers a point guard as ever had. Few argue that he is a top 3 playmaking point guard in the history of the game. Few argue that he is a top 3 shooting point guard in the history of the game. He is as pure at the position as anyone that came before him. More importantly, he is a leader of men, a consummate professional and a genuine human being.

Since 2004, Nash has had 5 seasons averaging 11 assists or better, one of 10.9, and just one season in single digits. Over that same period of time, he has never shot under 50% from the field and only once has shot under 40% from three point range.

Over his career he averages 50% from the field, 43% from three and an astonishing 90% from the free throw line. His career turnover to assist ratio is 4:1.

Nash is widely considered the greatest pick and roll point guard we have ever seen. His offensive influence cannot be understated and his defense is certainly underrated. He is a star in every definition of the word.

He has achieved just about everything a player can do.

Jeremy Lin has played 50 games in the NBA. 29 of these 50 were for the Warriors, where he played less than 10 minutes per game. Since that was not the Jeremy Lin we know today, I will dismiss those appearances.

There is no denying that Lin has revitalised and redirected the game’s most iconic franchise. He has done so single handedly. The Knicks went on a 7 game tear when he became the starting point guard, and the majority of these games did not feature Amare Stoudemire nor Carmelo Anthony.

He deserves all the credit in the world for this dramatic turnaround. But that does not mean we need to find a figure of reflection.

As I see it, the comparisons have stemmed from these roots. He has flourished in the Mike D’Antoni offense, as Steve Nash did, given the offense gives all the decision making to the point guard, blended by pick and rolls, pick and pops, wing cutting, off ball screens, everything to make the point guards job as easy as possible. There is no surprise D’Antoni has done so, given he was a talented point guard himself.

Lin plays with Amare Stoudemire, the big man of the great Pheonix pick and roll that featured Steve Nash. They have had some success together. At times, Lin has been caught out and does not have a solid presence on the defensive end of the court.

That is about all the similarities I see between the two. If you’ll notice, there is only one factor directly related to his ability. This has grown simply from the situation.

Steve Nash is a perennial 50, 40, 90 guy, meaning he shots 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the line. Jeremy Lin is not a good shooter by any stretch of the imagination. Sure he has hit some big shots over the past few weeks, but that is not his game.

Lin shoots 47% from the field, 33% from three and 77% from the line. All very solid numbers, but do they even remotely compare to Steve Nash’s career? Not even close.

You might hit me with, well that is only a 21 game sample, you can’t have an accurate overview of his skills shooting the ball. Well if you do come back with that, this 21 game sample will likely exaggerate his ability to shoot the ball given the hot streak he has been on. But to satisfy that, we’ll take a look at his Harvard career.

In his four years at America’s most prestigious school, Lin shot 48% from the field, 33% from three and 73% from the line.

Happy?

I too was surprised at how well that worked out for me.

Lin is a good passer and a willing passer, but he is so far from being an elite passer it is baffling to me the first name he was thrown around with was Steve Nash. Lin put up 4.3 assists per game over his Harvard career, 4.8 in his final 2 years. His totals for the Knicks sit at 5.8 per game, not a hugely significant improvement, and he is playing with much greater talent in a system that makes it very easy for point guards to consistently register high assist games.

Steve Nash plays the position with his head on a swivel. His eyes are always moving, he is always talking and he will throw a pin point pass without even looking at his teammate. It is like a sixth sense. Lin does not make the jaw dropping passes, he does not solely initiate the shot opportunity (t0 the extent that Nash does) and he largely gets his bigger assist totals when he simply hands it off to a big man in the paint. I will admit Lin’s timing when passing the ball close to the rim is exceptional, but he is not near Nash’s level.

The greatest, and perhaps only, criticism of Lin’s game has been his turnovers. No player has committed as many turnovers through their first 10 starts than Jeremy Lin. In his past 11 games, all of which he has started, Lin has registered a monstrously hideous 6.1 turnovers per game. That is just inexcusable. Whilst the aggression and confidence should be commended, a point guard cannot be making that many lapses per game, especially not one that is the only close resemblance to a pure point guard the franchise has.

Steve Nash, meanwhile, is as efficient with the ball as anyone in the league. He is perennially in the top 3 in assists yet has never completed a season averaging 4 turnovers per game. Magic Johnson, the greatest point guard of all time, averaged 4 turnovers per game over his entire career, with similar assist totals.

So in the three key areas to both Nash and Lin’s respective games, shooting, assisting and efficiency, they simply do not compare. There is no resemblance, no parallels, no relationship.

Jeremy Lin has become a victim of circumstance. Not only is it unfair on Steve Nash to be compared to an unachieved, 11 game rookie, but it is unfair for Jeremy Lin to have the expectations of a two time MVP forced upon his inexperienced shoulders.

Please do not get me wrong, I couldn’t be happier for the guy and I am certainly on board with the Linsanity. But my biggest pet peeve in sports is giving irrelevant and unjustified credit. We do it all too often and this I cannot understand.

It is so hard for people to allow a player to forge their own path and create their own legacy. They have to align them with a previous or current individual and use this as the criteria for which their career is judged.

If Jeremy Lin achieves half of what Steve Nash has, he will be an MVP and will most likely go into the Hall of Fame. More importantly he will have expanded and aided in the growth of basketball and it’s relationship with various charities.

It is time to stop with the comparisons. They begin and end with the coach and the teammate (Stoudemire).

What Jeremy Lin is doing is unprecedented. What Steve Nash has done is unprecedented. Let’s leave the similiarities at that.

Before I present the relevant contents of this article I want to remind and assure people (and actually myself) that this was the All Star Game, a glorified pickup game of no defense and playground like antics. It means absolutely nothing in the reality of the NBA, it has no real effect on an individual’s legacy, it is rather an excuse for the league to generate a huge amount of money and exposure by blinding us with the greatest collection of basket balling talent this universe can offer.

I may contradict that notion through the rest of this, and if so I am doing it out of a raw emotional reaction to what we witnessed in Orlando today. As sports fans, we often let emotions overshadow reality, and I try to separate the two, but in this case I may not be able to.

I have watched LeBron James his entire career. Unlike most of the people that associate themselves as qualified critics of his game, I have seen the majority of his games throughout his career. I truly believe I have a better researched mind on the tabloid that is LeBron James than the vast majority of those who weigh in on him, including most of the so called ‘experts’ as ESPN, Fox and wherever else you go to for your news. Excuse me if that sounds arrogant, I do not mean to be so, but I believe this with every ounce of my being.

Contrary to popular belief, LeBron James has only been framed as a ‘choker’ or ‘lacking the clutch gene’, or whatever other ridiculous adjectival term the media has concucted, emerged within the last 18 months or so. He was so universally loved by the league, fans and media alike, that his sometime ineptitudes in late game situations were not scrutinised to the 1/100,000,000 as they are now. That is not by any means me admitting he is ‘unclutch’, because over his career of which I have followed so closely, I have seen him hit big shots in big situations dating as far back as his rookie season. He has sustained production late, he has hit game winners, buzzer beaters, whatever you like. He has made big plays for his teammates, he has made big plays on the defensive end.

That has all been done and no one really argues that he hasn’t had instances of it before, regardless of those instances being concentrated.

But as his days in Cleveland came to an end, and people saw it coming, it all started to turn. His play against Boston in the last playoff series of his career as a Cavalier was highly criticised to the point where he was accused of quitting. The public perception of him began to swing and people started painting him with the portrayal of a weak player late in games. That was blown exponentially out of the water when he took his talents to South Beach and at times struggled with the idea of sharing these situations with another player.

Yet, regardless of what everyone will have you believe, he did make big shots, game winners when it mattered last year. He made plays to help his team to the third best record in the league. His play during the first three rounds of the playoffs was matched perhaps only by that of Michael Jordan. It was all dominating, un-defendable brilliance. He hit big shot after big shot after big shot against the two best defences in the league.

His awful Finals ensured everyone immediately forgot about the previous 15 games. Also contrary to popular belief, it was not so much that James was missing shots in the Finals, it was that he was not taking them at all. He went missing through entire games, not just the fourth quarters of those final 5 games. He was not shrinking late, he had already shrunk. I still cannot tell you what happened as to why this was so, not even he can. Calling him a choker was the easiest solution, regardless of it being inaccurate.

That brings me to Kobe Bryant. Bryant is consensually known as the greatest ‘clutch’ player of his generation and one of the greatest in this field ever. It doesn’t matter how many bad plays, how many turnovers, how many game winners he misses, he will not lose that label. When he does miss people say oh well he’s done it before. LeBron has too. Obviously to a lesser extent but he has. Then people say well Kobe’s ‘killer instinct’ isn’t just making shots, but it’s having the guts to take the shots. So basically they hedge their bets. Yet if LeBron takes and misses a game winner, like he has plenty of times, he is called unclutch, whereas Kobe is still a killer.

Obviously I will not argue Kobe’s stature in the game, but you can understand my displeasure in the double standards that have arisen.

James’ new image has arisen from people’s dislike of him surrounding his decision to leave Cleveland. He was never hated un-mercilessly like this before and did not draw any of the same late game scrutiny. None of you will admit it, but this idea of LeBron as a bad fourth quarter player has grown from the hatred of the man.

As someone who has watched him all his career and tries to stay as objective as possible, I buy none of it.

That belief system was rocked tonight.

I do not care about the turnover late in the game. That happens all the time and if people are going to start identifying that us unclutch then we need a whole new dictionary for basketball terms. You’ll have passing clutch and shooting clutch, defensive clutch, etc.

It’s ridiculous, stop it.

What really, really, really disturbed me was what happened afterwards. I have never seen LeBron like this before.

I do not know whether the team decided collectively they would get their best look with LeBron (by far the team’s best passer and holding a size advantage off the inbound pass) throwing in the ball, I do not know whether Thibodeau said LeBron I want you passing the ball in, I do not know whether James volunteered because he knew he would give the team the best look.

That would certainly make me feel better if it were the case. But we can’t know that, so I’ll move on.

As the East came out of their huddle and LeBron headed for the sideline to inbound the ball, Kobe Bryant came walking over to him. Again, contrary to what the media said, Bryant was not jarring LeBron, daring him to take the shot. He was expressing huge disappointment that it was James that would pass the ball. He walked over to LeBron almost pleading for him to take the shot, showing as much disappointment on his face as he does following a loss, if not more. He wanted LeBron to take the shot. Whether he was being a friend, whether he was being a competitor, whether he wanted overtime, whether he thought LeBron would miss, whatever he thought, again we don’t know, but I don’t think it matters. But to me, he looked like he saw the side of LeBron that the media now has him believing, that previous was not there, and he didn’t like it.

LeBron’s reaction could be ready in a few ways, but to me it further confirmed my fears.

I have had a sick feeling in my stomach ever since I saw it. I did not rewind any of the dunks or threes or any other highlights from the game, but I found myself continually watching Bryant’s reaction to James moving to the sideline for the inbound pass.

I want to make myself feel better by believing this was what the team decided, that it gave them the best chance to win, but I know if LeBron wanted the shot he would have said it to Thibodeau and he would have gotten the ball. Wade said at the end of the game he demanded it because he is a shot maker, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. Had LeBron had an off shooting night I’d have believed it, but he was phenomenal.

I don’t just believe, but I know that the image which the media and fans have created of LeBron James as the tentative, ineffective, choking late game player was wrong. It didn’t bother me much when people went on about it because I knew it wasn’t true. But whilst it had not been true and still isn’t naturally, I think even James is starting to believe it.

I shared Kobe’s disappointment, genuine or not.

I do not know whether I am making a huge deal out of nothing, I do not know whether this can be explained but is something we from the outside cannot see.

But America, you spiteful nation, have been successful in pushing LeBron James toward what you want him to be. He was not this before and I still am unsure whether he is it now, but the person that Kobe Bryant showed such disappointment in is not the LeBron James I have spent the last decade of my life watching.

There are reasons I can offer to you as to why he did not attempt the three pointer at the end, some of which may in fact be the truth. But in this instance, I will step aside from my normal guarded position of LeBron James and let whatever and whoever wishes to attack him, do so.

The Miami Heat wanted to make a statement and they did so in near perfect style.

Surprisingly the league leading Heat entered the game flying under the radar as the Jeremy Lin circus came to town, over shadowing Miami’s seven game win streak.

It didn’t take long for Miami to get into Lin’s head, forcing 5 turnovers from the rookie point guard before the half and condemning the phenom into his worst game in the NBA.

Defense was the emphasis for the Heat and they set the tempo for the game with perhaps the best defensive performance this group has offered in their 18 months together. The movement and rotation was stunning, their close outs were effective and the help defense was the best you will see all season. Joel Anthony, the unsung hero for Miami, had the best game of his career as far as defensive impact goes, finishing with 5 blocks and forcing the Knicks out of the paint merely with his presence.

Reggie Miller described LeBron James’ defense as reminiscent of that of Deion Sanders, covering every square inch of the court and producing one of the best performances of his career on that end of the floor.

James finished with a stat stuffing best 20 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. Wade had 22 and Bosh led all scorers with 25.

All the talk before the game, and in fact for the last fortnight, was about Jeremy Lin and how he would cope against a truly great team that plays truly great defense. He fared terribly. Lin had 8 points on 1/11 shooting, he had just 3 assists with 8 turnovers and at times looked notably selfish, taking the ball into charges when he had open men to pass to.

If there was ever to be a game or a performance to stop the Linsanity, it was this one. However, it may prove to be a blessing in disguise for the former Harvard grad as the hype will surely die down and allow things to find a more natural rhythm for himself and the Knicks.

Miami had more rebounds (+5), more assists (+5), more steals (+3), more blocks (+ 7) and less turnovers (-3) which gave evidence to the notion that the Heat dominated the Knicks in every department. They held New York to 39% from the field, whilst shooting 49% themselves, and marked their 8th straight win by 10+ points.

The NBA heads into it’s All Star Weekend now with every team earning some much needed rest and recovery. Miami sees their Big 3 head into the All Star Game on Sunday night, whereas New York just has Carmelo Anthony featuring. Mario Chalmers and reigning champ James Jones will also compete in the Three Point Shootout Competition.

The Miami Heat are flying high.

LeBron James, the world’s best player, is having the best season of his career and perhaps the greatest individual season seen since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls.

The Miami Heat are, as Dan LeBatard describes them, currently the greatest team in franchise history, greater than that of 06 which won the club their maiden championship. They have the best record in the league at 26-7 including 14-2 at home and recently completed the most dominant back to back to back sweep the league has ever seen, at one point leading all three games by 30 points, finishing with 20+ differential leads in each.

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James look increasingly comfortable together, Chris Bosh is beginning to embrace his role, Udonis Haslem is injury free, Shane Battier has brought an invaluable experience to the locker room, Mario Chalmers has developed into the point guard they hoped he would, Mike Miller is second in the league at nearly 50% from three point range, Joel Anthony is having the best season of his career and Norris Cole has been the surprise rookie of his class.

I can continue but I think you all get the point.

They are by far the best team in the league and have by far the best player in the league playing by far the best basketball he has ever played, and they are flying under the radar?

A LeBron James led Miami Heat team flying under the radar?

Is this not the same team that had a mania surrounding them unlike anything professional sport has ever barely half a year ago? The same team that were incomparably booed everywhere they went, the same team led by the same player that headed into the most hostile environment in the most eagerly anticipated regular season game not only in the history of the NBA, but perhaps in the history of American professional sports?

It is all of that and more, but no matter what spin you try and put on it, you cannot deny the fact that there is a much bigger story in the NBA than the Miami Heat and LeBron James right now.

That story is Jeremy Lin.

I do not need to explain who he is, how he got here and what he has done, because honestly you cannot turn on ESPN right now without seeing that innocent, unassuming smile as he almost single handedly burns off another opponent, to the shock of even himself.

He has brought relevance back to New York City basketball, something even Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire combined were unable to do. His record starting for the Knicks is nearly blemish free and features just one loss. He took on Kobe Bryant late in the game at Madison Square Garden and buried him.

It is unprecedented and as amazing as it has been so far, I see bigger things on the horizon. Should he continue his rejuvenation of this success hungry franchise, they may make Chicago and Miami sweat come playoff time. Carmelo and Amare will have time to get used to playing with a real point guard who will continue to flourish in the D’Antoni offense. The ceiling for this team has raised at least a few floors just in the past fortnight, if they can pull it all together they may have a deeper roster than the Chicago Bulls. They could be the nightmare second round matchup for the Heat or Bulls.

Nonetheless Jeremy Lin has taken the league with such ferocity, he has driven the streaking Miami Heat and the mind boggling play of LeBron James to the second segment of SportsCenter and really the afterthought of the league.

Miami will be thankful for it. In the 18 months this team has been together, they have been THE sports story. Every word uttered from a Heat player’s mouth, every loss, every hiccough has been met with an atomic bomb of a knee jerk. Every blowout, every triple double, every playoff demolition has been met with overwhelming, and to some, unjustified, praise from every corner of the sports world. They couldn’t breathe without it being front page material, but it seems America has been taken in by another mania, another hysteria, another Linsanity.

Nonetheless Lin’s visit to Miami is a chance for both team’s to make a huge statement.

For Miami, they can cut down their arch rival Knicks during a period of conciliation not seen since the days of Ewing and Starks.

Fot New York, they can prove to the league that this is far more than a novelty, that this is the real deal.

Can’t see the Heat letting that happen though.

The youthful Kings came out at a blistering pace and hit 13 three pointers on a near 50% success rate but were still unable to stop the Heat’s run which now stands at 7 consecutive wins.

Sacramento are by average the youngest team in the league but they showed very little inexperience as they were outworking the Heat rebounding the ball and making every open shot Miami were surrendering.

Marcus Thornton and Isaiah Thomas hit 9 three pointers between them as the Kings had 4 players score over 16 points but Miami still took the game comfortably.

Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 30 to continue his incredible run of scoring form. LeBron James added 18 points and 8 assists, continuing his ridiculous efficiency shooting 7/11 from the field and a perfect 2/2 from both the FT line and from deep.

The Kings are the no.1 offensive rebounding team in the league and continued that against a Heat team that likes to get out and run whenever possible. The Kings finished with 15 offensive rebounds but finished with just 1 more rebound overall than Miami. Still a good achievement given the Heat have not been out rebounded during their winning streak.

The difference between the two was field goal defense. Miami registered over 55% from the field as the Kings struggled to rotate with so much emphasis on Wade and James. Sacramento meanwhile hit just 45% of their shots as the Heat, through the large part, showed off their defense that closes out on perimeter shooting as well as I have ever seen.

The Heat host Jeremy Lin and the Knicks on Friday.

Dwyane Wade dominated the first half and LeBron James dominated the second half as Miami’s two stars sent the Heat to their sixth consecutive win moving them to the top of the Eastern Conference.

Miami clamped down on Dwight Howard, condemning the big man to just 12 points including just 2/10 FTs, cancelling the Magic’s one significant advantage on the Heat.

Their defense was as ravenous as a pack of wild dogs, hunting down Orlando’s keen shooters on the perimeter and hassling their big men in the paint. It was as good a defensive performance as the Heat have offered all season and indeed since they brought LeBron’s talents to South Beach.

James finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals on 9/14 shooting, adding to his incredibly efficient season. Wade led all scorers with 27, also notching up 3 blocks and 2 steals.

Orlando are rarely out rebounded but pulled down 8 fewer than their state rivals. Their defense was extremely lacklustre and managed just 3 steals and 3 blocks through the 48 minutes, statistics that Dwyane Wade recorded on his own.

The Heat host the Kings on Tuesday.

The build to the game took an unexpected turn as LeBron James confessed his ambition to perhaps return to Cleveland one day, but this did little to stop the chorus of boos that followed his every touch of the ball.

Miami got off to a thunderous start, jumping out to a 13-0 lead as the hapless Cavs struggled to find a way through the Heat defense and had no answers for them on the fast break.

That did not change throughout as the Heat cruised to their fifth consecutive away win and their fourth consecutive away blowout.

James and Wade have not had to play a fourth quarter through the past week, something that could be very important down the stretch. Effectively they have both had a game off.

James finished with a routine 28 points 5 rebounds 5 assists shooting 11/19 from the field, 3/5 from three and 3/3 from the line. Wade added 22.

The Miami starters simply crushed Cleveland, averaging 27 points in +/- scoring between them.

The Cavs had just 16 assists on their 30 field goals and were hammered on the rebounds adding just 23 defensive boards.

The gulf in class was clear last night.

Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson both got stuck in and had solid games in a horrific losing performance. Cleveland can at least find positives in their two rookies. As a Cavs fan, I am hoping they clear out the rest of the team and get themselves more draft picks as there is no way forward with the current roster.

On the eve of LeBron’s third return to Cleveland, the first of this season, the headlines are perhaps the complete opposite to what you would expect.

James was filling out his media commitments when he offered a thought that surprised everyone.

“I think it would be great, it would be fun to play in front of these fans again.

I had a lot of fun times here. You can’t predict the future. Hopefully you continue to stay healthy. I’m here as a Miami player and I’m happy where I am now but I don’t rule that out in any sense. If I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me.”

The statement has drawn hugely emotional responses from all regions of Ohio, but not all have been negative.

Twitter lit up following the release of the quotes, with several Ohioans showing humility as they expressed their forgiveness for their once hallowed god and were open to seeing him return. Obviously there were still the lunatics that demand blood who told LeBron to go to hell, amongst other things.

Despite what any Cleveland Cavalier fan will tell you (I feel I am in a position to say this as I am myself a Cavs fan), there is not one out there that can honestly tell you they would not want him back. Whatever hostility they still hold for LeBron James is far outweighed by the love they had for him before this all went down.

There was never a more loved athlete within a community than LeBron James. He was the local kid who grew up in circumstances gripped by poverty and grief, without a father and without direction. He was the most famous high school athlete in the history of sport and fate had it that Cleveland would be in the position to select him with the first pick in the 2003 draft.

He holds nearly every record for the franchise, took them to their first Eastern Conference Championship and first Finals appearance. He was the first Cavalier to win the MVP award. Everyone loved him for what he did on the court, but more importantly he drew their respect off it.

James is widely known around the league as one of the most willing and outgoing participants with charity, constantly attending and hosting events. He has several programs around the country that encourage education and physical activity. He has made it his own life mission to ensure his home town of Akron receives the funding and care it needs to enable appropriate educations to all of it’s students.

From those looking from the outside, meaning the people outside of Cleveland, which is the majority of the country, it is hard to understand but Cleveland and Akron are two very different places. James cited that growing up he and his friends and fellow students of Akron disliked the kids of Cleveland because they were looked down upon by the wealthier kids from the city. Akron holds little if any disdain towards LeBron’s departure because they support the person rather than just the player, because they know the person behind the player and have seen everything he has done for them. Many Clevelanders cannot say the same.

Nonetheless the King returns to his former Kingdom tomorrow where he will surely receive another rousing reception of hatred. Obviously not to the level of that first return in December 2010 but I have no doubt there will still be a significant amount of petty fans that still haven’t moved on with their lives.

It would be a wonderful and unprecedented thing if LeBron was able to return to Cleveland at some point in the future and help the team win it’s maiden Championship.