After a day watching some of the nastiest rivalries in college sports on the gridiron, we were reminded once Alabama turned Auburn into flattened tire marks that it’s probably still ‘Bama… and then everyone else (although Notre Dame has their chance to complete a storybook season). In the NBA, it’s not quite as simple. But we do know that Miami’s best is better than everyone else’s, particularly if you’re Cleveland and you’re missing your best player. They proved it over the last 1:58 against the Cavs last night in their 110-108 win. Daniel Gibson stroked a wing triple at that point to put the visitors up by seven, yet from that point on, the Heat went to a different level. The final minutes felt like someone tweaked with the game’s difficulty sliders: LeBron (30 points) scored. Then Chris Bosh blocked a shot. Ray Allen notched a three-point play on the other end. After that, Gibson shot an airball for the Cavs. Finally, a few possessions later, Jesus drained a back-breaking triple to put Miami ahead. Dwyane Wade would go on to block Jeremy Pargo on Cleveland’s last chance. Coming into the fourth quarter, Ray Allen had two points. From that point on, he’d score 15, proving once again you never doubt Jesus when it gets to crunch time … The Heat’s poor performance must’ve been somehow related to their awful uniforms. All-white Heat unis? That doesn’t seem right. Some red has to be in there. Someone out there was watching over this one, making sure Miami doesn’t make this same mistake again … Is it now time to acknowledge that Bosh (23 points) is Miami’s second-best player? Too early? D-Wade’s (18 points) injury woes are perhaps more important to the Heat’s season, but so far this year, the debate for No. 2 in Miami isn’t close … In their 116-109 overtime win in Philly, OKC had a somewhat similar outing. They scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, and their execution again boiled down to “Save us, Kevin and Russell.” Thaddeus Young was balling, posting 29 points and 15 boards, while Evan Turner had 26 of his own. But because OKC’s two best players are just better than everyone else, it didn’t matter. Durant was unstoppable in the overtime period, finishing with 37 points, and Westbrook added 30 points and nine assists … After coming back to normalcy a little bit with his hair game over the past few days, Andrew Bynum (who’s now been officially announced as out “indefinitely”) stepped back into his 1920s time machine and brought out the perm again during the pregame last night. Once Adam Silver takes over as commissioner when David Stern retires, his first move should be to put in some type of dress code for Bynum’s hair to make sure he never again goes down this road … Pau Gasol might’ve had another quiet night (13 points, nine boards), Kobe Bryant (19 points) might’ve been running on empty, and the Lakers might’ve been coming off two bad losses on the road, but L.A. still smashed Dallas, 115-89. They jumped out by 10 early in the first quarter as Metta World Peace (19 points) banged four triples in that frame, and the Mavs finished with just 38 in the entire first half (the Lakers had given up 40 against the Kings in one quarter earlier this week). Antawn Jamison provided a sliver of evidence suggesting he’s still alive, posting BY FAR his best game of the year (19 points, 15 boards in a little under 30 minutes of PT) … And in college ball, after knocking off Kentucky earlier this year, Duke also took out their hated rivals from Louisville, 76-71. They did it despite getting all of three points from their bench – all of their starters scored anywhere from 14 to 16 points … Keep reading to hear about the ruthless thing Harrison Barnes did to Nikola Pekovic …
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