2008 NBA All-Star Weekend: Far East Meets West

now that we are a few days removed from the 2008 all-star weekend, i think i can say for certain that by all accounts it was a terrific success for both the nba and more importantly, new orleans. and though there's obviously still more work ahead, it at least seems like there is hope and optimism in a city that only a few years ago had little. and impressively, while lending their extended support to the rebuilding effort in new orleans, the nba even managed to put on a great show. because between the different all-star games and events there was hardly a dull moment. but if i was forced to choose one thing that "stood" above all else throughout the all-star weekend, i think i'd have to go with jet li, who despite being the opposite height of most basketball players is apparently chummy with many of them.

as seen above, pictures of jet li enjoying the all-star game were not in short supply this weekend. in every new orleans nook and cranny, you could find jet chatting up an nba all-star. what were they talking about? why was he only talking to western conference all-stars? why was i so curious about this? as the visual evidence mounted, i became more convinced that the action star was using all-star weekend as a forum to pitch his various movie ideas to basketball players. here's my best guess as to what these ideas were.

rush hour 2, 2 - i'm sure jet li expressed interest in this project to an assortment of different players since it makes so much sense. hopefully it happens. because in my opinion, there aren't enough remakes of sequels.

twins too: taller - similar to the original, yao and jet li are twins separated at birth. they blossom into superstars in basketball and martial arts and eventually reunite. the rest of the movie is yao and jet finding themselves in humorous situations. situations that occur when jet li asks, "oh no, how am i supposed to be at a photo shoot and a movie premiere at the same time? ...wait a second... yao, you can go for me!!"

junior 2 - admittedly, there are probably hundreds of movies that would make more sense. but for some reason, i think it'd be really funny if jet li was really obsessed with arnold schwarzenegger and danny devito movies. almost as funny as arnold schwarzenegger and danny devito movies themselves. seriously, a pregnant man?! now i've seen everything!

white men and the temple of doom - here's steve nash sharing his idea for a summer blockbuster. if it's anything like its predecessors, my interest is piqued. not only would the movie feature steve nash as woody harrelson and jet li as short round, it would feature a two-on-two team composed of a white guy and a short asian guy beating people at basketball and then going on adventures that involve a rail car.

shanghaiami vice - "my giant" might be the first thing that comes to mind, but i doubt yi wants to get typecast so early in his young, or allegedly old, career. plus, it'd be a waste to not capitalize on these adorable suits.

pulp fiction - this isn't a movie idea so much as it's what i hope yao was saying to jet li when this photo was taken.

Damon Jones: Today's Worst - 08.25.76 to Present

this weekend, the nba's all-star game continued to prove why it's the premier all-star event in all sports. on display was the dunking, shooting, and caring that makes the nba so popular. unfortunately, also on display was damon jones. on the list of things i saw too much of this weekend, damon jones ranked first, with commercials for "house of payne" a distant second. it must drive david stern crazy that every year as he's trying to coordinate an all-star game, damon jones shows up, trips over extension cords, accidentally unplugs the scoreboard, and takes a dump in the commissioner's private bathroom. and if it doesn't, i'm sure it drives me crazy enough for the both of us.

although there are plenty of nba players who aren't particularly good, most of them don't spend the all-star weekend bothering their peers who are. all-star games should be a celebration of good basketball that provides an avenue for the nba to give back to their loyal fans. as such, they should never, ever involve damon jones, a miserable player who only celebrates himself and his brand of unproductive basketball and whose only contributions to the fans are turnovers and missed shots that result in hundreds of basketballs in the stands. damon jones is horrible. this isn't a new development to most people. nor is it something that would appear on espnews' bottom ticker as "breaking news: damon jones sucks". seriously, there were hundreds of thousands of people in new orleans this weekend and only two were glad to see damon jones. one was damon jones and the other was the cab driver who took damon jones to the airport before his flight back. that's it.

let me explain that this is not a problem i have with players coming to the all-star game uninvited. dikembe mutombo is always a welcome and familiar face as a courtside spectator even though he hasn't been an all-star since 2002. but mutombo is also one of the most active nba players in the community. damon jones on the other hand, is one of the most inactive nba players on his team. truthfully, i have no idea what charities damon jones is involved in. but based on what i've seen, he's more likely to wreck a house than he is to help build one. so this isn't animosity towards players who attend the all-star game, just towards the worst player who does.

david stern has his stuff together, so i'm sure that over the past few seasons, the nba has gone to great lengths to make sure damon jones doesn't know what city is hosting the all-star game. yet every year like clockwork, damon jones appears grinning from ear to ear as if people actually enjoy his company. needless to say, this is a situation that should be remedied sooner rather than later. i'm not too keen on watching another all-star weekend while having to cheer against things that will make damon jones appear on my television. anyways, since i don't have anything better to do than to come up with solutions to my trivial problems, i have finalized a simple, fool-proof plan that will keep damon jones and the all-star weekend two mutually exclusive events. step one, change the 2009 nba all-star game wikipedia article so that it says the game will be played in egypt and not phoenix. that's the only step. because if i know damon jones, he'll be forced to use the internet to find out where the all-star game is since no one else will tell him. luckily, the first result from googling "2009 all-star game" is a wikipedia article that is readily editable. then while damon jones is on a 25-hour flight to cairo and then a 25-hour flight back once he realizes he's been had, the all-star game will be able to proceed completely unmolested and free of ugly suits. well, ugly suits not worn by craig sager. (wink!)

Brendan Haywood is the Worst Player on Errf

brendan haywood, a player who is 7-feet tall, just lost a jump ball to chris webber, a player who does not own knees. this is completely unacceptable. chris webber hasn't won a tip since nba jam: tournament edition.

When I Was Your Age, Chris Webber Was A Warrior and Gas Was Slightly Cheaper

the previous image is from nba live 95, my favorite super nintendo game when chris webber was last on the warriors. last night, webber returned to the warrior starting lineup for the first time in 14 years. back then, michael jordan was a baseball player, kids on my bus were playing magic the gathering, d2: the mighty ducks was out in theatres, and nicole brown simpson and ron goldman were still alive. times have indeed changed. and now that webber is back in the bay, i've been reminded of what an unstoppable force the live 95 warriors were.

their real-life counterparts were the second highest scoring team in the league and won 50 games. what a lot of people don't often talk about is that golden state did this despite tim hardaway missing the entire season with a knee injury. avery johnson was forced into a loud and starting role, the warriors bowed out early in the playoffs, and chris webber was traded after the season. webber and hardaway never got a chance to play together and golden state had to wait until just last year to play their next postseason game. this meant that my snes remains the only place where the warriors true potential was on full display. and because i'm pretty sure you'd like to be re-introduced to the players that composed the starting lineup of the best video basketball team of all time, here they are.

since being drafted 3rd overall in the 1991 nba draft and failing to meet his potential, billy owens has been one of the more famed draft busts in the league. but in 93-94, owens had a decent season and was rewarded by the fat cats at ea sports. owens was one of the best fifth options in the game and would routinely embarrass the vinny del negros of the world. according to the ratings, he was the second best dribbler and the third best passer on the team. in this game, he was golden state's tayshaun prince, if tayshaun were an avid magic the gathering fan.

chris mullin has since become the warriors general manager and was responsible for signing webber. off hand, i can't remember another time a former player turned gm signed one of their previous teammates. hopefully, next week mullin adds sarunas marciulionis and terry teagle to the team as well. anyways, before he was chris mullin the gm, he was chris mullin the player who i made toss up as many three pointers as possible in nba live. in real life, mullin was much more than a spot up shooter. but at the same time, in real life he battled alcoholism early in his career. and i've often heard the best way to avoid a relapse is to spend every waking minute camped behind the three-point line with one thumb on the chuck button. since mullin was the second best three-point shooter on the team, more often than not this strategy worked. and when it didn't work, at least mullin was one of the only players in the game that had a blonde flat top.

in his two previous seasons before live 95 came out, tim hardaway averaged 22.5 ppg and 10.2 apg. unfortunately because of his injury, hardaway never played a single game with chris webber. though if this game is any indication, if hardaway had played the 93-94 season, in every game the warriors would have jumped out to 70 point leads by halftime before my brother reset the game in frustration. because of his speed and quickness ratings, hardaway was almost impossible to guard. and if that weren't enough his near perfect 98 passing and 95 homophobia ratings were among the highest in the game.

growing up, latrell sprewell was my favorite player in the league. i bought had a sprewell warriors jersey and once i traded a then-expensive grant hill rookie card for like 25 latrell sprewell cards. my friends thought i was such an idiot at the time. but as it turned out, we were all idiots for spending money on basketball cards. but that doesn't change the fact that in nba live 95, latrell sprewell was ruthless. not only was he the team's best three point shooter, second best passer, and second best dunker, he was a terrific defender. one last interesting thing about sprewell, since 1980, no player has played more minutes in a season as he did in 93-94 and only ron artest has been suspended more minutes in a season as sprewell did in 97-98 after he choked pj carlesimo.

for whatever reason, even though he only spent one season in golden state, i think of chris webber more as warrior than any a bullet, wizard, king, sixer, or piston. i think it's because washington traded him for mitch richmond before he got really good, i always liked shaq and kobe's lakers more than the kings, the iverson-webber duo was a disaster in philly, and he chose number 84 on the pistons. so though he may have had better seasons elsewhere, i don't think he's ever been on a more talented team than that warriors team his rookie year. unfortunately, it's doubtful he'll be able to reclaim much of the magic that led to webber being one of the best players in live, let's just hope he does enough not to derail a possible warriors playoff berth. step number one, make sure it's another 14 years before chris webber starts another game for golden state.

New Rule: No Old Rookies Allowed

the nba announced the rosters for the annual all star weekend rookie-sophomore challenge today and i for one am very displeased. sure the sophomore team shaped up pretty well, but that's mainly because rudy gay is involved. which, by default, means i'm throwing a slice of pizza at my wall whenever he does anything. the rookie team however, is very lacking. emphasis on "very". also emphasis on "lacking". and although i didn't even say it, emphasis on "horrible" too.

obviously, my main gripe is that despite being 2nd among rookies in points per 48 minutes, nick young was not asked to participate. in fact, none of the wizards three hilarious rookies were. uh nba, dominic mcguire grabbed 10 rebounds last night and six were offensive and pecherov shoots threes all the time! when i see an exhibition game i want chuckers, dunkers, and rebounders. yet curiously, three of the best rookie chuckers, dunkers, and rebounders will watch this game from home. actually, they probably have no interest watching a rookie team that they should have been on get bum rushed so they'll probably watch something else from home during the game. if they're lucky, "demolition man" will be on.

anyways, these are not the only rookies that should be disappointed over getting snubbed. thaddeus young, jason smith, daequan cook, glen davis, and joakim noah "bilities" are all uninvited. and who do we have to blame for this? old rookies. without a doubt this is the oldest rookie team of all time. in fact, the rookie team is actually older than their sophomore opponents. it's literally the oldest thing i've ever seen. jamario moon, luis scola, and juan carlos navarro are all 27 years old. and if that weren't enough, juan carlos navarro and jamario carlos moon share the same birthday. shouldn't we let let some other days of birth in? and this is without even considering that yi jianlian and my dad share the same haircut and probably the same birthday. there have been persistent rumors by some sources that not only claim yi is as old as 26, but that yi grounded me several times for missing curfew when i was in middle school. instead of a fold up chairs, i hope the rookies' bench is just a bunch of plastic covered couches.

so why do these generation w-ers get the nod over the league's younger stars? because they've played better? they're like seven years older than their peers, of course they've played better! what's worse, they're old and they're role players, which isn't exactly a recipe for must see tv. seriously, luis scola is just going to spend the entire game setting screens and playing good help defense, jesus christ navarro is going to try to improve the team's spacing, and jamario moon is going to tap rebounds out to get the rookies additional possessions. unfortunately, these additional possessions will be spent tripping over their walkers, trash talking the sophomores about how much more expensive stamps are today, eating dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon, and dribbling the ball off their liver spots.

don't get me wrong, i like all three 27-year olds, even luis scola surprisingly. but they are too old to be in a rookie-sophomore challenge. this is supposed to be a display of up and coming talent, not an overly competitive game featuring talent that has already blossomed. besides, jamario moon is in the dunk contest, navarro could be in the three point contest, and rudy gay already stamped spalding on luis scola's and yi jianlian's face earlier this season, so it's not like any of them are hard up for exposure. so hopefully these guys come to their senses and realize that maybe it's time they quit hanging around high schools trying to pick up jv cheerleaders and just grew up. they can start by sitting out this game so nick young can play.

Mike D'Antoni: The Everyman

since i'm simple-minded and extremely immature, it should be no surprise that i found the above picture of mike d'antoni's apparent admiration of the female form unbelievably hilarious. i imagine that as this picture was taken, d'antoni was saying something like "hubba, hubba", "...huge!", "nice rack!!" or something equally perverted. i'd call coach d'antoni a pig but he'd probably just respond, "oink, oink mama" and continue on lusting left and right. and besides, who among us can say that they've never had eyes for the occasional buxom beauty? i can't, and obviously neither can coach mike d'antoni. anyways, since i doubt d'antoni is the only coach this applies to, and also because i've found this one picture so funny, from now on when i see a picture of a coach, i'm assuming it was taken while they were in the middle of harrasing women. as such, here are some of the seedy degenrates around the league.

mike danpervy - phoenix suns

pervj carlesimo - seattle supersonics

pervsiah thomas - new york knicks
stan van pervy - orlando magic
pervie jordan - washington wizards

perv karl - denver nuggets

pervery johnson - dallas mavericks

doc pervers - boston celtics
don pervson - golden state warriors

pervy sloan - utah jazz

gregg pervovich - san antonio spurs

mike dunpervy - los angeles clippers
sam pervernt - charlotte bobcats

jim o'pervy - indiana pacers

2007 Dunk Contest Preview

the dunk contest field was recently announced and it appears to be the tallest competition ever. but it's also shaping up to be one of the most exciting so i can't say that i'm not pleased. or if you dislike double negatives, i can say that i am pleased. dwight howard returns despite getting hosed last year and rudy "mayday" gay, your and my favorite nba player, gets an opportunity to convince everyone else that he's the best player in the league not named lebron james or kobe bryant or a few other names as well. sure i'd rather see nick young in there instead of defending champ gerald green, who can't find the floor in minnesota of all places. and i wouldn't complain if jamario moon, though a very competent dunker, was replaced with someone else, like rudy gay. but since i understand that nick was kind of a long shot considering he isn't widely known and also having two rudy gays in a single dunk contest would make everyone gasp so much that there wouldn't be any oxygen left afterwards, the current participants are more than acceptable. besides, rudy gay is going to win regardless of who you throw out there and it's not even going to be close.

look how many people it takes to keep rudy gay from dunking in a normal contest. you may not know this, but in a dunk contest those same players must sit helplessly on the sideline while rudy gay goes unabated to the basket. given these circumstances, i see no scenario where rudy doesn't annihilate his competition. so obviously predicting rudy gay to win isn't really going out on much of a limb. that's why i'm instead going to predict the individual dunks that he'll do en route to his inevitable dunk contest victory.

dunk #1 - rudy starts off the competition conservatively with his patented two-handed cradled reverse dunk from the three point line. four judges give him tens while another judge combines two scorecards to award rudy 11 points. it's a record score of 51.

dunk #2 - a few minutes after dwight howard's fabled kiss the rim dunk sends the crowd into a frenzy, an unimpressed rudy gay decides to use his next dunk to demonstrate how much higher he can jump. rudy takes two steps, leaps up, and takes the rim out on a date. they watch "p.s., i love you" and eat at a fancy restaurant all in the same jump. afterwards, rudy gay dunks it and quits it. the judges give the dunk a perfect 50 while "p.s., i love you" receives decidedly mixed reviews.

dunk #3 - rudy retreats all the way into the backcourt to get a full head of steam for his 3rd dunk. he sprints the length of the court, jumps from a few steps behind the free throw line, and throws down a violent dunk on luis scola who was minding his own business on a practice court in houston about 300 miles away. back in new orleans, rudy gets another perfect score.

dunk #4 - with victory all but assured, rudy does a standard 720 windmill where he dunks after spinning completely around twice while jumping over an actual windmill. the resulting energy collected from the windmill is estimated to be able to power the earth for another 5-7 years after the sun burns out. rudy gay is awarded the slam dunk contest trophy and a nobel peace prize.

hopefully, the nba has a plan to inject some suspense back into this year's all star festivities since it's pretty much a wrap on the old dunk contest. my suggestion? let rudy gay enter the 3-point contest and race dick bavetta so we he can try to capture the elusive all star triple crown. that should keep the masses entertained. or at least one unbelievably simple-minded mass.

Antonio Daniels: Noooooo!

as yesterday's wizards-mavericks matinee was winding down, antonio daniels finally figured out who the killer was. at least i assume he did. because usually in a 15 point game with 30 seconds left i would be much more likely to smile than react as if i was watching a horror movie where the murderer was in the backseat of caron butler's car. anyways, despite caron's apparent death, for me this was the icing on the top of the cake that was a very impressive and delicious victory over dallas. so i guess if we're lucky, throughout the rest of the season, antonio daniels will make this face at the end of games at least 30 more times. i expect 28 of these instances will be after wizard wins while the remaining two are after he stubs his toe or is about to get hit by a truck.

Bulls-Heat, Bull sHeat

if you're in the mood to watch

then it's your lucky day. because tonight's only nationally televised nba game is the barn-burner that is the chicago bulls visiting the miami heat. while many of you will scoff at the idea of watching a game between two dreadfully disappointing teams that have lost 50 combined games so far this season, i too will scoff. watching miami try to avoid losing their 11th consecutive game against the uninspired bulls does not sound very appealing and i'm sure most people would agree. anyways because of that, and since these seem to be all the rage nowadays, i've decided to a live-blog of tonight's bulls-heat game before it happens so that we won't have to watch it later.

1st quarter:

12:00 - the heat are starting dwyane wade, jason williams, ricky davis, udonis haslem, and shaq, who is returning from injury and has missed the last eight games. the bulls are starting luol deng, chris duhon, joe smith, ben wallace, and thabo sefolosha, who is starting for the second consecutive night for a hurt hinrich.

11:58 - the tip is controlled by the bulls. the bulls decide they can't keep pace in an high scoring game and hold the ball for the final shot.

11:34 - 24-second violation on the bulls.

11:15 - dwyane wade drives past chris duhon for an easy lay up. of course an easy lay up for dwyane wade involves him tumbling in the air and tossing it up towards the rim. heat take their first lead of the season.

9:04 - the bulls and heat trade turnovers for a couple of minutes. highlights include a ben wallace pass that is intercepted by daequan cook, who was sitting comfortably on the heat bench, and a jason williams backcourt violation that occurred when he forgot which basket was his.

8:24 - shaq scores his first points of the new year on either an alley oop dunk from a ricky davis pass or a put back dunk off of a ricky davis shot.

7:55 - after a shot by chris duhon, the bulls are finally on the scoreboard. "heat - 4, bulls - 0" the scoreboard reads.

7:03 - luol deng wobbles his way into the lane and drains a contested jumper for the bulls first points.

7:02 - the heat call a timeout to stop the bulls momentum. mark blount, chris quinn, and dorell wright come into the game for the miami.

6:48 - playing 8-on-5, the heat score easily on a udonis haslem baseline jumper and push their lead to 4.

6:43 - the refs finally realize the heat are playing with too many players when luol deng is triple teamed twice. a technical foul is assessed to miami, but the previous basket is allowed because the scorekeeper complains that it'd take forever to fix. ben wallace misses the technical free throw.

6:42 - bulls coach jim boylan yanks ben wallace for taking a technical free throw and lets ben gordon into the game.

5:07 - ben gordon makes a long three but his foot was on the line, specifically the baseline on the other side of the court. out of bounds, miami ball.

4:31 - shaq plows through joe smith, but since joe smith's feet were in the restricted circle he is called for a block. the call is indisputable since joe smith's feet are still there even though the rest of his body was detached and fell into the stands.

3:14 - thabo sefolosha's defense on dwyane wade leads to a turnover. the bulls capitalize with an easy lay up following four consecutive easy lay up misses.

2:05 - tyrus thomas blocks chris quinn's three point attempt into the other basket for three points. the bulls take a 7-6 lead.

1:44 - dwyane wade responds with a long jumper that gives the heat the lead back.

1:36 - the bulls fire up a quick three that misses in the hopes of getting a three-for-two opportunity.

1:28 - the heat fire up a quick three that misses in the hopes of getting a three-for-two opportunity.

0:00 - for the last minute and a half, the heat and bulls have traded quick threes such that it has become a seven-for-six situation. no baskets are made within this time and the quarter ends with the heat clinging to a 7-6 lead.


2nd quarter:

11:44 - joakim noah makes his first appearance in the game and immediately blocks a dwyane wade shot. unfortunately, he is whistled for a lane violation since dwyane wade was shooting a free throw. wade sinks both and extends the heat lead to three.

10:03 - shaq picks up fouls on three consecutive possessions, two offensive fouls and another shooting foul and sits down for the rest of the first half.

10:02 - refs ask shaq stop sitting in the middle of the court while the game is going on. shaq reluctantly moves to the heat bench.

9:45 - looking to get ricky davis more involved, dwyane wade tosses him a pass.

9:24 - ricky davis is fouled hard by joe smith after shooting on his own basket in an effort to pad his stats.

9:18 - ben gordon ties the game at nine with a desperation three as the shot clock was expiring. the heat call a timeout during which coach boylan tells ben that there were 19 seconds left in the shot clock. gordon responds, "technically the shot clock is always expiring."

9:18 - the heat draw up a play after the timeout. dorrell wright forgets that the first part of the play is to inbound ball and the heat are called for a five-second violation.

8:57 - luol deng makes a jumpshot from the wing but the basket is waved off after mark blount throws it back through the rim. deng complains to the refs, "that's not a rule, you idiots".

8:50 - the refs realize that deng is right and allow the previous basket. the scorekeeper is visibly frustrated. bulls lead 11-9.

8:14 - dwyane wade drives past chris duhon for another easy score and ties the game. chris duhon sucks.

8:10 - chris duhon continues to suck.

7:46 - ben gordon dribbles around the perimeter and forces a pass that wade picks off and takes it coast to coast for a dunk.

7:22 - dwyane wade steals the inbounds pass and takes it coast to coast before realizing he was already on the correct coast. he returns and makes a wild lay up.

6:57 - ben wallace goes up for a basket and is fouled hard by chris quinn. wallace shoves chris quinn and more shoving between the teams ensues. chris quinn lays on the scorer's table to avoid further involvement and is hit with a beer thrown from the stands.

6:54 - because the refs want this game to end, the clock continues to run.

6:51 - chris quinn enters the stands and approaches the person who he thinks threw the beer.

6:43 - chris quinn gets beat up by a heat fan in eight seconds.

6:30 - play finally resumes and jason williams gives the heat their biggest lead of the game thanks to a pass that is deflected into the basket. it's heat 17, bulls 11 halfway through the third.

5:12 - the bulls tie the game at 17 thanks to consecutive threes by ben gordon.

4:58 - chris duhon sucks again.

4:22 - daequan cook enters the game and drills a short jumper. then he gets a technical foul for hanging on the rim. luol deng hits the free throw. heat 18, bulls 17.

3:57 - chicago's aaron gray acquires a t-shirt cannon and fires numerous t-shirts at players on the court. a security guard in the rafters with a t-shirt sniper rifle picks him off and ends the threat.

3:48 - david stern calls and tells everyone that this will be the last quarter of the game. i'm thankful because i've run out of things to say.

3:30 - udonis haslem misses a point blank shot and throws his mouthpiece in disgust. then he picks up his mouthpiece and returns it to his mouth which disgusts everyone else.

3:00 - a siren goes off a second ball is thrown on the court. both balls will stay in play until one is lost out of bounds.

2:57 - multiball ends when mark blount dribbles the ball out of bounds off of his feet. fans begin to file out of the stadium.

2:53 - fans rush back to their seats as the jumbotron begins an emergency kiss cam segment. the heat extend their lead to three on a luke jackson lay up because all bulls players are waiting to see who gets kissed next.

2:01 - the kiss cam ends and the bulls' attention returns to the game where the heat have scored six unanswered points. it's heat heat 24, bulls 17.

1:12 - the bulls cap a furious rally with a joe smith dunk. heat 24, bulls 19. "that wasn't very furious at all," mike tirico observes.

0:49 - the heat milk the clock and ultimately miss an opportunity to seal the game, ben wallace rebounds and pushes the ball up to chris duhon who shoots a three from the corner. the shot sails way over the basket, where sefolosha catches it on the other corner and hits a three. the bulls are down by only two.

0:21 - dwyane wade misses a floater in the lane. the bulls collect the rebound and call timeout to set up their final play.

0:08 - ben gordon drives into the lane and misses a floater from inside the free throw line. thankfully, ben wallace is there and tips back in the miss. the bulls tie the game. at least they would have had that tip not taken them back down to 13, as per the rules of 21.

0:06 - the heat salt away the game with free throws while the heat bench start chanting about "15 strong".

0:01 - with one second remaining, dwyane wade opts out of his contract.

0:00 - the horn sounds and the game ends miami 26, chicago 13. but the refs confer and decide that no one deserves to win this game and both teams are awarded losses.