Cavs fans Josh Hall (left), Rob Hose (center) and Mike Adams burn LeBron James No. 23 jerseys. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

What is the best and most interesting matchup of the 2010-11 NBA season?

The opening-night matchup between the Miami Heat and their Three Kings against the Boston Celtics’ Big Four is nice, but it lacks drama. The Christmas Day showdown between the Heat and defending NBA champion Lakers in Los Angeles has plenty star power on and off the court, but the subdued and spoiled fans at Staples Center probably won’t be throwing their mocha lattes and cappuccinos at the opposition during the holiday season.

The best regular-season matchup for the 2010-11 season is….drum roll, please…..the Dec. 2 contest between the Heat and Cavaliers in Cleveland, also known as The Return of LeBron.

When LeBron James announced on nationally TV that he’ll be “taking his talents to South Beach,” seething Cavaliers fans began spitting venom and started breathing fire. They were burning No. 23 jerseys and tearing down LBJ posters just minutes after The Decision. The anger was comparable to the day Clevelanders eliminated “Art” and “Modell” from their vocabulary.

Even Cavs owner Dan Gilbert lost his cool, calling LeBron’s decision “cowardly” and slapped The Curse of White Man from Town on the two-time league MVP.

“The fanbase is still in shock,” Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Brian Windhorst said on NBATV’s Game Time. “Everything that happens to the Cavaliers for the foreseeable future is going to be attached to after LeBron.”

When LeBron walks back into Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night, it would be like walking into a vampire’s lair with blood dripping from his arms and a piece of meat hanging from his shoulders. Cavaliers fans will have their fangs out, all dying to take a bite out of their former hometown hero.

TNT will televise the game and the hype will be absolutely bananas. It will be like Terrell Owens returning to Philly….times 10! The boos Pat Riley heard the night he returned to Madison Square Garden as the head coach of the Heat are nothing compared to the boos LeBron will hear on Dec. 2.

LeBron better have added security that day because Cavs fans will be out in full force ready to eat him alive.

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Jeff Van Gundy believes the Heat, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, can challenge the Bulls' 72-win single-season record. (REUTERS)

Former NBA coach and current ABC/ESPN TV analyst Jeff Van Gundy was recently quoted in the Miami Herald that the Miami Heat will break the Chicago Bulls’ single-season record of 72 victories and has a legit shot at the L.A. Lakers’ 33-game winning streak that has stood for almost 40 years.

“Only the Lakers have even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series. They will never lose two games in a row this year,” Van Gundy told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “They have put together a much better roster than anybody could ever have expected. There is now no good way to defend them. They are unguardable. They are indefensible. They are just too good and have added so much shooting and are so versatile that they will score at will.”

Van Gundy added: “And with Erik Spoelstra coaching, they will be in the top three defensive teams in the league, as well. The other 29 teams better hope the lockout gets moved up a year.”

I respect Van Gundy as a head coach and I think he’s one of the best TV analysts working today, but he’s overselling the Heat a little bit. Sure, the Heat now has arguably the two best players in the NBA in their starting lineup, but JVG seems to overlook the fact that Miami’s core group of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller and Zydrunas Ilgauskas have yet to play a meaningful game on the court together and the Heat still has plenty of question marks in the frontcourt.

Miami has a revamped roster for the 2010-11 season and only seven players on the current 20-man roster were there last season. It is extremely difficult to piece together a championship team in one season, and it’s even harder to establish NBA records with a squad that hasn’t been tested.

And who’s going to command the paint for Miami? Pat Riley used to say “No rebounds, no rings.” Besides Bosh, who is going to rebound for the Heat? Miami’s not-so-live crew of Bosh, Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire, Udonis Haslem, Juwan Howard and Joel Anthony don’t exactly strike fear in the hearts and minds of opposing teams.

Bosh is a legit NBA All-Star, but he’s more of a soft forward than a power forward. Ilgauskas couldn’t even beat out an old and slow Shaquille O’Neal in Cleveland last season; Haslem may be a gamer but he’s undersized and has logged plenty of playoff miles; Howard is now on his seventh NBA team in 16 years in the Association; and Magloire and Anthony will be lucky to play more than 15 minutes a game.

The Heat may very well feast on Eastern Conference lightweights such as the Pacers, Pistons, Wizards, Sixers, Cavaliers and Knicks, but they still must contend with the Celtics, Magic and Bulls. Then, in the Western Conference, there are eight teams that can knock off Miami on their home courts: Lakers, Thunder, Mavericks, Blazers, Rockets, Nuggets, Jazz and Spurs.

Because of the uncertainty of injuries, long road trips and back-to-back games, there is no way the Heat will defeat the Lakers’ 33-game winning streak. That streak could stand the test of time, much like Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak. There are just too many hurdles to clear during the course of a regular season for a team to win 33 consecutive games. It’s almost an impossible task.

As for the 72-10 record the Michael Jordan-led 1995-96 Bulls team established, that mark could be within reach but, again, the Heat will have to play near-perfect ball to tie or surpass that standard.

Let’s assume the Heat will blitz through the East, which ain’t much outside of Chicago, Boston and Orlando. The Bulls should give the Heat a stiff challenge so there’s two potential losses there. The Celtics, who will be resting a lot of old legs during the regular season, may win one game from Miami. The Magic will be the bigger test, simply because of Dwight Howard. Miami doesn’t have anyone to contend with Howard one-on-one. We’ll call this a draw, so that gives the Heat five losses in the East.

Then, Miami needs to split with the Lakers, Thunder, Jazz, Mavericks and Nuggets just to stay at 10 losses. That means the Heat will have to sweep the rest of the Western Conference just to tie the record. NO WAY that happens.

So, forget about the 33-game winning streak. The Heat will be lucky to win 20 in a row. Then, there are too many factors to overcome in order to break the Bulls’ 72-10 record.

I’m not sure what Van Gundy was thinking when he said the Heat are “unguardable” and “indefensible.” The Heat could very well be the best team in the East, but they are not a team for the ages.

LeBron, Wade and Bosh didn’t look unguardable four years ago at the FIBA World Championship. Remember Greece?

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Michael Jordan says he wanted to beat Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, not join them. (AFP)

Michael Jordan understood why LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland and team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. However, in hindsight, Jordan likely would not have done the same if given the same choice.

Call it an old-school mentality, call it ego, call it what you want. Jordan didn’t take shortcuts. What made him such a great player was his incredible drive and extremely competitive nature. He wanted to be the best and refused to play second fiddle to anyone. Sure, he got cozy with lot of his peers during his playing days, but when it came time to compete on the basketball court MJ wanted to destroy all of them.

So, when Jordan, who retired in 2003, was asked what he thought about James’ decision to join forces with his All-Star friends in Miami, the six-time NBA champion who built his entire legacy with the Chicago Bulls said he simply couldn’t see himself teaming with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird just so he could win a championship. He wanted to do it on his own, as the No. 1 alpha dog.

“I would have never called up Larry and called up Magic and say ‘Hey, let’s get together and play on one team.’ But things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. That’s an opportunity those kids have today,” Jordan recently told NBC Sports in between rounds at the 2010 American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

“In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys [Larry and Magic],” Jordan continued. “I don’t know if they would have been on my team, if we would have been on one team.”

The idea of “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach was never an option for Jordan. Magic and Bird would never subscribe to that either. All three MVPs had too much pride to hitch on someone else’s championship wagon. It would have been real easy for Jordan to join either Magic’s team in L.A. or Bird’s team in Boston while he was chasing his first NBA title. But he didn’t.

Jordan suffered through miserable playoff defeats to the Celtics and the Detroit Pistons during the first six seasons of his career before finally getting over the hump in his seventh year when his Bulls defeated Magic’s Lakers in 1991.

The only exception to the rule was the 1992 Olympics when Jordan, Magic and Bird wore the same uniform for Team USA, and they were joined by fellow All-Stars Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen and Clyde Drexler.

“When you look at the Dream Team, obviously, we were all on that team,” Jordan said. “But it wasn’t too much of a competitive thing.”

LeBron James says he keeps tabs of all the nay-sayers and will probably post some of them in his Heat locker for motivation. Though James holds Jordan in high regard, MJ’s latest comment could be bulletin-board material and the Charlotte Bobcats (Jordan’s team) could be in a heap of trouble.

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Who says there is no more loyalty in sports? Two very important role players on teams with championship aspirations each re-signed with their respective teams on Monday. Derek Fisher, a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, will remain a Laker for at least three more years while Udonis Haslem, a member of the 2006 Heat championship squad, spurned better offers from Denver and Dallas and will re-sign with the Heat.

After a weekend blanketed with news of free-agent superstars ditching their old teams for greener pastures, it was somewhat refreshing to see that there’s still some loyalty left in sports, and Fisher and Haslem proved there is no place like home.

L.A. has been Fisher’s home for 11 of his 14 seasons in the NBA. He was drafted by the Lakers in 1996, and after a brief three-year hiatus, he rejoined the club in 2007 and the Lakers have made three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals since his return. Life without Fisher would have been extremely difficult for the Lakers, especially for Kobe Bryant, who calls the 36-year-old guard the “emotional and vocal leader” of the Lakers.

Derek Fisher will return to the L.A. Lakers and make a run at a sixth championship ring. (GETTY IMAGES)

On the other hand, Haslem typifies what a Miami Heat player is all about: tough, aggressive, tireless and selfless. The undersized power forward has played his entire career with the Heat and is a close friend of Dwyane Wade. “UD is here to stay. Sacrifices all ard. I’m couldn’t b happier for any1 more then Mr Miami himself. My brother 4 life,” Wade wrote on his Twitter account.

Haslem’s deal is reportedly for five years at around $20 million.

Fisher has earned a reputation for making clutch shots throughout his playoff career, and is a huge influence in the locker room. During the 2010 NBA Finals against the Celtics, Fisher was the guiding force behind the Lakers’ huge victory in Game 3 and his tough defense on Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen, who is five inches taller than Fisher, was not to be ignored.

“Derek is very, very tough mentally and physically. He doesn’t back down from anyone,” Bryant said of his backcourt mate. “There’s not enough words or praise that I can use to describe him and how I feel about him.”

According to published reports, Fisher’s contract is a three-year deal, with the third year a player option. The negotiations got off to a slow start, with the Lakers not willing to match the $5 million per year Fisher was paid under his previous contract.

“I have decided to continue with Kobe [Bryant], continue with our teammates and the fans of Los Angeles,” Fisher said in a statement. “While this may not be the most lucrative contract I’ve been offered this off-season, it is the most valuable. I am confident I will continue to lead this team on and off the court. Let the hunt for six begin…”

Haslem opted to remain with the Heat, according to published reports, turning down bigger offers for the full mid-level exception from the Mavericks and Nuggets. Terms of Haslem’s new deal with the Heat were not available.

The Heat have stated throughout the offseason that bringing back Haslem was one of the team’s top priorities. It became an ever greater necessity when the team acquired All-Stars LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play with Wade in South Beach because Haslem is the type of player who doesn’t need to have the ball to be effective and does all the little things on the court that ultimately lead to winning ballgames.

Udonis Haslem was a key member of the Heat's 2006 championship team. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

“He’s the ultimate Miami Heat warrior,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said about the 6-foot-8 seven-year veteran. “Everything we try to have in a Miami Heat player, embodies all the characteristics, that’s Udonis Haslem.  He brings the toughness, he brings the character and he brings the leadership. And he’s true. There’s purity about who he is. He’s a Miami native and he’s special to all of us.”

Haslem, 30, averaged 12.7 points and 10.4 rebounds last season for Miami. In an e-mail to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Monday, Haslem said, “Turned down full mid level from Dallas and Denver. See u next season.”

Miami is slowing building up its roster to surround Wade, James and Bosh. Joining Haslem on this year’s squad are third-year guard Mario Chalmers, rookies Jarvis Varnardo, Dexter Pittman and Da’Sean Butler and forward Mike Miller, who was acquired this week. The 6-8 guard/forward Miller reportedly inked a five-year deal. Haslem and Miller were former teammates at the University of Florida.

Last year, Haslem lost his starting job to second-year man Michael Beasley, who was recently traded to Minnesota to clear some cap space. Haslem is expected to come off the bench and back up Bosh this season and could play some center.

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Dwyane Wade will always have a leg up on LeBron James in Miami. (GETTY IMAGES)

LeBron James has never looked so small.

When James ditched his homestate team of Cleveland, Ohio, for a chance to play with not one but two of his All-Star buddies in Miami, Fla., it was loud and clear admission that the self-proclaimed King James can’t rule a kingdom on his own. Sadly, it was almost a cry for help. This is The Chosen One? The guy who is supposed to be the biggest and the baddest player in the Association and heir to Michael Jordan’s throne as the greatest player of all time? What a royal disappointment.

In James’ quest to conquer his first NBA championship, the 25-year-old two-time league MVP raised his right arm and waved for more troops. He needed Chris Bosh. He needed Dwyane Wade. He didn’t want to be in the frontline nor the backline. He just wanted to jump on someone else’s troop and win the battle playing as the second or third fiddle.

To put it in a New York Yankees perspective, LeBron is Alex Rodriguez and Wade is Derek Jeter. That leaves Bosh as Mark Teixeira. Much like A-Rod, James went lead role to a supporting actor, and didn’t mind it one bit.

Can you imagine Jordan teaming up with Isiah Thomas with the Detroit Pistons? Or, how about Larry Bird leaving Boston to play with Magic Johnson in L.A.? Can you see Kobe Bryant opting out of his contract with the Lakers and teaming with Wade and Bosh in Miami?

No way! Heck no! And hell no!

Miami is Wade County and American Airlines Arena is D-Wade’s house. Wade owns a championship ring and a Finals MVP trophy. Because he was The Guy who led the Heat to a championship in 2006, he will always be toast of the parties on Ocean Boulevard in South Beach.

During the Heat’s news conference at American Airlines Arena Friday night, James was introduced first, then Bosh and then Wade. Wade also got the loudest ovation from the more than 10,000 Heat fans in attendance. Then, during the session with the media, Wade sat in the middle of the table and was flanked by James and Bosh. That’s going to be the pecking order with the Miami Heat. Wade will always drive the Heat bus, with James and Bosh as his passengers.

Charles Barkley, one of only six regular-season MVPs to not win an NBA championship, said that  during his prime years in the league, it never even crossed his mind that he needed help from other All-Star players to win a title. In fact, Barkley thought he could do it on his own every year because he wanted to be The Guy.

Barkley wanted to be The Guy who took the last shot, grabbed the key rebound, made the crucial pass that led his team to victory and ultimately to a championship. That title never came, but at least Barkley never took a backseat to anyone. When he first arrived in the NBA in 1984 as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers – a team who won the NBA title the previous year and boasted Hall-of-Famers Moses Malone and Julius Erving – Barkley, in his mind, was the best player on the team. He didn’t care if Moses or Dr. J were on the same court.

“If I was 25, I’d try to win [a championship] by myself, not technically to win it by myself, but I would make sure I was The Guy on the team,” Barkley said on NBATV. “We just started giving Kobe Bryant credit the last two years. There was that stigma that he hadn’t won without Shaq. You see, we have elevated him because he won the last two as The Guy. And LeBron is never gonna be The Guy. Dwyane Wade has already won a championship, so it’s his team.

“I still think LeBron is the best player in the NBA. But there is a knock – and it is a fair knock – because the reason why I say that is if we’re gonna use the same criteria on Kobe Bryant we have to use it on LeBron James also.”

Barkley said he was disappointed James didn’t stay with the Cavaliers because winning a championship in a title-starved city like Cleveland would have been sweeter, especially for a player who grew up in nearly Akron and is all too familiar with the sad sports history of Cleveland, Ohio.

“It would have been a lot more significant to win a championship in Cleveland than piggyback on Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh,” Barkley said. “If he wins a championship in Miami, would it be a great thing ‘yeah, it would be a great thing.’ But it won’t be nearly as significant and it won’t enhance his legacy. That’s the bottom line.”

Barkley is completely miffed at the fact that James, who at 25 is very much in the prime of his professional basketball career, would choose to defer to another superstar just to win a title. In other words, LeBron took the shortcut instead of staying on the long road to the promised land. Barkley used Karl Malone and Gary Payton as examples of two basketball legends who stuck it out on bad teams, hoping to win titles as the leaders of their respective teams.

“They tried to win it by themselves. That’s why I admire and respect those guys,” Barkley said. “They did go the Lakers and Gary went to Miami to win a championship, but they didn’t try to piggyback on anybody else early in their careers. When you’re 25, you shouldn’t have to piggyback on other people.”

James said during his one-hour made-for-ESPN special Thursday night that the No. 1 reason why he decided to join the Heat was because he felt, with Wade and Bosh in the fold, Miami gave him the best chance to win a title, which is an unwarranted indictment on the Cavaliers organization, owner Dan Gilbert and former GM Danny Ferry.

“Let’s be realistic. Cleveland, to me, they were still one of the five or six best teams in the NBA. Think about that,” Barkley noted. “They lost to the Celtics, that was a tough matchup. You take away Orlando and they’re still in the mix as the best team in the East, and other than the Lakers in the West, they would have been in the mix. [Cleveland] has had the best record in the NBA [the last two years] so it wasn’t like he was playing on a bad team. So I wished he would have tried to win it by himself as The Guy.

“[LeBron's] legacy is going to take a hit.”

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All-Star forward Chris Bosh forms a formidable duo with Dwyane Wade in Miami.

ESPN NBA Insider Chris Broussard first broke the news early Wednesday morning that All-Star guard Dwyane Wade has decided to re-sign with the Miami Heat and he’s bringing free agent forward Chris Bosh with him.

Bosh and Wade confirmed that report with PTI’s Michael Wilbon just a few hours later, forming a dynamic duo in Miami with room for possibly another superstar with the initials LBJ, who is expected to make his announcement on ESPN Thursday night, to join the Super Crew in South Beach.

Terms of the deals have yet to be determined and it is unknown whether Bosh will come to Miami via a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors. The only thing certain is that he’ll be wearing the Heat uniform when the 2010-11 season arrives.

“I’m joining Mr. Wade in Miami,” Bosh said. “I think we’re both fine with the situation. We’ve wanted to play with each other and we have a golden opportunity to do that.”

Bosh, 26, had been courted by several other teams, including Houston, Dallas, New York, Chicago and Cleveland. The Cavaliers made a last-ditch effort to do a sign-and-trade with the Raptors.

James reportedly tried to lure his good friend Bosh to play with the Cavaliers, but the 6-foot-11 power forward/center had other ideas, and one of them was playing in a star-friendly city such as Miami where he could also play with another superstar in good friend.

“There’s no secret that Chris, myself and LeBron are all good friends. We all came into the this league together,” said Wade, 28, who was drafted by the Heat in 2003, the same year James and Bosh entered the NBA.

“We all make our own decisions at the end of the day,” Wade said. “Of course, we would love for LeBron to join us in Miami. Who wouldn’t? But, at the same time, LeBron is going to make his own decision.”

Both Wade and Bosh said they are willing to take less money to give the Heat more flexibility to sign other players and give the Heat a more formidable roster to compete for a championship.

“I expect us to compete for a championship,” Bosh said. “Both Dwyane and I wanted an opportunity where right away we’ll be competing. We’re ready sacrifice some of the other things in order to do that. It’s not about the money. It’s not about anything else except for winning. I’m a winner, Dwyane’s a winner, and we’re gonna bring winning to Miami.”

Bosh did not confirm nor deny reports that he did not want to play in Cleveland, instead he deferred the question to his agent Henry Thomas, who is also Wade’s agent. But Bosh did say that James’ indecision led to his decision to play with the Heat.

“I wasn’t sure if LeBron was coming back,” Bosh said. “I just wanted to leave that decision up to him. I wanted to choose the best situation for me and my family, and Miami was the best decision for me.”

As for the possibility of James joining them in South Beach?

“I’m gonna let him do his thing,” Bosh said. “I’m not going to mess with him. He’s got enough people in his ear. Good luck, LeBron.”

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As the Summit in South Beach continues to manifest various scenarios and reports on where LeBron James and Chris Bosh are headed next season, one thing is 99.9% evident: Dwyane Wade will re-sign with the Miami Heat.

Wade has publicly said on numerous occasions that he doesn’t want to leave Miami, and all signs point to a contract extension between the Heat and the 2008-09 NBA scoring champion.

“I want to be in Miami,” Wade recently told the Miami Herald.

Once the Heat were eliminated from the 2010 NBA playoffs, Wade made it clear to team president Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison that he needs more help and  a roster upgrade was necessary in order for the Heat to be able to compete for another championship.

“There’s no pressure on me. I’ve said where my heart is. You just have to see things being done and accomplished,” Wade said at a postgame news conference after the Heat lost Game 5 in Boston.

Well, apparently Wade has seen enough “things being done and accomplished” that he seems to be on the verge of re-signing with the only NBA franchise he has called home since he came to the league in 2003.

The Heat are actively pursuing Wade’s 2003 classmates in James and Bosh, and other big-name free agents, with D-Wade leading the recruiting. All three are very close friends, and they’ve all broached the subject of possibly playing on the same team to increase their chances of winning a title.

Wade already has a championship ring, but James and Bosh are thirsting for their first. James has become increasing frustrated with his playoff disappointments with the Cavaliers while Bosh has been an afterthought in Toronto. Having Wade, James and Bosh on one roster doesn’t guarantee a championship, but it definitely affords the Heat an enormous amount of star power and could challenge the Los Angeles Lakers in terms of popularity.

Bosh is the key to the whole deal. He is the third wheel in this star-studded triangle. Wade and James should get their maximum deals so that leaves Bosh with a little less than what he’s asking for.

The Heat have had their eye on Bosh since 2003, and was reportedly ready to make the former Georgia Tech standout their first-round selection until Toronto snagged him at No. 4 and the Heat “settled” for Wade at No. 5.

Miami is expected to dump 10 contracts this summer, giving the team plenty of cap space to sign two maximum contracts and possibly a third All-Star if it can somehow unload Michael Beasley’s contract to another sucker… I mean another team.

Is South Beach big enough to house LeBron and D-Wade?

“It’s funny to hear scenarios, for people to tell you that you know and you thought about it,” Wade told the Associated Press. “In New York, they kind of made me say, tried to make me say that I have thought about it or I have talked to LeBron. It’s amazing to me that people are inside my head that way. I don’t know.”

The Heat have somewhat of an advantage over other teams when it comes to dealing with this year’s free-agent drama because Riley has been through this taxing process before.

In 1996, he managed to convince Alonzo Mourning to leave the hive in Charlotte and come to South Beach and become the honorary Mayor of Miami. OK, maybe Mourning didn’t become the mayor but he at least pocketed a cool $100 million contract and the keys to the Heat franchise.

Then, in 2004, Riley pulled off one of the biggest trades in NBA history when he acquired Shaquille O’Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick.

After bringing the Big Fella to South Beach, Riley reworked the team into a championship contender for the next two seasons, picking up veterans Gary Payton and Mourning, and trading for Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey. The final piece was Riley himself, pushing aside Stan Van Gundy and coaching the Heat to the 2006 NBA title.

Does Riley have another blockbuster move left in him?

We shall see. The only thing for sure is that Wade will be playing with another All-Star (or two) in Miami when the 2009-10 season arrives.

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The moment the Miami Heat was eliminated from the 2010 NBA playoffs,  the focus of attention shifted to the future of Dwyane Wade. Did he play his last game in a Heat uniform?

Wade was noncommittal as usually, leaving the door open for a possible move elsewhere when he decides to opt out of his Heat contract and become a free agent this summer. He told the Associated Press that whenever he goes out in public he gets asked, “Are you staying or going?”

“If I see 10 people, it happens 10 times,” Wade said, according to AP. “Whether it’s a kid or a grown person, it doesn’t matter.”

Is he staying? Or, is he going?

It’s the million dollar question Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, president Pat Riley and owner Mickey Arison must deal with for the next few months as Wade weighs his options – and he has plenty of viable options.

Wade is among an elite group of NBA superstars, which includes LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki and Joe Johnson, who can all exercise their rights to become free agents July 1. And for months, Wade has insisted that he won’t truly begin thinking about that process until this season ends.

Well, the Boston Celtics officially put Wade on the clock after the Heat was eliminated in the first round of the 2010 playoffs.

Wade has publicly and privately said that his preference is to stay in Miami, the franchise that drafted him in 2003, as long as the organization commits to an improved roster that will allow him to have another shot at winning a NBA title. Since winning the 2006 NBA Finals, the Heat have won just three playoff games and only three players remain from that championship team.

“There’s no pressure on me. I’ve said where my heart is. You just have to see things being done and accomplished,” Wade said at a postgame news conference after the Heat lost Game 5 in Boston.

The pressure falls on Riley to restock the Heat with better players and convince Wade – the 2008-09 NBA scoring champion – that the Heat are committed to winning a title now instead of three, four or five years down the road. Miami has 10 potential free agents this summer and will have plenty of cap space to sign two maximum contracts.

Can you see LeBron and D-Wade in South Beach?

“It’s funny to hear scenarios, for people to tell you that you know and you thought about it,” Wade told AP. “In New York, they kind of made me say, tried to make me say that I have thought about it or I have talked to LeBron. It’s amazing to me that people are inside my head that way. I don’t know.”

Wade’s likely destinations are Miami, Chicago, New York or L.A. (Clippers, not Lakers). Wade is a Chicago native and he’ll have Derrick Rose as his sidekick, making the Bulls very appealing. New York and L.A. don’t have a championship-caliber roster, but playing for a big-market team can extend the D-Wade brand to a larger audience.

Ultimately, Wade will probably end up back in Miami because of the following reasons: 1) South Beach, 2) the Heat can offer Wade more money, 3) South Beach, 4) Riley will lure at least one superstar to play with him (see Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire), and 5) South Beach.

Riley is a big Bosh fan and actually had the 6-foot-11 forward rated higher than Wade in the 2003 draft. Bosh is not likely to re-sign with Toronto so he’ll be the most coveted free agent because his decision will affect Wade’s and James’ next move.

So, before Wade makes up his mind, he’ll sit back and take his time before he puts his signature on his next big contract.

“Wait and see. Wade and see, if you want to be cool with it,” he concluded.

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Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics fired the first major blow in the NBA playoffs, but it’s not the kind of big blow the Celtics had in mind.

The Celtics defeated the Heat, 85-76, in Game 1 of their first-round series, but it came with a heavy cost as Boston won’t have one of its star players for Game 2.

With 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Celtics ahead 81-75, Garnett and Heat guard Quentin Richardson got into an altercation near the Miami bench and several players got into a yelling match, which turned into a giant shoving match. As Garnett was trying to escape the brewing melee, he threw an elbow to Richardson’s jaw which drew a technical foul and an ejection from the game.

The NBA law clearly states that any punch or elbow that is thrown and connects will draw an automatic one-game suspension. Based on the video evidence, the NBA suspended Garnett for one game.

“It is what it is. You make your bed and you gotta lay it in. I gotta be smarter than that. Composure is everything in the playoffs. I gotta have better composure next time,” Garnett said during the postgame news conference.

Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, at TD Banknorth Garden.

“I saw Paul hurt his shoulder, and I was trying to give him some room and I saw Q standing over him talking nonsense. Before you know it, mayhem started. I thought Q showed a bit of disrespect by standing over [Pierce],” Garnett explained.

Garnett claimed that he didn’t remember throwing the elbow at Richardson, and he said all he was doing was making sure his teammate, Pierce, was OK after he saw him laying on the floor in pain.

“I don’t even remember elbowing anybody, I just remember guys were grabbing me,” Garnett said. “I saw Jamal Magloire grab me and, you know, me and D-Wade was talking. Next thing I know, Doc was yelling at me.”

Garnett said Pierce and Richardson have somewhat of a history, dating back to the days when Richardson was with the New York Knicks. Richardson, who once criticized the Celtics for talking too much trash, got tangled up with Pierce near sideline that resulted in Pierce suffering a stinger on his right shoulder.

Forward Glenn Davis will probably take Garnett’s place in the starting lineup.

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Jermaine O'Neal feels healthy again, and that is good news for Heat fans. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Jermaine O’Neal saw firsthand what super trainer Tim Grover did for Dwyane Wade last season, and he couldn’t think of a better guy to rebuild his body as well as his career.

This past offseason, Grover put O’Neal through a rigorous training regimen that included a new diet and more rehabbing than resting. After two steller outings in two Heat victories, O’Neal seems to have regained his footing as one of the NBA’s best big men.

Thanks to Grover, O’Neal says he feels strong and healthy for the first time in almost three years. The 14-year veteran has publicly stated that he wants to regain the form that made him a six-time All-Star selection.

O’Neal scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in each of Miami’s first two games, the first time he’s posted 22-and-12 in two years.

“I expect to do it every night,” O’Neal told the Associated Press. “When you go through some of the issues that I went through with my knee over the 2 1/2 years, you look forward to these nights. This is the first time in 2 1/2, three years where I feel real good, the body is responding great, my movements are great, no knee braces. I’ve really looked forward to this.”

So have the Heat, which goes without saying.

They traded for O’Neal last February, desperate for another low-post presence to help All-Star Dwyane Wade. What they got, though, was a player whose knees ached more than he ever acknowledged publicly, who could barely jump or run, impaired so badly that he failed to get more than five rebounds in 14 of the 27 regular-season games he logged with Miami last season.

For a 6-foot-11 player making more than $20 million a year, that simply wasn’t going to cut it.

“A lot of work in the summertime, a lot of work in camp,” O’Neal said of his workouts with Grover.

Clearly, all the hard work that O’Neal put in has paid off and if he can stay painfree for the rest of the season, the Heat should remain one of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference.

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