LeBron James thumps his chest after hitting the go-ahead jumper against the Celtics. (REUTERS)

Five years to the day after the Celtics snapped Houston’s winning streak at 22 games, LeBron James and the Miami Heat had the rare opportunity to move into a path only one team has traveled in NBA history.

With the game tied at 103, James asked for the ball at the wing, told Ray Allen to run to the corner to space the floor. James stared down Jeff Green, the guy who has singled-handedly kept the Celtics in the game with a career-high 43 points. LeBron took a few dribbles, drifted to his left, pulled up just inside the 3-point line and rattled home a long jumper to give the Heat a 105-103 lead with 10.5 seconds left. It was LeBron walked down the court thumping his chest. His go-ahead basket moved the Heat closer to the L.A. Lakers.

The Celtics had one last possession. Green drove the lane, but Shane Battier made the defensive play of the game by knocking the ball loose and putting the Celtics in a difficult inbounds play under the basket. When Paul Pierce’s 3-point shot bounced off the rim and Dwyane Wade grabbed the rebound, the Heat celebrated their 23rd consecutive victory.

The only team left for the Heat to catch is the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who won a record 33 in a row. That record was once thought of as unassailable. But the way the schedule works out, the Heat have at least a shot at the NBA’s version of Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak.

”It means a lot,” James said of the Heat’s 23rd straight win. ”I know the history of the game. To be sitting in second place right now … for us to be there and doing it the way we want to do it, it means a lot.”

Miami has a realistic chance at extending the streak to 29 with Cleveland, Detroit, Charlotte, Orlando, Chicago, and New Orleans on the schedule. The March 31 game at San Antonio could pose the biggest road block for the Heat.

Many thought the streak would end in Boston, a place where the Heat have struggled lately since James, Wade, and Chris Bosh joined forces. The Celtics had won 11 in a row at home and had a psychological edge over the Heat.

But the Heat had James, the runaway choice to win MVP in 2013. He finished with 37 points, seven rebounds, and 12 assists. When the Heat needed it most, James delivered. His energy and effort on both ends of the court allowed the Heat to overcome a big Celtics lead. And he punctuated the Heat’s glorious night by hitting the game-winning shot. Remember those days when James couldn’t or wouldn’t take big shots. Those days are long game and the Miami Heat are now running away from teams in the East.

They could go winless the rest of the season and still finish with the No. 1 seeding in the conference. That’s how far they have distanced themselves from the competition.

Knicks star forward and early MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony scores 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter against the L.A. Lakers. (GETTY IMAGES)

Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant formed a close friendship when they were teammates on the United States Olympic team in 2008 and 2012.The two superstars found a common ground in the fact they both know what it feels like to be publicly scorned for shooting too much.

Anthony went through a tough period last year when the media and Knicks fans felt like the team had a better chance of winning with Jeremy Lin and that ‘Melo needed to tame his game become more of a facilitator.

Sensing a fellow shooter had become gun shy, Bryant had a message for Anthony last summer.

Ignore the critics, he said. Stop worrying about fitting in and get back to a scorer’s mentality.

”You have to do what you do best,” Bryant told him.

That’s what Anthony did in a spectacular first quarter Thursday night, and by the time he was done Bryant and the struggling Los Angeles Lakers had no hope of ending their slump.

Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the period, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Lakers 116-107 in coach Mike D’Antoni’s return to Madison Square Garden.

”I was zoned in. I was locked in,” Anthony told the Associated Press. ”Tonight was one of those games where I had that feeling. I wanted to get it going and I had that feeling going early in the game. My teammates were feeding off of that.”

Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D’Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

”I wanted to beat them. I wanted to beat the Lakers, especially protecting our home court,” Anthony said. ”It had nothing to do with Mike. I wanted to protect our home court and win the basketball game.”

Statistically, Anthony is not having his best season. His 27.9 scoring average is just a shade below his career best of 28.9 in 2006-07 when he was playing for the Denver Nuggets. But what makes this year different is the way Anthony has reshaped his body and has become more active. Far too often he would settle for jump shots, but his year he’s attacking the basket more and — dare, I say it — playing more defense.

Anthony’s renewed commitment has been the driving force behind the resurgence of the Knicks. New York is now a serious challenger to Miami in the Eastern Conference and Anthony has taken the lead in the MVP race. The key will be how head coach Mike Woodson will use Amare Stoudemire once he returns from the injured list. It is no secret that ‘Melo and Amare don’t mesh well on the court together, so Woodson must find a happy medium in which both players can thrive and be comfortable.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol is not fitting in Mike D’Antoni’s system. Gasol is averaging just 12 points per game, a career low. (GETTY IMAGES)

Consistency. Lack of defense. Lack of discipline.

Those were the postgame remarks from L.A. Lakers All-Star Pau Gasol after the Orlando Magic came to Staples Center on Sunday and stunned the Lakers, 113-103. Clearly, Gasol was frustrated by the lack of discipline on the court by his teammates, but what could be eating at him more is the fact that he was benched in the fourth quarter when the game was still in the balance.

When Los Angeles Times reporter Mike Bresnahan asked Gasol if he was “irritated” about being on the bench in the fourth quarter the Spaniard responded by saying, “I don’t get irritated,” but then went on to quip that it was “upsetting.”

“I like to be out there. It’s upsetting for me as a player, but I won’t allow it to irritate me,” the Lakers forward said, who is averaging a career-low 12.7 points through the first quarter of the 2012-13 NBA season. “We all try to figure out and do our best to win the game, and coach makes his decisions and you gotta respect him.”

Gasol is a true professional. He won’t rock the boat or disrupt team chemistry by going rogue when things are going sour, and right now the Lakers are feeling very salty with the way the season has started for them. Gasol may not say it publicly but he is not happy with how he’s being used.

“Within the system, I’m gonna try to find positions where I can be more effective and be more comfortable in the positions I’ve been playing through my entire career,” Gasol said, “positions that made me so successful as a player.”

Head coach Mike D’Antoni so badly wants to play small ball, and he has dropped hints of that by increasing Antawn Jamison’s playing time at the expense of Gasol’s floor time. Jamison is a stretch 4 — or a small forward who can play power forward — who fits better with Dwight Howard. That’s the way D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns teams spaced the floor, with Shawn Marion playing outside and allowing Amare Stoudemire to play exclusively inside and run pick-and-roll with Steve Nash.

Even though Gasol can face up and knock down shots from the free throw line, he’s more of a back-to-the-basket big man. He likes to handle the ball in the post and is an excellent passer for a 7-footer. But the biggest challenge for D’Antoni is figuring out how to get more speed on the court without alienating Howard and Gasol. Teams are countering the Lakers’ size advantage by playing faster and putting Howard and Gasol in pick-and-rolls.

”I think our problem is just not coming out with the intensity and the purpose that we need to have. … We’re slow right now,” D’Antoni told the Associated Press. “Just athletically, we’re struggling with young teams that run up and down.”

When asked how can the Lakers fix the problems on defense, Gasol said the team has “scramble at all times.”

“I think we did better in the third quarter when he held them to, what was it, 20 points. But then fourth quarter they scored 40 points,” Gasol said of what the Magic did to them on Sunday. “It’s just not something we can afford and allow as a team. We’re too good of a defensive team.

“We have to find ways to cover for each other and not allow easy looks, or open jumpers, then dunks. A lot to work on, just got to be a little more disciplined.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Andrew Bynum averaged career highs in points and rebounds during the 2011-12 season with the Lakers. (GETTY IMAGES)

The excitement in Philadelphia was curtailed somewhat with news of Andrew Bynum’s latest injury. The 76ers’ newly acquired center was diagnosed with a bone bruise on his right knee, which means he will be sidelined for three weeks and won’t be able to participate in basketball activities for most of training camp.

Bynum, who turns 24 on Oct. 27, comes to Philly with loads of expectations. As soon as he arrived on the Sixers’ team facility, he shouldered the load as the franchise player and the foundation of Doug Collins’ young squad. With all due respect to Andre Iguodala, who is a solid player but not a franchise-changer, Bynum is the first legit superstar the Sixers have had since Allen Iverson and the team’s first dominant big man since Moses Malone.

The Sixers announced Monday they would shut down their new franchise All-Star for 21 days as a precaution after he received knee treatment in Germany.

According to NBA TV’s Dee Lynam, Bynum was working out and felt one of the knees didn’t fee right, and that’s when the bone bruise was discovered. Bynum downplayed the setback.

“The treatment [in Germany] went well. I think it’s more of a precautionary thing with the team. They kinda just want me to be sidelined and let the Orthokine do it’s magic,” the 7-footer told Lynam on the Sixers’ media day session. “I’m gonna be out but I’m gonna do everything that I can do impact-wise. Later on we should be crack it up and everything should be fine.”

Bynum had injections of plasma-rich platelets, a procedure called Orthokine, that supposedly stimulate healing in arthritis-affected areas in both of his knees. The Sixers wanted to give him enough time to have the treatments take hold in the knee. Bynum said the bone bruise was unrelated to the knee treatments. The procedure was similar to the treatment Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez underwent.

The injury throws an unwanted wrinkle into the start of coach Collins’ third season. Collins led the Sixers to the playoffs each of the last two seasons and was rewarded Monday when the team picked up the option on his contract for the 2013-14 season.

“I will be participating in as much as I can. I’m gonna be with the team during the walk-throughs, and learning the offense,” said Bynum, who spent the first seven years of his NBA career with the L.A. Lakers. He averaged career highs in points (18.7) and rebounds (11.8) last season.

“Chemistry is big,” Bynum said. “Everybody has a role and everybody has to play together. I definitely want to be with those guys.”

Bynum said this current knee ailment isn’t as bad as the issues that have dogged him in the past. He reported no swelling in his knees. Bynum said doctors advised he have the knee treatment closer to the season for maximum effectiveness. Bynum said he had the injections during the third week in September. He will continue to participate in low-impact conditioning drills.

The Sixers open the regular season Oct. 31. Bynum would have about a week between his scheduled return and the opener.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Forward Antawn Jamison averaged 17 points and six rebounds for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season. (GETTY IMAGES)

Antawn Jamison has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, reuniting him with his former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

Jamison’s deal with the Lakers was a bit of a surprise since many thought he would choose the Charlotte Bobcats because he is from North Carolina, where he played high school and college basketball. The Brooklyn Nets also made a bid to get his services as they try to assemble another super power in the Eastern Conference.

But, it’s apparent Jamison clearly wants to pursue a championship, and L.A.’s championship hopes were bolstered by the acquisition of Steve Nash through a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns.

Jamison had a good season as a starter for the Cavaliers this past season, averaging 17.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. For his career, Jamison has been a consistent player, usually on bad teams such as Golden State and Washington. He has a career scoring average of 19.5.

A lot of people might not like the decision because Jamison doesn’t play defense, but that isn’t the biggest need for the Lakers. The Lakers improved their team defense in their first year under Brown. Jamison will most likely come off the bench for the Lakers, something he did in 2003-04 when he was a member of the Dallas Mavericks (he averaged 14.8 points for the Mavs).

The Lakers are hoping Jamison can bring some much-needed scoring punch. Matt Barnes was the leading scorer off the bench last season and offense isn’t Barnes’ forte. Jamison is an instant upgrade to their bench and he can be the main guy on the second unit, plus he can come in and relieve Pau Gasol at power forward and play with the starters and help stretch the defense with his outside shooting.

If the Lakers decide to go all out in their pursuit of Dwight Howard, they could offer Andrew Bynum and Gasol for Howard and another contract — possibly Hedo Turkoglu or Jason Richardson. They could start Jamison at PF and his perimeter game could be a nice complement to Howard’s inside game. That’s if the Lakers decide to include Gasol in the deal, but they haven’t to this point. They seem intent on getting a third team involved that can offer young talent and draft picks to the Magic.

In any case, Jamison has helped improve the Lakers’ chances of getting back to the NBA Finals.

Darren Jacks is a regular contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Send him an email at djroxalot@hotmail.com.

Orlando Woolridge played in the 1989 NBA Finals for the L.A. Lakers. (GETTY IMAGES)

Orlando Woolridge passed away at his parents home late Thursday night in Louisiana at the age of 52. He had a chronic heart condition.

Woolridge was a high flying athletic player during 13 seasons spent with seven different teams over the course of his career. He was drafted sixth overall by the Chicago Bulls and played for the team for five seasons. He left Chicago when the Bulls decided to focus on running their offense through Michael Jordan since they had very similar playing styles.

In 1988-89 after two seasons with the New Jersey Nets, Woolridge decided to head to Los Angeles and come off the bench for the Lakers.

“I just love it when we go up in the transition game, up and down the court, Magic (Johnson) looking for the open guy,” Woolridge told Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn shortly after joining the team in 1988. ” I get excited when we start playing like that. That’s the way I love playing.”

He averaged just under 10 points per game on the L.A. Lakers squad that got swept by the Pistons in the NBA Finals in 1989.

His best season was in 1990-91 when he played for the Denver Nuggets, averaging 25.1 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game. For his career, he averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in 851 games.

Darren Jacks is a contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Send him an email at: djroxalot@hotmail.com

Oklahoma City All-Star forward Kevin Durant reacts after defeating the L.A. Lakers at Staples Center. (GETTY IMAGES)

Kevin Durant’s Twitter handle is @KDTrey. The Oklahoma City superstar lived up to that name in a playoff game against the L.A. Lakers.

With the game tied 98-98 and 40 seconds remaining in the game, Durant put on his MJ cap and lifted the Thunder to victory. He stepped into the passing lane and picked off an ill-advised pass by Pau Gasol then took the ball in the middle of the court, slowly walked down Ron Artest and drained a cold-blooded 3-point shot to give Oklahoma City a 101-98 lead with 14 seconds left.

Kobe Bryant tried to answer with a three of his own, but his shot kicked off the rim and the rebound was gathered by James Harden, who then buried two free throws to close the deal on a 103-100 Thunder victory to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

It takes a special individual to do what Durant did against the Lakers. First of all, it was on the road at a hostile environment. Secondly, he was face to face with the menacing Metta World Peace, who is still one of the best on-ball defenders in the league. Durant ignored all those hurdles and knocked down a dagger shot through the heart of Lakers nation.

Kobe has been the undisputed king of late-game heroics the last decade, and is universally known as basketball’s best closer. But Kobe better watch his back because KD is coming hard and fast for his title.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are a lethal combination for the Oklahoma City Thunder. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Kevin Durant may be Oklahoma City’s best player, but make no mistake about it Russell Westbrook is the fire that ignites the Thunder.

Whenever the Thunder needs to shift into high gear, head coach Scott Brooks points to his 23-year-old point guard to give the team a major boost. Whether its a steal, a 3-pointer, a spectacular dunk, an alley-oop pass, or a circus shot, Westbrook has been in the middle of almost every major run the Thunder have put together in the 2012 playoffs. He did in Game 4 in Los Angeles when he kept driving to the basket and refused to let the Lakers get too far. His relentless attacks kept the Thunder in the game long enough to set the stage for Kevin Durant’s cold-blooded 3-pointer to give OKC a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

In the close-out game Monday night in Oklahoma City, Westbrook was again the explosive catalyst in the pushing the Thunder past the Lakers.

With the game tied at 70 with four minutes left in the third quarter and the Lakers seemingly controlling the tempo of the game, Westbrook picked off a pass by Lakers guard Ramon Sessions and raced to the other end for what Brooks called the biggest play of the game. Watch Westbrook’s circus shot while being grabbed by Sessions.

Westbrook’s 3-point play ignited a 23-7 Thunder burst at the end of the third and the start of the fourth that eventually pushed OKC into the Western Conference finals and knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs. “Sessions grabbed me kinda early and just kinda threw it to the rim. Luckily it went in,” said Westbrook, who finished with 28 points in Game 5. “That sparked us, and everybody else. Kept it going from there.”

Brooks calls Westbrook a “special” player, and goes out of his way defending his point guard no matter how many times he shoots the ball or fires a pass into the third row. Durant is also on his good friend’s corner, saying the Thunder won’t win a championship unless Westbrook does what he does which is score the basketball.

Together, Durant and Westbrook are a lethal combination. Durant is the cold-blooded sniper, while Westbrook is the fearless soldier you want fighting in the front lines.

“Kevin [Durant] showed a lot of maturity. He never ever chimed in publicly. He always supported Westbrook,” said former Toronto coach Sam Mitchell. “These guys have a certain trust. Regardless of what we may think at times about a young point guard and his decision-making, and [Westbrook] has gotten a lot better at it, his biggest supporters are two guys: Scott Brooks, the head coach, and Kevin Durant.”

Westbrook is not a traditional point man. He led all guards in the NBA in points in the paint, and has developed a very good mid-range jump shot. He is fueled by raw emotion and he’s not as effective when you try to bottle him up in a system and make him into Steve Nash. He’s not Nash. He’s not Chris Paul. And he’s not Rajon Rondo. Much like the character Michael in the movie “Underworld,” he’s a hybrid. He has a unique skill set that needs to be unleashed and not harnessed.

When you have a championship thoroughbred in your stable, you don’t keep him locked up in the barn. You let him run. Westbrook is a thoroughbred who can score, and loves to score. So why turn him into something that he’s not? Let him shoot the ball.

The Thunder have been successful the past three seasons because the team’s general manager (Sam Presti), the head coach (Brooks), and the best player (Durant) are all in when it comes to Westbrook.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastbreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins reacts after scoring a basket late in Game 4. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Speed and quickness vs. size and strength. That is the heart of the matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the L.A. Lakers. The soul of this series lies in the stat no coach wants to see: turnovers.

The Thunder flashed their speed in Game 1 to the tune of a 29-point blowout in Oklahoma City. But that seems like light years ago because the length of the Lakers have bottled up the younger and faster Thunder squad. But despite all the great stretches of basketball from the Lakers in games 2, 3 and 4, they are inexplicably down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Lakers are the better team in this series, and could easily be up 3-1. But late-game miscues and the inability to make a simple pass down the stretch have really killed L.A.

Kobe Bryant’s errant pass led to a Thunder rally in Game 2. Pau Gasol’s errant pass led to a turnover and set up Kevin Durant’s game-winning 3-pointer in Game 4.

“Just a bad read on Pau’s part. [It] happens,” Bryant said of the play with under a minute left and the game tied at 98. Bryant got the ball on the wing but drew a double team from Serge Ibaka and James Harden. He did the correct basketball play by bouncing a pass to Gasol for an open jumper from about 15 feet. But, for some mind-boggling reason, Gasol passed up the shot.

Instead of trusting his shot, Gasol’s cross-court pass that was intended for Ron Artest was picked off by Durant. Twenty seconds later, Durant walks down Artest near the top of the circle and calmly knocks down a cold-blooded trey that put the Thunder up for good at 101-98.

“Guys have to be more aggressive. It’s as simple as that,” Bryant said. “Pau has to be more assertive. He’s the guy that they’re leaving. When he catches the ball he’s looking to pass. He’s gotta be more aggressive. He’s gotta shoot the ball, drive the ball to the basket. And he will be next game.”

“We played pick-and-roll, Kobe took two guys, he gave me the ball, I took a dribble, felt like the defense collapsed. I saw the replay and they had four, five guys in the paint. So, I thought I could kick it out to Ron and get a good look. Obviously Durant got the steal. Looking at it, I could have probably taken the shot at that point. If I could go back I probably would have. I was a good pass, it was just Durant was active and long and got a piece of the ball.”

Gasol’s mistake was just the icy on top of a completely meltdown by the Lakers in the fourth quarter. The team held a 13-point lead with eight minutes to go, but self-destructed once more and couldn’t put a cap on a magnificent performance at home.

“They started fronting, and when they front we just get all out of whack,” Lakers center Andrew Bynum explained. Bynum had 18 points in the game, but only four in the second half.

The Lakers are supposed to have the championship experience in this series. They’re the ones wearing all the rings (outside of Derek Fisher and Kendrick Perkins) and they’re the ones who’s supposed to have all the playoff poise, while the Thunder are too wild and careless — they led the league in turnovers in 2011-12 — to even have a playoff history (and we’re not counting those Seattle SuperSonics days). But it’s Thunder, and its younger superstar wearing No. 35, who seem to make all the correct plays when the money is on the line.

Kobe Bryant struggled down the stretch against Oklahoma City in Game 2 while Kevin Durant rose to the occasion. (GETTY IMAGES)

Kobe Bryant is still universally recognized as the best clutch player in basketball, but Kevin Durant is closing fast.

Oklahoma City pulled out an improbable 77-75 victory over Kobe’s L.A. Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals series all because the Thunder’s All-Star forward and franchise player refused to let his team go down.

Down 75-68 with 2:08 left in the game Durant put on his Superman cape and rescued the Thunder from defeat by scoring eight of his team’s final 12 points, including what turned out to be the game-winning shot from the baseline over L.A.’s two 7-footers with 18 seconds left that put the Thunder ahead 76-75.

“I’ve had so many bad times in the fourth when I missed shots or turned the ball over. Through tough times I learned,” said Durant, who led all players with 22 points in a game that saw the Thunder struggle offensively and needed every bit of Durant’s heroics.

“As a kid you always count down in your backyard and you wanna make that last shot or take it,” the three-time NBA scoring champ said. “That’s what I do. If I make it or miss it I’m gonna walk off the court and get ready for the next opportunity. There will be a time when I’m gonna miss those shots, but I know if it comes around again I’m gonna take it.”

Wednesday’s playoff game basically came down to the two biggest stars in the series: Bryant and Durant. It was the classic showdown of the old master against the young apprentice ready to rule. KD scored the last three points for his team while Kobe missed his last five shots and committed two crucial turnovers. It was a meltdown of epic proportions by Bryant’s standards, while Durant was absolutely clutch when his team needed it most.

Durant got the rally going by stealing Bryant’s pass near halfcourt and turning it into a dunk. On the Lakers’ next possession Russell Westbrook jumped the passing lane and distracted Kobe enough to have the ball deflect off his hand. Kobe also missed an open 3-pointer that would have finished off the Thunder for good.

After James Harden’s layup cut the deficit to one at 75-74 Durant and Co. forced Bryant into a tough shot, setting up Durant’s go-ahead basket to complete an 8-0 run. About the only bad thing Durant did wrong in the final minutes was he airballed a free throwing while attempting to run out the final 0.3 seconds off the clock.

“That last few minutes they just gambled and jumped the passing lanes, which was a little unconventional. We’ll make our adjustments in Game 3,” said Bryant, who scored 20 points but was just 9-for-25 from the field.

Kobe had once last chance to redeem himself when the Lakers in bounded the ball with five seconds remaining in the game. But Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Kobe and opted for Steve Blake in the corner, who missed the 3-pointer.

“We set a good screen where I flare off to the weakside for a good look. I don’t know what Metta saw. Once I turned around I just saw the ball in the air,” Bryant explained.

Bryant and Lakers now head home to L.A. down 0-2 in the series and have just 48 hours to get ready for a crucial Game 3. But more importantly, can the Lakers win this series with a Black Mamba that seems to be turning into the Gray Mamba? “It’s a tough loss for us but we found some things that we could do that’s effective,” Bryant said. “They did a great job, great comeback by them in the last two minutes. They got themselves a gritty win now it’s on us to defend our home court.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.