* LeBron was simply incredible within the last three minutes last night, single-handedly bull-rushing the Cavs back from a 14-point deficit to beat Portland 84-83 at home. ‘’I do what I do,'’ James said. ‘’I prepare myself to be the best player on the floor every night no matter what building I’m in. My teammates feed off that and I feed off them.'’ Did it have anything to do with the heckler in the first row again?

* News dropped yesterday afternoon that the Mavs, Blazers and Nets are in “serious negotiations” for a deal that would send Jason Kidd to the Mavericks along with Malik Allen and Jamaal Magloire; Devean George, Jerry Stackhouse, Jarrett Jack and Channing Frye to the Nets; and Devin Harris to Portland.

* By yesterday evening, talks cooled to a halt. “Several NBA executives said Wednesday that they expect this process to drag on, although the Nets apparently are working feverishly to make something happen quickly,” writes Eddie Sefko.

* After not having enough people to conduct a full practice, the Clippers actually came through for a win over Atlanta. “We can’t do nothing,” Sam Cassell said of Tuesday’s practice. “We’ve got [eight] guys out here. We were watching film and just looking at guys like, ‘Wow.’ This is the first time I’ve ever been in the league and we’ve had [eight] healthy bodies and I’ve been in the league for 15 years.”

* “Mr. Excitement” Al Thornton was one of the Clips who sat out the early walk-through because of a stomach virus. But he suited up and put together possibly his best game of the season, scoring 33 points on 13-20 shooting. However it still wasn’t enough to escape some friendly criticism from Cuttino Mobley. “You had one assist, Al?” Mobley asked in the locker room afterward, looking at the stat sheet. “That’s just one more than a dead man.”

* Cassell barely censored himself before the game when told that Al Thornton was left off the rookie/sophomore team during All-Star weekend. “That’s some bull right there,” said Cassell. “There’s a conspiracy going on. We must be in the state of Florida now. Did they watch that game, Jersey against the Clippers? Did they see Al Thornton that night?”

* Perhaps the reason that the Celtics didn’t move to acquire Damon Stoudamire was because they are more interested in Cassell. However, the C’s don’t have the right pieces to lure LA to make a deal. Thus, Cassell is the catch-22 of taking a pay-cut in a buyout to play for a championship-caliber team, or collecting his paycheck and spiraling towards the bottom of the West. “Cassell didn’t make big money early in his career, so it would be hard to walk away from a contract paying $6,150,000,” says ESPN’s Daily Dime. “Also keep in mind, as cheap as the Clippers are, they would try to squeeze as much money as possible out of Cassell especially now that he’s their starting point guard looking at an opportunity to make a break for utopia. A source told the Boston Globe that the Clippers would be interested in a buyout if Cassell would give up major money.”

* Renaldo Balkman served a one-game suspension last night for the elbow that he delivered to Sasha Vujacic’s face during the Knicks’ loss to LA on Tuesday. But according to Kobe, Vujacic has a knack for getting under the opponent’s skin. It’s “his special power,” said Bryant. “Like how Superman can fly.”

* Perhaps Nate McMillan will go with his gut instinct the next time the Blazers need a defensive stop. With less than five second to play and Portland up one, McMillan chose LaMarcus Aldridge over Joel Przybilla, who had blocked a driving lay-up from King James earlier. But Aldridge didn’t do much of anything to slow down James as he hit the game-winning lay-up. “At first, I was in there,” Przybilla said. “We were in the (timeout) huddle and he told me, ‘Joel, you’re in’, so I took my warmup off and everything. But it wasn’t long after that when he said LaMarcus was going in.”

* Despite losing their third straight game and falling to 14-31, the Knicks are miraculously only five games out of the eighth playoff spot in the East. “If we were in the West, we’d be in trouble,” Jamal Crawford said. “But the East is still open and we have a shot.”

* Even more remarkably, Magic Johnson predicted on national TV that the Knicks would be a seven or an eight seed. “They’re going to make the playoffs and be a tough seven or eight seed,” he said. “There’s no way I don’t see them not getting in as a seven or eight seed, especially in the East.”

* Ben Gordon’s sprained wrist and Luol Deng’s left achilles tendinitis kept them out of the lineup again last night, leaving Thabo Sefolosha to play 38 minutes. The Bulls scored 33 points in the second half as they dropped 83-67 to Minnesota. Norm Van Lier, the former Bulls guard has contacted GM John Paxson about his desire to coach the squad. His stance would definitely be a little bit tougher than Jim Boylan’s. Referencing the slew of injuries, he said: “Tape that sucker up and get back out there. That’s the way it was when I played and you didn’t have a guaranteed contract.”

* Kings GM Geoff Petrie is openly shopping Ron Artest. The most credible rumors are of an Artest-for-Nene swap. Perhaps it’s motivated by Artest’s recent on-court spat with Reggie Theus - whatever it is, something is going on. “They say ‘Where there’s sparks, there’s fire?’ Well we’re still at the stage where you’re rubbing two sticks together,” says Petrie.

* Brad Miller finally got over the 20-rebound hump as he added 22 points to his 21 boards during the Kings’ 105-91 win last night. “As a big guy, you always want to try to get 20 rebounds,” Miller said. “It feels like I’ve been stuck on 19 for about five years. It feels good, and definitely a win feels good, too.” He had been stuck on 19 since January ‘05.

* The Raptors galloped out of the gates last night, taking a 61-41 lead by halftime over Washington and never looked back. “If this had been a game of H-O-R-S-E, it would have been over in the first quarter,” DeShawn Stevenson said. “They came out like they are supposed to at home after a loss. We said before the game that they play at a faster tempo at home and we just didn’t match it and then once they started making shots, they got rolling. They were on fire.”

* Despite having their nine-game win streak snapped by the Warriors last night, Byron Scott couldn’t be completely downtrodden. “The first thing I looked at after the game was we had four guys with double-doubles,” Scott said. “That might be the first time I’ve ever seen (a team lose with that combination).”

* If there’s a silver lining to every cloud in New Orleans, there’s a cloud to every silver lining in Philadelphia. The Sixers destroyed Milwaukee last night 112-69, but still were dissatisfied with their own performances in one way or another. Reggie Evans had a season-high 13 points, but went 3-13 from the free throw line. Thankfully, Mo Cheeks gave some perspective. “It was all good, though. We won. That’s a season high right there. That’s the main thing, all that matters. The fans are going to remember that; they’re not going to remember that Reggie needed one more point.'’