It’s alive in here

On the whiteboard in the Heat locker room, Erik Spoelstra (or whoever his scribe is) wrote in big bold black letters along the top, “12 SECONDS OR MORE.” Clearly that advice is referring to Mike D’Antoni‘s patented “7 Seconds Or Less” philosophy, but right off the bat it doesn’t seem like the Heat can stop Jamal Crawford from getting a good look at the bucket.

‘Mal netted his first four tries, including two from deep, which has the Garden ‘Oohing’ every time the ball comes his way. The faithful, which includes Lifestyle Editor Christian Grant-Fields who can’t help himself from standing up and cheering in the press box even if it’s against the rules, are far louder when Crawford or Nate Robinson get a touch than they were when Q-Tip performed a slowed-down version of “Go New York Go” during the pre-game. If that’s the Knicks’ theme song all year, they’re in real trouble. They’d be much better off going with the Black Rob “Like Whoa” remix from the late ’90′s playoff runs.

Mario Chalmers clearly knows how to stay off the bench. When on a two-on-one break, he could have easily taken the ball to the cup himself, but he opted to sneak a pass to Dwyane Wade for a tougher two. When Spoelstra went to the bench, he took Beasley out of the game to get Marcus Banks in and left Chalmers on the floor.

* Danilo Gallinari got the green apple splatters after catching a pass at the top of the key with no one on him. He took a dribble and bricked an 18-footer. He would have much rather been covered and been forced to pass.

* Shaun Livingston‘s first NBA possession in years didn’t go exactly as he wanted. He dribbled 20 times and then almost took flight when he spun directly into Zach Randolph.