The Heat need to call Kyra Sedgwick. Or Michael Jordan. They could even call Vince Carter; he made a couple of clutch shots last night. For now, the Heat might as well make Mario Chalmers their go-to guy down the stretch. He seems like the only one who can make shots for them when the game is tight. Their stars, on the other hand, are cold as ice … This season, in the last 10 seconds of a game that they are trailing by three points or less, Miami is 1-18 from the field, the worst mark in the entire league. The Heat added two of those misses yesterday after LeBron James (26 points) and Dwyane Wade (20 points) blew a layup and a jumper respectively in their one-point loss against Chicago. It was Miami’s fourth straight loss and another blown double-digit lead as Chicago made all of the big plays to come from behind in the fourth quarter … You can criticize the Big Three all you want for being unable to deliver clutch baskets, but look at the rest of the team as well. They scored just 17 points combined. Read More »

Before Evan Turner, Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. were Buckeyes, Scoonie Penn was the big man on campus at Ohio State (’98-00). Standing an inch or two short of six-feet, the stocky point guard was like Chauncey Billups the way he could pick apart defenders with his strength and speed. And just like Mr. Big Shot, Penn was cool under pressure and could close out games. Read More »

Understand that six days out of seven, I’d rather watch college basketball than the NBA; that I’ve been a Georgetown fan since I was a kid; and as a West Coast native, I’m both loyal and defensive when it comes to the Pac-10.

Also understand that I’m far from an expert at the X’s and O’s of basketball. I don’t run plays on NBA 2K10, and I would never coach at any level beyond the littlest of Little League. The kids deserve better.

That said, even I found myself wondering W-exactly-TF Ben Howland was doing in the latter stages of UCLA’s loss to Cal State-Fullerton last night. Read More »