Video of Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade spinning and dunking over Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins. Posted by Ben Golliver.

Wednesday night's game between the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder wasn't going particularly smoothly for the Heat, but guard Dwyane Wade changed all that in a matter of seconds, throwing down arguably the dunk of the year.

With the Heat trailing 41-30, Wade drove past Thunder guard James Harden towards the left baseline, spun back towards the middle to beat forward Serge Ibaka's help defense and then rose high to throw down a powerful two-handed dunk over center Kendrick Perkins, drawing a foul in the process.

Wade capped off the spectacular dunk with a dance. Here's video of the play.



Here's the Heat broadcast's video courtesy of YouTube user HEATPOSTERIZED.

Posted by Royce Young



LOS ANGELES -- A few interesting items and quotes I picked up from the mad rush that is All-Star media availability:

• Dirk Nowitzki talked a little about the potential of playing overseas if there is a lockout. He said, "Everything's open now." He mentioned his age and how he couldn't afford to take a full year off. So while he'd have to negotiate being released from his Mavericks contract and risk having it voided if he was injured, Dirk at least sounds like he's ready and willing to consider playing in Europe. Said Nowitzki:"Right now it seems like both sides are pretty far apart but things could change in a meeting or over time. We'll just have to wait and see."

• Blake Griffin media swarm rivaled that of anyone not named Carmelo or Kobe. Reporters piled in around the Clipper rookie as if he was as household a name as any other superstar in the room. He was asked about a lot of things, but when asked about his friend Wilson Holloway that passed away this past weekend, Griffin's eyes watered as he said, "He's just one of those guys that was always positive and always a great guy. To see him go through what he did and always keep smiling and stay positive was an inspiration to a lot of people."

• Also of note: Griffin talked about the dunk contest quite a bit and while he wouldn't reveal anything specific, he said he has one dunk that he feels pretty good about, saying that no one has ever seen that one. He also said he'll be employing Baron Davis for a little help and that they practiced the dunk Thursday night and that he was "surprised at how well it went."

• Kevin Durant started a lot of chatter after he called Miami forward Chris Bosh a "fake tough guy" a couple weeks ago. I asked Bosh if it's been awkward seeing Durant this weekend and Bosh joked about the two getting together for an NBA Cares event. "His comments after a game, I've made bad comments after a game before. Or I've made comments that I wanted to take back or just something that I felt very strongly about and just said it the wrong way. Sometimes after a game, especially a close one, it can be the wrong time to ask a guy something like that but it's the nature of the business."

• James Harden who is town replacing Tyreke Evans in the Rookie Challenge makes it four Thunder players participating in All-Star Weekend. And with Durant in the 3-point contest, Russell Westbrook in the Skill Competition, Serge Ibaka in the dunk contest plus Ibaka and Harden in the Rookie game with Westbrook and Durant in the All-Star Game, someone from OKC is in every event. "Thunder up, Thunder up," Harden said. "That was the whole objective, that was key. We didn't really worry about the individual statistics because we're all a family over there but it's great to be rewarded for your accomplishments so I'm excited for everyone to be here. As for a Thunder sweep? "That would be a good look," Harden said. "We could go back to our city with something to carry home."

James Harden replaces Tyreke Evans in Rookies-Sophomores game.
Posted by Matt Moore

The NBA announced today that James Harden will replace Tyreke Evans in the Rookies-Sophomores game (the "T-Mobile Rookie Challenge") on Friday.  The announcement is no big surprise considering Evans' injury history this season. He's suffering with plantar fasciitis, which doesn't really heal except with time and rest, two things not afforded franchise point guards.  Evans has missed the past two games for the Kings with the injury, and realized he needed the time off to try and get a leg-up, so to speak, on rest for the second half of the season. 

For Harden, he should have probably been on the squad in the first place. Harden's numbers are pedestrian (10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), but he's the composite role player, who defends, hits from the perimeter and helps the Oklahoma City offense function to the best of its ability. Plus, he's got that sweet beard. 

The advantage was thought to lie with the rookies regardless, due to, well... Blake Griffin. But with Evans out, the weight shifts even more significantly to the Rookies' advantage. But on the flip side, this is a huge opportunity for Stephen Curry to step up, or, please, Lord, Brandon Jennings to show something comparable to the potential he showed in the first half of last season. 

This game gets almost no play, but it also always features one player taking over in a spectacular way. Chances are it won't be Harden, but he'll still be a worthy representative. 

CBSSports.com is back with another episode of fantasy hoops analysis, focusing this week on who you might pick up off of the waiver wire. Posted by Ben Golliver.  CBSSports.com's Sergio Gonzalez always brings the Heat when it comes to fantasy hoops advice, and this week is no exception. In an interview with Lauren Shehadi, Gonzalez breaks down which NBA players might be available on your waiver wire and should be considered for a pickup. Just click here or watch the video below. Gonzalez listed Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden, Milwaukee Bucks guards Earl Boykins and Keyon Dooling, Toronto Raptors forward Linas Kleiza, Phoenix Suns wing Jared Dudley and center Marcin Gortat, and Sacramento Kings big man Samuel Dalembert.  Also this week, Gonzalez and Shehadi break down who you should start and sit in your fantasy lineups. 

Posted by Royce Young

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Not often do you see someone with 44 points completely take over a game in the fourth quarter, despite only taking two shots.

But that's exactly what Kevin Durant did for the Thunder in Oklahoma City's 114-106 Christmas Day win over the Nuggets.

When I say "take over," I don't just mean that he dominated the ball and forced the defense to adjust to him. Point guards can do that all the time. But after Durant dropped 21 in the third quarter to give him 40 going into the fourth, Denver made the natural adjustment to double him every time he touched it, no matter where he touched it.

The Nuggets wanted to force someone else to beat them other than Durant by trying to take the ball out of his hands, but he beat them anyway. Just in the way they didn't expect.

Durant made every right decision when the double came, passing to cutting teammates, swinging the ball wide and setting others up almost every time down the floor. Even when the Thunder came out with an empty possession, the shot taken was still a good one.

"The only thing I was thinking was 'hockey assist'," Durant said after the game. "I just wanted to catch the ball as close as I could to the basket and go from there."

"Hockey assist" is definitely the best way to describe how he worked out of the doubles. He finished with just four assists, with only two coming in the fourth, but if this were on ice, he would've been racking up points like Sidney Crosby.

Of course Durant couldn't lie after the game though. His career-high is 47 (set two years ago against the Hornets) and with 40 entering the fourth quarter, he admitted to having 50 on his mind. But he wasn't going to get greedy on Christmas. He was fine with what he had and the only other present he wanted was a nice Thunder win under his tree.

"Back of my mind I wanted it bad, but I wanted a win worse," he said.

Not to say Durant did this all by himself. He did score 44 on a slick 14-20 shooting, but James Harden poured in 21 off the bench and Russell Westbrook added 19. It's a luxury the Thunder have. It's one thing for your star to pass out of a double-team. It's another to pass it to guys that can actually put the ball in the hold. That certainly helps.

Of course this game might've been a lot different had Carmelo Anthony been available. Anthony of course is away from the team currently after the death of his sister. But without him, Denver just didn't know where to go - on both ends. George Karl tried a number of things with Durant. The aforementioned double, the bigger Kenyon Martin, the smaller J.R. Smith, the middle-sized Arron Afflalo - obviously it didn't really work.

Wait, that's exactly what Kenyon Martin said too when asked what the Nuggets tried. "Whatever it was, obviously it didn't work. That kid's a helluva player. He can shoot the ball with unlimited range so when a guy can do that it's rough."

But not only would Anthony have provided a natural fit defensively to check Durant, but also someone to look to on the offensive end. Chauncey Billups was great with 30 points on 10-16 shooting, Ty Lawson added a solid 19 and Nene had 21, but the Nuggets were missing that go-to option late in the game. OKC outscored them 26-21 in the final frame and pulled away to hold a 12-point lead late when Denver came up empty on multiple trips.

For the Thunder, it's a nice bounce-back win after dropping a sloppy loss to the Knicks last Wednesday. For the Nuggets, it's the third loss in four tries, but a valiant try without Anthony.

And for the Thunder's star, it was quite the gift to a sold out crowd in OKC. Not quite the 50 he was hoping for, but like Durant said, the win will do just fine.

"It's been a great Christmas already so far," Durant said. "Waking up in the morning with all my family around, opening gifts and just having the opportunity to play the game of basketball on Christmas. Not too many people get to do what they love to do, so getting to do it on Christmas Day in front of family felt great. But to get 50 would've been a cherry on top."

The Knicks triumph over Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs reaches a milestone, the Oklahoma City Thunder get highlights from their players and a fan during a blowout win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and plenty more. Posted by Ben Golliver. 

Each game is made up of elements which help formulate the outcome. Monday through Friday, we'll bring you the elements from the night before's games in our own specialized version of the game recaps. It's not everything that happened, but it's an insight into what lead to the results you'll see in the box scores. This is the Game Changer.

THE BIG ONE: CAN I PLAY ON YOUR TEAM?

After Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets finished their date with the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, it felt like, maybe, the tables have finally turned for the home team.  The Knicks narrowly prevailed in a shootout, 129-125, but they won the war of the words after the game by a landslide, when it became known that Anthony has his heart set on joining MVP candidate Amar'e Stoudemire in making New York his next basketball home. For the Knicks, it must feel like a quick reversal: so much winning so soon -- they have taken nine of their last 10 games -- and a new role as hot spot rather than also-ran suitor of top talent.  The 16-9 start for New York, which has them just four games behind conference-leading Boston, may have Knicks fans reevaluating their "get stars at any cost" strategy. A bird in hand (especially one that wins and plays exciting basketball) can be worth more than 'Melo and CP3 in a bush next year, with a potential lockout making it difficult for teams like the Knicks to bank on anything in the long-term future.  Now that it is clear that Anthony wants New York, it is negotiation time. How much of their current roster and future assets will the Knicks feel comfortable parting with? Names like Wilson Chandler, Danilo Galinari and Landry Fields are often tossed around, and while each presents reasons for Knicks fans to want to keep them around, this is a great example of how outside eyes are able to more clearly evaluate players' worth. The Knicks should feel no hesitation in trading any of those players for Anthony, and that includes Fields, the steal of the 2010 draft and one of the best values in the NBA. Hot streaks have the tendency of making the players involved look better than they are over the long haul, and 82 games of Stoudemire and Anthony makes New York a more fearsome, dynamic team, not to mention a force in the playoffs, as both players can parade to the free throw line. Falling in love with role players (Landry Fields is untouchable!) and counting eggs before they hatch (we'll just sign Carmelo this summer!) are two of the easiest ways to lose sight of the big picture when it comes to roster building. Do what it takes to secure Anthony now, and then get to work on filling in the smaller holes that a trade for him would create.

GO-GO-GADGET LINES OF THE NIGHT:

Raymond Felton: 19 points, 17 assists, three rebounds on 7-15 shooting in 45 minutes in a New York Knicks home win over the Denver Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony: 31 points, 13 rebounds, three assists on 11-27 shooting in 37 minutes in a Denver Nuggets road loss to the New York Knicks. Devin Harris: 16 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists in 37 minutes in a New Jersey Nets home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Blake Griffin: 27 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block in 42 minutes in a Los Angeles Clippers home loss to the Orlando Magic.

DON'T MISS:

• Ken Berger has the latest on Carmelo Anthony from his weekend in New York City.
• Matt Moore writes that Anthony is playing some of the same cards that LeBron James did.
• Carmelo did state, directly, that he wants a contract extension this year.
• Royce Young takes a look at a frustrated Brandon Roy.

DOMINANT DUNCAN:

The San Antonio Spurs rolled off a methodical dismantling of the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, pulling away for an easy 95-78 home win. There wasn't much unusual about the event: the Spurs played tight, aggressive defense and they moved the ball well, supplementing their team-first attack with some points in transition. It was so thorough a victory that the Spurs were able to rest franchise big man Tim Duncan late, a nice cherry on top of San Antonio's league-leading 20th victory of the season. Duncan hit a milestone on Sunday, playing in the 1,000th regular season game. And in quotes from MySanAntonio.com, he sounds a bit wistful in his old age when he was made aware of the feat. “I would rather not be told that," Duncan was quoted as saying. "I’ve played for a long time and I’m getting really old. I wish I’d only played 10 (games) and still have 1,000 more in front of me.” The rest of the league shudders at the thought of Duncan playing another 1,000 games, given that he won 707 of his first 1,000 games, an astonishing total. While his production has declined ever so slightly in recent years owing to fewer minutes -- this could be the first year of his career that Duncan doesn't average a double-double and he's averaging a career-low 28.8 minutes pr game -- the wins continue to pile up. The Spurs are shaping up to be a serious contender, health permitting.  Not bad for a team lead by a really old guy.

WHIMSY:

New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee is the happiest man in the world: the Knicks are winning, Carmelo Anthony wants in and MSG is rocking like the good old days.

WELCOME TO MY POSTER:

Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden catches Cleveland Cavaliers forward J.J. Hickson about as flush as it gets. Harden throws down a vicious left-handed dunk right on Harden's head in transition, earning the and-one in the process and causing teammate Russell Westbrook to geek out on the sideline.

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN:

Oklahoma City Thunder fan Robert Yanders hit the shot of the weekend, nailing a halfcourt heave between the first and second quarters of OKC's Sunday win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to win $20,000. Turns out Yanders is a bit of a ringer, but still an amazing shot.

PARTING THOUGHT:

Former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen is the only NBA player to win more games in his first 1,000 than Duncan. Pippen won 715, barely besting Duncan's 707. Via MySanAntonio.com.

Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant got a chance to meet the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Posted by Ben Golliver. 
Just because Kevin Durant has risen to become the best professional basketball player in the world -- yeah, I said it -- doesn't mean his life story has stopped being one Hallmark card after another.  In this must-read NewsOK.com piece, we get a great glimpse at Durant, the person, and a thorough follow-up on what was one of the more interesting stories of the summer.  Back in August, Barack Obama, the President of the Unites States, and a huge basketball junkie, hosted NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade for a birthday basketball game.  Once word got out, Durant, who hails from the greater-DC area and was the key piece on this summer's Team USA World Championship gold medal winning team, made it known on his Twitter account that he wished he could have been there. One thing led to another and in September Durant got to meet Obama for an informal game of pickup hoops.

"It was a good feeling to meet the president," Durant said. "Of course I always wanted to do that. Me being from D.C., it was pretty cool to see him. I was excited to get that opportunity. It's something I'm always going to remember."

The day happened to be one day after Durant's grandmother's 63rd birthday. And Barbara Davis received an unexpected and unforgettable birthday gift. She accompanied Durant and Durant's mother, Wanda Pratt, to the Commander in Chief's home court. "She's been in D.C. for 60 years and never got to meet the president," Durant said. "Now we have the first African-American president, and that felt good for me to give her that opportunity."

Durant also invited teammates Eric Maynor and James Harden to get in on the presidential treatment, and both left awe-struck and sworn to secrecy by Durant, who reportedly wanted to keep the meeting private. What a story. It begs just one question: Who snubbed Durant in the first place? Can we elect that person out of office, please?

Posted by Royce Young

Look out, NBA. It's beginning to sound like The Durantula is nearly fully operational.

Kevin Durant has worked hard - very hard - at improving his overall game. He was known as a scorer coming into the league but two years ago, he committed to getting better defensively. And he did. Then this past summer is was about passing and handling the ball. And by all accounts, he's starting to round out.

For instance, last season, Durant played a good amount of power forward as well as his normal small forward and some shooting guard. Over the summer in Turkey, Coach K used Durant some at center. And Friday against the Heat, Durant played all five positions. That's right, from 6'10 small forward to a 6'10 point guard. Scary.

"I think that I have an advantage with my quickness against some (power forwards)," Durant told The Oklahoman. "It's going to be tougher for me on the defensive end because they're stronger and bigger than me... But I just got to make up for being skinny with my heart. And with me being a point guard... I got to try to make the right play. I'm still working on that. I've got to watch more film to try to make the right play. But all I can say is I'm going to try to work on it."

One of the things Sam Presti has worked very hard to do in Oklahoma City is to create a breathing roster, that's flexible and versatile at every position. He wants players that can move and flow within multiple positions. Russell Westbrook can play both guard spots. Jeff Green can play both forwards. Serge Ibaka can play power forward and center. Thabo Sefolosha goes between multiple spots. And Durant can evidently handle all five.

What's the benefit of this for the Thunder? For starters, matchups. How does an opponent go about lining up against a group of Durant, James Harden, Green, Ibaka and Cole Aldrich? Or what about a linuep with Russell Westbrook, Harden, Green, Ibaka, Durant? Or the fact that Scott Brooks could potentially flip Durant from the point to the post on alternating possessions. That makes this Thunder team a tough group to gameplan for.

Of course this isn't a good thing if Durant's not effective. Against the Heat, KD wasn't all that wonderful playing the 5. He's a little light on the muscular fortitude to be completely capable of pushing against Andrew Bynum or Dwight Howard. But still, OKC has that option.

Positionality has been a fun discussion amongst NBA people over the past few seasons. Is there really a need for defined positions? What is a power forward? What really is a point guard? Does it even matter? And with the Thunder, they're just taking that and turning it around. Sure, there are positions. Our guys just happen to play all five of them.