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» Wednesday, February 8 2012

Shortly after the dunk, James tweeted, “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” James was referring to his alley-oop dunk he threw down after jumping over Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III a day earlier. “You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting,” Perkins said. “You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play. “They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him.” Yahoo! Sports

 

» Tuesday, February 7 2012

Erik Spoelstra stopped short of saying Mickell Gladness could possibly be brought back on a 10-day contract. Instead mentioned how it creates "flexibility" with Heat now one below the roster limit. Sulia

The Miami Heat announced on Tuesday afternoon that they had waived center Mickell Gladness. The move came in advance of the 6pm deadline for guaranteed roster spots. Gladness was one of three players to have non-guaranteed contracts, along with fellow rookie Terrel Harris and center Eddy Curry, both of whom the Heat are expected to hang on to. Peninsula Is Mightier

 

» Monday, February 6 2012

With Shane Battier going 0 of 4 from the field Sunday, his shooting percentage on the season dropped to 31.3 percent, the lowest of his career. Battier is heralded for his defensive prowess, but he hasn’t been able to contribute much recently on the other end of the court. Not only is Battier adjusting to a new offense, he is only averaging 23 minutes per game, also a career low. “I’m struggling with the age old question of when to pass and when to shoot,” Battier said. “That’s the basic philosophy on offense. The great Hubie Brown said, ‘Know when to pass, know when to shoot,’ and I’m finding a way to mess that up.” Miami Herald

 

» Saturday, February 4 2012

The ABA was known for its craziness. Many observers believe the Floridians were the wackiest gang of all. When he took over as owner, Doyle also unveiled the Floridians ball girls. He hired five young women who wore bikinis during games to excite the crowd and distract opponents. "They used to stand underneath the basket when the other team would shoot free throws," Calvin, who led the Floridians in scoring with a 27.2 average in 1970-71 and a 21.0 average in 1971-72, said from his home in New Orleans. "They'd turn their butt around and wiggle any part of the body. And it worked." FOXSports Florida

The ball girls would make trips with the team. One was to a game at Dec. 23, 1971 game against the Carolina Cougars at New York's Madison Square Garden, where the girls got far more publicity than either of the teams. Newspapers ran photos of them and one paper's headline screamed, "Ball girls invade Garden." "When we went to New York, seeing these tanned bikini-clad blondes just caused so much excitement," Cindy said in a 1978 interview about the trip just before Christmas, which featured three of the girls popping out of Santa Claus' bag before the game. FOXSports Florida

At home games, the Floridians had promotions in which they gave away pairs of pantyhouse to the first 500 women attendance. At Thanksgiving, fans could win live turkeys. There also were giveaways of 15 pounds of smoked fish, 57 pounds of Irish potatoes and 53 pumpkin pies. Promotions included cow-milking and snake-handling contests and a man wrestling a bear. Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian was brought in to try to kick a ball through the hoop. But it didn't help attendance much. With South Florida games being played at the Miami Beach Convention Center or at Miami College, the team was lucky to get 2,000 fans. Some crowds were below 1,000. "It was sparse," Ira Harge, a rugged center for the Floridians, said from his home in Albuquerque, N.M. "But one of the good things was you could just go up and interact with the fans." FOXSports Florida

The attendance was so miserable at Miami Dade College for a televised playoff game against the Virginia Squires in 1972 that action had to be taken. "We played the Virginia Squires when they had Dr. J.," said Calvin, referring to Julius Erving's gang sweeping a first-round series 4-0 in what would turn out to be final games in Floridians' history. "They wanted to make it look like it was a full house so had all the fans sit one on one side." As for Doyle, Calvin said he always would be at the same place for game. "He stayed drunk," Calvin said. "He would sit at the scorer's table and drink his scotch." FOXSports Florida

 

» Friday, February 3 2012

Charles Barkley actually argued in favor of Bosh for an East forward starting spot, over fan choice Carmelo Anthony. Shaquille O’Neal, until pressed, didn’t even include Bosh as one of his reserve picks. “I thought it was something else,” Bosh said of the way his friend described it. “It was funny.” Did Bosh ever think Barkley would support him? “No, no,” Bosh said. “To be honest with you, no. But it’s cool. I must be doing OK.” Palm Beach Post

No need to use Google when Shane Battier is standing nearby. If Miami Heat players need a question answered, they turn to Battier, their versatile forward — versatile, that is, with his knowledge. “He’s probably the No. 1 smartest basketball player and person I’ve been around,” said Heat forward LeBron James. “He knows everything.” FOXSports Florida

During a recent practice, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was drilling his players. He asked if anybody knew the width of the court. After seeing some blank stares, Spoelstra turned to Battier. “He said, ‘I don’t know.’ And he goes, ’50?’ Spoestra said. “And the guys gave him a hard time that even when he doesn’t know the answer he gets it.” FOXSports Florida

Dwyane Wade is 30 now. That’s not the age, in basketball terms, to start experimenting with acrobatic slams, especially those that don’t help your team. Still, why did he never participate in the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in his 20s? “You don’t want to see me in that. I’m not a Slam Dunk kind of person. I’m a game dunker. I’m not creative enough. I don’t jump as high as those guys, or do all these things in the air that they can do. No one wants to see me in there. That’s why I have never raised my eyebrow to being in the dunk contest.” Palm Beach Post

 
 

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