Making The Most of Things: The highly-touted Miami HEAT won’t be breaking any of the major regular season records this year as some predicted during the summer. The 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls’ 72-10 mark isn’t in danger, by the HEAT at least, and with 39 games left in the season the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers should feel pretty safe about their 33-game winning streak holding strong. First place in the Eastern Conference could even be out of reach with the Boston Celtics looking good and currently possessing a three game lead.

Injuries and a slow start have held the HEAT back from having a regular season for the ages, but ironically enough those setbacks could end up being what helps make the postseason much more memorable.

"Having some of these injuries actually is allowing us to play some different lineups that we had been planning on playing in shorts bursts," said HEAT head coach Erik Spoelstra. "It just forced my hand earlier on and we are having to learn what is effective and what is not and one of the things that we have learned right now is Chris has been a crutch, a bailout for us. He has arguably been our most important player right now and when he was taken out of our lineup with the injury it really affected our rhythm offensively because we have always have able to play our offense through him when we need to and it facilitates ball movement and getting other people involved and because of his skillset we can do it in different ways. We can play through him in the post, we have our whole offense running through the high post through him and of course run all the pick-and-rolls with him through it back.

"You take that element out and we are having to explore new things and quite frankly there are a lot of lineups and combinations that we had the other night that have never been on the floor together but I think it is good for us and we are going to need that in the next 40 games as we get into the playoffs."

Spoelstra also sees a benefit in the hard times the team experienced early on when they were just over .500 and his job security was in serious question.

"I think sometimes crises and conflict is good," said Spoelstra. "It is inevitable in this league. We are around each other way too much. It is a long season. Hopefully it is eight or nine months for us and it is natural. Human nature, human condition when you are going through a lot of highs and lows and travels and tough schedules, and then all of the media speculations and this is extreme with this team.

"As much as we prepared for it and thought we were ready for it in July, August, September, you never know what it is like until you are in the storm. I like those times, but you gain the most ground when it is tough but you also feel uncomfortable as a coach when everything is going well. At the end of December for us we had won so many games in a row that we were starting to get a little bit stale, a little flat that you could see this was coming, what has happened to us in the last 10 days."

Everyone completely overreacted earlier in the season when the HEAT were having trouble only to see them bounce back quickly with authority. They’ve proven to be resilient and there’s no reason to think they won’t be right back on the contending track once everyone is healthy. In the meantime what they’re learning about themselves could be the key to getting through the East and it wouldn’t have happened had they not encountered some bad luck. 

Remembering History: Tomorrow will be the five-year anniversary of Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant’s historical eruption against the Toronto Raptors. At one point Kobe’s Lakers, who were a fringe playoff team at the time, trailed Toronto by 16, forcing Kobe to go into a zone that we’ve only see all-time great Wilt Chamberlain enter.

{AUTHOR_BOX}Kobe dropped 55 points in the second half and finished with 81 as his Lakers topped Toronto 122-104 in an individual effort that may never be topped.

"I just remember we were down 16 points to a bad Raptors team and we had just lost I think to Houston the game before and it was just kind of doom and gloom," remembered Kobe in a conversation with ESPNLosAngeles.com. "We needed to win and I just got hot.

"That game we needed to win. We kind of broke away towards the end there, but it was a tough one for us."

While that game has been highly discussed and will be remembered forever, Kobe revealed an interesting tidbit regarding the contest that hadn’t been known before:

"That was the first game and only game my grandmother has ever been to in the NBA and it was my grandfather’s birthday that had passed away," said Bryant. "So there was a lot of things at work."

Currently caught up in the chase of his sixth championship, which would tie him with his idol Michael Jordan, Bryant rarely looks back on his explosive performance. Instead, he leaves that to us.

"I really don’t think about it too much," admitted Bryant. "I still don’t know how the hell it happened, to be honest with you. It’s just one of those things, I guess."

Just one of those things? More like greatness.

Ajinca Trade Hits Snag: Some problems have surfaced in the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks’ efforts to complete a trade for Alexis Ajinca in order to free up a roster spot in Dallas for the recently-released Peja Stojakovic.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com several NBA teams have complained to the league about the Mavericks and Raptors using two separate transactions to trade Stajakovic for Ajinca – illegal under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The quickness in which Dallas was able to secure a commitment from Peja seemed awfully fishy, but Stein reveals that the Mavericks were granted permission by Toronto to talk to Peja’s agent after forward Caron Butler went down with an injury because a buyout was said to be inevitable.

In the case that the trade is vetoed by the league Dallas would have to waive a player to make room for Peja, who will officially clear waivers on Monday.

Ultimately this is nothing more than a minor story involving two pretty irrelevant players, but it goes to show just how much of a watchful eye NBA teams have on each other. Following the rules is extremely important because if a transaction of this magnitude is held up then any one could be if the proper steps aren’t taken.

Thomas’ Surgery Successful: Bobcats forward Tyrus Thomas today underwent successful surgery to repair a tear of the lateral meniscus of the left knee.  The surgery was performed by team physician Dr. Glenn Perry at Midtown Surgery Center in Charlotte.  

Thomas will be on crutches through the weekend and will begin rehabilitation on Monday.  He is expected to be out for approximately eight weeks.

Twitter: The 2010-2011 season is here and HOOPSWORLD is going to have a much larger presence on twitter. If you aren’t following all of our experts you’re missing out on some of the most-up-to-date information in both the NBA and NCAA along with breaking news and great insight. HOOPSWORLD’s twitter team consists of Yannis Koutroupis, Steve Kyler, Bill Ingram, Alex Kennedy, Eric Pincus, Lang Greene, Jason Fleming, Tommy Beer, Luke Byrnes, Alex Raskin, and Joel Brigham.

NBA Chats: Chat wraps from earlier today are available from myself and Alex Kennedy. Susan Bible hosts her weekly chat tomorrow, you can get your questions into her here. As always you can also checkout our entire upcoming chat schedule.