The Miami Heat’s loss in Chicago on Wednesday was their first defeat in nearly two months and snapped a 27-game win streak.

Miami had needed just seven more wins to beat the all-time NBA mark of 33 consecutive wins held by the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers.

Despite falling short in their history bid, Miami should be praised and respected by basketball fans around the world.

The NBA has long been criticized for teams not taking the regular season seriously enough, and only kicking into gear come the post-season. Even casual basketball fans often admit to bypassing most of the mid-season games and tuning in once the play-offs begin.

LeBron James, coming off a first career Championship last season, has proved that regular season basketball does mean something.

In arguably the best form of his career, James inspired his team to give it their all - night-in and night-out for the best part of two months.

During that remarkable stretch, the Heat won at Oklahoma City - the team they beat in last year’s Finals - overcame a 27-point deficit in Cleveland (LeBron’s former team) and held on in Boston despite a 43-point performance from Jeff Green of the Celtics.

Yes, Miami faced bad teams during the win streak as well, but there’s something to be said for a good team actually beating the teams it’s supposed to beat.

That’s not as easy as it sounds.

Just look back at San Antonio (first in West) losing in Minnesota (13th in West) earlier this month.

In the end, Miami will probably win a second straight NBA title come June.

But titles are won by teams every season, and it’s not every season that you see a team leave it all on the floor over a sustained period of time.

That should not soon be forgotten by Heat fans and rivals alike.

It’s hard to be a Los Angeles Lakers fan these days.

Our team, the one that was supposed to win an NBA title this year, can barely win a game. Once we talked about posting the best record in NBA history; now we openly wonder whether we’ll post a winning record at all.

Still, I don’t expect any sympathy.

This is what it’s like to be a fan of the Lakers: You are over three times more likely to see your team win the NBA title than miss the playoffs entirely.

Almost half of our seasons have ended in June, at the NBA Finals; this year, our season could end in April.

We’re spoiled by success. And that success is fuelled by a franchise that has consistently made the right moves at the right time.

There were the aggressive trades that brought in Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pau Gasol. The inspired drafts of Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Magic Johnson. The signing of free agent Shaquille O’Neal.

And then there was the time the Lakers took a chance on a skinny 17 year-old who came to the NBA straight out of high school: Kobe Bryant.

That is why, when I worry about my Lakers, rival fans show absolutely no sympathy. The Lakers, they sigh, always find a way to win.

Except, this time, I don’t really see one. Not an easy one, anyway.

What can the Lakers do? Standard practice when a team in any sport is struggling is, of course, to fire the coach. But the Lakers already did that: Mike Brown was fired just five games into the season and replaced with Mike D’Antoni.

How about a big trade? For months now, there has been talk of Pau Gasol moving on. But that suggests someone else wants Gasol badly enough to offer someone valuable in exchange. And as much as I love Pau Gasol (and I do), I struggle to see who would want an expensive 32 year-old who has declined in virtually every major statistical category this season.

No, nobody’s coming to save this team, no magic trade, no clever coaching change. This mess needs to be resolved on the court. They will somehow need to find a way to win, and win now.

The Lakers cannot afford to waste time. I do mean that literally: This line-up is too expensive to keep together. And this team is old. Kobe is in his 17th season. Steve Nash will be 39 next month.

There’s also no guarantee Dwight Howard will still be a Laker next year. Howard is a free agent after this season. It was widely assumed that he would sign a new deal with the Lakers and become the leader of the franchise when Kobe retires in the next few seasons.
But given the mess the Lakers are currently in, could you blame Howard for finding a better situation?

When Howard joined the Lakers in the summer, we thought we had a team that was ready to make history.

Sadly, we were right: In over sixty years as an NBA franchise, the Lakers have missed the playoffs just five times. This could be the year we make it six.

The Los Angeles Lakers' management baffled their own fans when they decided to look past former coach Phil Jackson and instead hire Mike D’Antoni as the new team coach.

After all, Jackson has won a record eleven titles as coach (five with the Lakers) while D’Antoni has reached the playoffs just five times in his 10 seasons as a head coach.

The argument should be over here. Jackson wins over D’Antoni 11-0. Period.

But for argument’s sake, let’s see what possibly would have led Jerry and son Jim Buss to go with the latter.

D’Antoni is very familiar with Lakers' Steve Nash, who he coached in Phoenix for four years – with the point guard twice winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award in that time.

The new coach also has ties with superstar Kobe Bryant, who grew up in Italy when his father played alongside D’Antoni in the country’s professional league.

Bryant said he admired D’Antoni’s play when he was young and both were also part of Team USA in recent years.

But what was probably most important to the Lakers' management is D’Antoni being known as a fast-paced, high octane offense coach.

His teams run up and down the court, play unselfish basketball and put up a ton of points.

That should be music to the ears of the team's fans considering the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980’s won five titles playing exactly that style.

However, there is still plenty of reason to worry.

The Lakers feature plenty of superstars like Bryant, Nash and Dwight Howard who will be expected to execute D’Antoni’s offense.

But Bryant, 34, and Nash, 38, are a few years removed from their prime.

Howard, who turns 27 in December, is a rebounding machine, but isn’t a day-in day-out explosive scorer.

It’s hard to see this Lakers team scoring at the rate D’Antoni would like them to.

Even if they do, they won’t defend at the level needed to win in the playoffs.

D’Antoni’s previous teams in Phoenix and New York were often at or near the top of the league in offensive statistics, but in each of those seasons they were one of the worst defensive teams.

The old saying is that defense wins championships. Maybe that’s why D’Antoni’s best teams never reached the NBA Finals. Maybe that’s why his teams lost more games than they won in the playoffs.

A new era is about to begin in Los Angeles. While it is possible that the Lakers will be a more entertaining, high-scoring team under D’Antoni, they won’t be winning any titles any time soon.

That’s because before D'Antoni was hired, the Lakers' management decided to pass up on a man who knows a thing or two about winning championships.

Back during his unveiling with Miami in July 2010, LeBron James promised Heat fans he would bring them “not two, not three… not seven” but maybe even more NBA championships.

While seven or eight may be a stretch, “King James” delivered at least one after the Heat ousted the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the NBA Finals. After all, you need to win one to get to eight, right?

It took James until his ninth season to claim his maiden title. But this victory could open the floodgates. It’s not just that he won, it is how he won.

LeBron has always posted incredible numbers during his career. But statistics do not always tell the whole story. That’s why, despite being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the third time this season, critics still took shots at his inability to perform when the chips were down.

Critics pointed to his final playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2010, which included a 32-point home loss at the hands of the Boston Celtics, where James was accused of melting under the pressure.

They also said LeBron shied away from taking the big shot during last season’s Finals, which saw Miami blow a 2-1 series lead as the Dallas Mavericks claimed the title.

This time around, Miami took care of business, and it was with LeBron as the focal point. He was relentless from start to finish. In a team which also boasts superstar Dwyane Wade, James made clear that he would defer to no one. “King James” would earn his crown on his own.

James averaged more than 30 points per game during this season’s playoff run, including a 30-point first half in Boston. He would finish with 45 points in that game, as the Heat avoided elimination and went on to win the series.

Coincidentally, that 30-point first half happened a day after NBA legend and basketball analyst Charles Barkley pleaded for LeBron to put the Heat on his back and carry them to the Promised Land.

“King James” did just that. And by putting the Heat on his back en route to the title, he got the monkey off of it. The critics are a thing of the past. What does the future hold? Miami fans hope not two, not three… not seven, but maybe more titles for “King James.”

"I don't want to retire." Those are the words of one of the greatest free agents that the National Football League has ever seen.

Emotions flowed on Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana as the Colts and quarterback Peyton Manning officially parted ways. Yes, the Colts released their best player.

The tears that were shed by Manning and team owner Jim Irsay were real as the two men faced the "business" realities of the NFL, all the while reminiscing about their 14 years together.

Can Manning still play? There's little doubt about it, despite undergoing a series of sensitive neck surgeries. Now he'll have to prove to new suitors that he can indeed throw the football with efficiency and, more importantly, prove that he's healthy.

Both Manning and Irsay said during their emotional news conference that it was never about money. But a $28 million bonus loomed large that would have triggered the last four years of a five-year, $90 million contract Manning signed in 2011.

The Colts want to rebuild and go in a different direction, which appears to be riding on "luck" – as in Andrew Luck. He's the talented Stanford University quarterback that the Colts are expected to draft next month as the top overall pick. Manning, on the other hand, is about to turn 36 years of age – and therein lies the conflict.

Manning told reporters that he moves on from Indianapolis with nothing to prove. But the competitive fire obviously burns, and we've seen how that can translate into success on the field. Remember how well Brett Favre played in Minnesota after Green Bay decided to go in a different direction with Aaron Rodgers?

Manning has won a Super Bowl. He's been a Colt almost his entire adult life. He's been a class act who even took time to speak directly to the Colts' fans and thank them for the support he's received through the years.

Manning said it: "Nothing lasts forever." Now comes the question: what's next?

While the future for Peyton Manning is uncertain, this is known. The next touchdown pass he throws, for whichever team he joins next, will be the 400th of his career.

In reality, the future looks bright for both Manning and the Colts. Just not together, which makes this parting of ways enough to shed a tear or two.

It's called the Super Bowl, but there's no guarantee that American football's showcase event will be a super show. Fortunately, the game that crowned the 2012 NFL champion here in Indianapolis on Sunday did live up to its much-hyped moniker.

Even if you don't support either the New England Patriots or the New York Giants, it was easy to get caught up in the high drama that was Super Bowl XLVI.

From the strange start – which saw Tom Brady call for intentional grounding in the end zone and led to a rare Super Bowl safety – to the Patriots quarterback needing to aim for the same end zone as time expired in order to pull off a game-saving comeback that never materialized ... this Super Bowl had it all.

It had the Material Girl, Madonna, putting on a show that transported 68,000 fans in Lucas Oil Stadium and billions around the world back to the 1990s.

Speaking of shows, if Giants star Eli Manning wasn't considered an elite quarterback before, he is now. In August of last year, Manning was asked by a reporter if he considered himself among the NFL's elite signal-callers. When he unabashedly said that he believed he was in that same class, some eyebrows were raised.

Those same doubters were left to marvel at the talents of a young man who engineered his seventh four-quarter comeback of the season in the game that mattered most. Manning will never soak in the adulation as an individual, saying that he's all about the team, but his second Super Bowl MVP Award can do the talking for him.

The game ended up being the icing on a cake that was being crafted throughout the week in the Super Bowl city.

The people of Indianapolis should be proud of what their community pulled off. The 12th biggest city in the U.S. was living large during Super Bowl week and it deserved a handsome payoff.

Will the NFL decide to hold its championship game here again? That will be left up to the league's power brokers.

When it comes down to it, it's the people that make an event like this so special. Hoosier Hospitality, as it's called, is a way of life for the good folks who make this city their home. Indianapolis rolled out the welcome mat and we're better off for coming through the door!

The Super Bowl long ago became another holiday in the USA, bringing people together to enjoy the super-hyped finale to the NFL season. While families gather for Christmas and Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl gives Americans a chance to party with friends.

To gauge how highly Americans think of this event, it’s important to note that each Super Bowl is numbered by Roman numerals. In Sunday’s XLVI edition (that’s Super Bowl 46 for you non-history majors), the New England Patriots clash with the New York Giants in what is called one of the best matchups in recent memory.

The game is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII (42), when Eli Manning and the Giants spoiled the 18-0 Patriots’ quest for a perfect season. Manning threw the winning touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in the game to give Tom Brady his only loss in four Super Bowl appearances.

Brady will hope for a different ending in his fifth trip to the NFL’s Promised Land, but will be wary of the Giant-killers from New York. The Giants sneaked into the playoffs with a 9-7 record which was good enough to win their division.

After a comfortable home win over the Atlanta Falcons, New York produced a shock by beating the defending champion Green Bay Packers on the road. Their ticket to Indianapolis was punched after an overtime victory in San Francisco against the 49ers.

The Patriots, on the other hand, rolled into the postseason on an eight-game win streak, finishing with a 13-3 record. Brady threw six touchdown passes in a home rout of Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos to set up a matchup with the Baltimore Ravens. Brady and company escaped thanks to a missed field goal by the visiting team in the closing seconds.

Now that the stage is set for a Giants-Patriots rematch, neutral fans can only hope for a good game, but are sure to make the most of the event nonetheless. At the end of the day, the play on the field itself is largely a backdrop to a number of entertaining treats throughout the Super Bowl including the funny commercials and spectacular halftime show.

Advertisers annually mark the Super Bowl on their calendar and, with more than 110 million Americans expected to tune in on Sunday, are sure to debut memorable commercials they hope will make an impression. Hope is the key word of course, as a 30-second spot will cost them $3.5 million.

Sunday’s halftime show is highlighted by Madonna, who will make her Super Bowl debut, joining an impressive list of past performers including The Rolling Stones, The Who, U2, Prince, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. The legendary pop singer has promised that there will be no wardrobe malfunction, similar to the one in 2004 when viewers got a glimpse of Janet Jackson’s chest.

The rematch between the Giants and Patriots is a mouthwatering affair that should live up to expectations. But no matter what we see on the field on Sunday, Americans will be happy to fire up the grill, prepare a pot of chili and have chips and dip ready for the occasion.

One of the biggest sporting spectacles on the planet has descended on one of the smallest U.S. cities to ever host such a grandiose event. Indianapolis is known as the "Crossroads of America" and, with a moniker like that, it only makes sense that the 12th largest city in the U.S. would get in on the action.

Super Bowl Sunday is a very American tradition that's caught the attention of many sports fans around the world. But until now, they have probably only known about this town of just over 800,000 people thanks to the Indianapolis 500 motor race. Now, Indy truly shifts into high gear!

Hosting a Super Bowl is a mammoth task and Indianapolis has shown, in the days leading up to the big game, that it's up for the challenge.

First, it's worth noting that there are many people here that won't get the chance to get anywhere near Lucas Oil Stadium to watch the New England Patriots and the New York Giants do battle for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in person on Sunday. Either they can't find a connection to get a ticket or they've simply been priced out of the game. It seems to matter not for many.

The Super Bowl is an event, and with that designation comes all of the ancillary activities. On the family-friendly front, downtown Indianapolis has turned into an American football-lovers' paradise.

The NFL Experience, an interactive maze that's taken over the convention center, is on pace to break attendance records.

The other night, with a chill in the air, I thought for a moment that I had been transported back in time and back across the U.S.- Canadian border to relive the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Thousands of people were on the streets soaking up the "super" atmosphere. Taking a page from their brethren to the north, the idea to put a Zip Line in downtown hit has been a high-altitude hit.

Once darkness falls, the party people keep this place electric. While it might not have the glitz or the glamor of New York or L.A., celebrities from those cities and many others are spicing up the usually staid Indianapolis scene. Thank the Super Bowl for awakening Indiana's state capital and shaking it out of its usual wintertime routine.

Oh yeah, speaking of the weather, it's one thing that organizers have no control over. Snow, and lots of it, could have blanketed this Midwestern city. After all, it walloped the southern metroplex of Dallas, Texas last year when Cowboys Stadium hosted the Super Bowl. It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't fun for anyone.

Indianapolis has benefited from a warmer than normal winter season and it's helped put another good face on what's shaping up to being a spectacular week. Let's hope that the Giants and the Patriots can provide the cherry on what's becoming a delicious cake that the fine folks of Indy have been cooking up with a "super" game come Sunday!

The Miami Heat chose to remain in their locker room while the Dallas Mavericks celebrated their championship at mid-court before Sunday's season-opener for both teams.

Miami then came out and burned hotter than a pine forest in mid-August, building a 35-point lead in the third quarter en route to a more than comfortable opening-day win over the team that beat them in last season’s Finals.

While the Mavericks were certainly distracted by the banner-raising ceremony prior to the game and are not as bad as the Heat made them look, there is no question that Miami’s performance on Christmas Day was the rule and not the exception going forward.

Fans, critics and pundits alike must expect Miami to dominate this lockout-shortened season.

They must expect LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and company to bury teams early and often, just as they did to the defending champions on Sunday.

Compared to last season, the Heat are deeper, healthier and obviously more experienced. Add that mix to a team that was just two wins short of a title last June, and you realize that the Heat truly is on for this campaign.

If you are an avid Heat-hater and you’re searching for any teams that may prevent "King James" from finally being crowned, look no further than the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Both the Bulls and Thunder are young, deep and are led by superstars in Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant respectively.

The rest of the contenders are nothing more than pretenders. In the East, the New York Knicks may have acquired Tyson Chandler to play alongside the dynamic duo of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, but they don’t play enough defense and don’t have enough depth to make a serious run.

The Boston Celtics have struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons mainly due to their advancing age. With the condensed season bringing lots of games in a short amount of time, I expect that trend to continue.

Miami’s in-state rivals the Orlando Magic are too distracted by Dwight Howard’s inevitable departure to be taken seriously. Howard, who becomes a free agent at the end of this season, has already been tipped for a move to either the New Jersey Nets or L.A. Lakers.

Speaking of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol don’t have the legs to run with the rest of the league’s elite. The departure of Lamar Odom to Dallas and longtime coach Phil Jackson’s retirement signal a changing of the guard not only out West, but in Los Angeles.

L.A.’s other team –- the historically woeful Clippers –- brought in Chris Paul to play alongside the high-flying Blake Griffin.

While they’re sure to be must-see TV, they need at least another season to gel and be considered a force once the postseason rolls around.

As for the San Antonio Spurs and defending champions Mavericks? Both have tremendous quality and experience, but their best days are certainly behind them. Dallas may put together one final deep playoff run, but won’t be a challenge for the Thunder or Heat.

The stage is set for LeBron to win his first NBA title. If Christmas Day’s hardwood action was any indication, then "King James" and company won’t have to stay in their locker room during next year’s season opener.

Dirk Nowitzki can’t catch a break. After taking the bulk of the blame for the Mavericks’ Finals loss to the Heat in 2006, the big German produced a brilliant performance as Dallas won their first NBA championship in 2011.

Nowitzki won the Finals "Most Valuable Player" award despite battling injury problems and illness midway through the series. But despite such efforts much of the U.S. media outside of Dallas, decided the biggest story remained LeBron James’ latest failure on the big stage.

Remember, James left Cleveland for Miami in the off-season to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for what they hoped would be a championship-winning combination. It may be in the future, but not now.

“King” James was easily the Heat’s best player during the regular season and continued his great play throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. Often labeled as a man who disappears during big moments, James shined as the Heat rolled over the Boston Celtics in the second round.

His play in the Eastern Conference finals against the team with the best regular season record – the Chicago Bulls – was even more impressive. So impressive, in fact, that former Bull Scottie Pippen went as far as saying: “James may be the greatest player to have played the game.”

Scottie went a bit far with that statement to put it mildly. Maybe he needs to take another look at the half dozen championship rings he won thanks to his former teammate Michael Jordan.

But even the harshest James critics were running out of ammunition after he led the Heat to the Finals in only his first year in South Beach. The stage was set for “The King” to finally be crowned under the bright lights. All he had to do was continue his blistering form.

And he did, at least for a game and three quarters. After the Heat won the opener, they built a 15 point fourth-quarter lead and were looking to be on their way to a commanding 2-0 series advantage.

James celebrated with Wade as if the title was already won. The Mavs were done and dusted. The next two games and change were a mere formality. But not so fast ...

The Mavericks closed the game on a mammoth run to even the series at 1-1. James was never the same after that. The killer instinct he displayed against Boston and Chicago was ancient history. Dallas won three of the next four games to clinch the title, fittingly, on the Heat’s home floor.

James didn’t just lose the Finals. He vanished into thin air without explanation. It’s one thing if he played his regular, aggressive game but simply missed shots. Instead, he became passive at the end of games. He treated the ball like a hot potato and passed it off in key moments.

“The King” averaged almost 27 points per game in the regular season, but under 18 in the Finals, which is the largest such point drop-off in NBA history. He also scored a mere total of 18 fourth-quarter points in the series. Compare that with 62 for Nowitzki.

So maybe Pippen was a bit premature in dubbing James the greatest player ever, and maybe LeBron once again fell short in his latest chance to grab that championship winners' ring. In the final analysis, he ran away from his own coronation.

The story of the Mavs winning in such dramatic style led by the brilliance of Nowitzki was certainly compelling but the melodrama of James' quest to be crowned remains the saga that rightly captivates most fans of the NBA.