Dwyane Wade

Lakers today vs. Miami When: 2 p.m. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Ch. 7; Radio: 710, 1330. Records: Lakers 21-8, Heat 22-9. Record vs. Heat (2009-10): 1-1. Update: Dwyane Wade sat out Miami's 95-83 victory Thursday against Phoenix because of a sore knee but is expected to play against the Lakers. Miami hasn't beaten the Lakers at Staples Center since Dec. 25, 2004, when Shaquille O'Neal had 24 points and 11 rebounds in his first game against the Lakers after being traded by them five months earlier.

Hours after the opening of the richest swap meet in sports history, the most valuable trinket is already gone. I don't care who signs LeBron James, it won't be the NBA's best team now that Phil Jackson is back with the Lakers. Moments into the summer of flying young millionaires, the most important money has already gone to the old guy who can barely walk. I don't care if one team is dynamic enough to sign the duo of Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, it won't be favored over Phil Jackson's Lakers.

Goodbye, Golden Child. Ending the greatest recruiting war in NBA history — and his career-long honeymoon — LeBron James announced Thursday he'll sign with the Miami Heat, creating the most controversial team since Shaquille O'Neal met Kobe Bryant and leaving a smoking crater in Cleveland. In so doing, James did everything skeptics said he wouldn't. He didn't go for the most money, spurning $128 million in Cleveland for $99 million in Miami. He didn't insist on having his own team.

The Lakers know about opponents devising defensive schemes to deal with Kobe Bryant. Well, the Lakers find themselves in the same situation, putting together a game plan to slow down Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade. "We have to think about playing a zone," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "We worked on a zone today. We worked on full-court pressure today. You can see our guys in a total sweat."

Miami 99, at Orlando 98: Michael Beasley dunked a missed shot by Dwyane Wade with 1.6 seconds remaining to lift the Heat over the Magic. at Portland 93, New Jersey 83: The Nets lost their 15th straight game to start the season, two shy of the NBA record. at New Orleans 102, Milwaukee 99 (OT): David West had 27 points and 10 rebounds and the Hornets won in overtime. New Orleans' Darren Collison scored 18 points. at Phoenix 126, Memphis 111: Amare Stoudemire scored 18 of his 28 points in the third quarter for the Suns.

Reporting from Miami Dirk Nowitzki threw a fist in the air and flashed the smile he had been waiting 13 years to display. After shouldering much of the blame for years of Dallas disappointments, he will finally have his ring and vindication. Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks claimed their first championship with a 105-95 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. They did it by winning the last three games, including the clincher in Miami. "I couldn't believe it," Nowitzki said when he realized victory was assured.

Imagine a basketball team whose three biggest stars have sacrificed money and ego to assemble on one team for the sole intent of winning a championship. Two of those stars' craving for a title was such that they left homes they loved and fans who loved them. The third star made an equally difficult move by stepping aside and welcoming them. Imagine this collection of players then playing an entire season under a national microscope unmatched in the history of team sports. Every itch is documented, every scratch is scrutinized, every star is questioned about every public act, every day is another chance for them to embarrass or enrage.

The Miami Heat players were given a day off, which was a good thing for them. Their workdays haven't been going so well. After smacking into their first two-game losing streak since March, Heat players landed back in Miami on Friday with a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. One of their stars is limping (Dwyane Wade, bruised hip) and the other keeps facing questions of shrinking in the fourth quarter and struggling under the pressure of the Finals (LeBron James, bruised ego)

The Miami Heat has bigger problems than the disappearance of LeBron James. The entire team has gone missing. Just when it looked like it couldn't get any worse, it did, Dwyane Wade limping in and out of the lineup as the Heat moved within a loss of Miami mourning. In the series that won't stop spitting out subplots, the Dallas Mavericks kept taking it to the Heat, this time a 112-103 victory Thursday for a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks are a victory away from the first championship of their 31-year existence.

Dwyane Wade decided two overtimes were enough, in emphatic fashion. Miami's MVP candidate stole the ball from John Salmons with four seconds left, then made a running three-point shot as time expired to lift the Heat to a wild 130-127 double-overtime win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Wade -- who finished with 48 points and 12 assists in 49 minutes, shooting 15 for 21 from the field -- made a three-pointer at the end of the first half, then again at the end of regulation.