In the lane

SPEAKING OF: Ryan Anderson, he was with the Rockets for their final exhibition game in Miami and will be back next Sunday, when Houston makes its lone regular-season visit. During his preseason visit to American-Airlines Arena he noted that his son, Karter James Anderson, was born in Miami during the Heat’s final game of last season. “He was born within an hour of when the season ended,” the affable forward told the Houston Chronicle. “My kid was born and the season was over. It’s kind of cool.”

FIRST IMPRESSION: To say the Trail Blazers were impressed with Hassan

Whiteside’s opening act would be an understatement after the former Heat center closed with 16 points and 19 rebounds in a loss to the Denver Nuggets. It was his fourth consecutive opening-night double-double. “He’s a big dude — long arms,” Blazers guard

Damian Lillard said. “I told him that’s the type of impact we’re going to need from him every night.” Whiteside followed up with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and nine rebounds in a victory over the Sacramento Kings.

NEXT STEP: The Big Three Heat became the championship Heat only when Chris Bosh put aside his concerns about playing center and moved into the middle. He said the same has to become the case now for Anthony

Davis alongside LeBron James with the Lakers. “I know he doesn’t want to do that; I didn’t want to do it either,” Bosh said on FSI’s First Things First. “But buying into it back then really helped out the team. He just has to find his spots when he’s at the five because he’s going to be dangerous.”

BEING RAY: While Ray Allen was kind enough Wednesday to step to the spot at American-Airlines Arena where he hit The Shot to tie Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, he wasn’t necessarily at the game against the Memphis Grizzlies because of his Heat championship ties. Instead, it was because of longtime ties to Tee Morant, father of Grizzlies rookie

Ja Morant. The older Morant and Allen trace their basketball ties back to their time as prep teammates in South Carolina. “We always were finding a place to play basketball, and that competitiveness is part of the reason why I made it to where I did in the league,” Allen told The Athletic.

END GAME: Out of the NBA since 2016-17, Chris Andersen, 41, apparently now has also retired from competition. Birdman, who won an NBA championship with the Heat in 2013, has stepped away from the Big3 half-court league after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament this past season. He was a former defensive player of the year in that circuit and played for 2018 Big3 championships team Power.