IN THE LANE

BE LIKE MIAMI: Speaking of the play-in round, the success of the Heat’s climb to the NBA Finals last season has created somewhat of a rallying cry from the league’s lesser lot. That includes the Toronto Raptors, and their bid to get into the top 10 in the East. “Yeah. I played in the play-in like two years ago, so it was great,” Raptors forward Bruce Brown, the former Miami Hurricanes standout said, according to the Toronto Sun. “It was a good atmosphere. We ended up beating Cleveland when I was in Brooklyn, so it was good. We’ll definitely try to get there. I mean, we’ll definitely try to get there. You never know what happens in March. Miami was on a play-in and made it to the Finals, so you never know.” Brown does, because he was with the Nuggets against the Heat in those finals. The Heat’s final two games of the season are at home against the Raptors, which could make for compelling play if the Raptors are in play-in contention.

SIR MAXIMUS: Why, yes, you can already purchase a T-shirt commemorating the 59-foot buzzer-beating 3-pointer this past week by former Heat forward Max Strus for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Dallas Mavericks. Less than 24 hours after Strus’ game winner, the Cavaliers unveiled “1conic” merchandise, as an homage to his Cleveland jersey number, with a photo of the shot on the wardrobe items. Earlier in that fourth quarter, Strus scored 12 consecutive points on four 3-pointers in 67 seconds to draw the Cavaliers within striking distance. “That’s the Max Strus we all know,” Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell said, according to Cleveland.com. “We’ve seen it in the playoffs. We’ve seen it in the Finals. We’ve seen it in so many different ways. That’s why we got him.”

BIBBY BLOVIATES: Arguably one of the worst buyout-deadline acquisitions by the Heat in their 36 seasons, with his dismal performance in the 2011 playoffs at the start of the Big Three era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Mike Bibby also apparently is not a fan of the way Heat fans travel. No sooner did a “Let’s Go Heat!” chant break out during the Heat’s Monday victory at Golden 1 Center, then Bibby, in his studio role on the Sacramento Kings telecast, let his feelings be known.“I want to harp on this first,”Bibby said when asked his thoughts on the game. “I don’t like the ‘Let’s Go Heat’ chants that are going around in the arena. These guys are trying to make a push. The best fans in the NBA can’t be . . . our team can’t be hearing that.” Bibby, in starting all 20 of his appearances in those 2011 playoffs for the Heat, shot .258 on 3-pointers and .281 from the field, averaging a robust 3.7 points, eventually removed from the rotation in the NBA Finals loss to the Mavericks.

NUMBERS GAME: With Chris Paul a guest on Dwyane Wade’s podcast, the conversation took a turn to the whimsical, about how the two at one point had discussed whether Paul actually could have been dealt to the Heat during the Big Three era.“We talk about all of this,”Wade said of the unlikely hypothetical,“who’s gonna have the ball, how we’re all going to play together, ‘No CP can have the ball.’ We’re done, figured all that out, and then somebody said, ‘Well, who’s going to wear number three?’ Silence. Messed the whole trade up.”Wade’s No. 3 hangs in the rafters at Kaseya Center. Paul has worn No. 3 in each of his NBA stops, with the New Orleans Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and, now, Golden State Warriors.