IN THE LANE

YOUNG, AND FOOLISH?: Ever since Trae Young said the Atlanta Hawks’ game was over in Miami, with his team up six with a minute to go in regulation, in what turned into a Heat overtime victory, he’s been hearing plenty. “I’ve taken a lot of heat,” he said in a podcast with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “That’s just a funny moment. I mean, it’s a crazy moment. I mean you’re up six with a minute left. Momentum was just all in our favor at that time. It looked good. But as soon as I said it’s over, I think they went on a 22-0 run. It’s just a crazy time. I mean, obviously, it sucks losing. Especially losing in that fashion. But it’s something I’ll be able to look back at 20 years from now and still remember that.” Young said there was no bad blood about the Heat’s Jimmy Butler immediately going at him on social media. “I mean, Jimmy had a right to do it,” he said. “I said it’s over, and then he retaliated after the game and that’s something that he felt he should have done. That was funny. I laughed at it. But it’s all good.”

LINGERING MEMORIES: It certainly is a good thing that Kevin Garnett isn’t bitter or anything. Imagine then how he would recast his Celtics being pushed aside by the Big Three Heat? So there was Garnett on Bill Simmons’ podcast, explaining how LeBron James hid from the Celtics’ dominance by leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to join with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Heat. “We broke LeBron,” Garnett said of his Celtics eliminating James and the Cavaliers in the 2010 playoffs. No debating that point. But there also is that pesky reality of James and the Heat eliminating Garnett and the Celtics in the 2011 East semifinals, the 2012 East finals, and then Garnett and his Brooklyn Nets in the 2014 first round. Of James’ Heat success against the Celtics, Garnett said, “The league knew that they had an agenda in which we wasn’t part of the agenda. You understand? Right.” Um, OK, right. Just as the league wanted the Big Three Heat to lose in the 2011 Finals to the Dallas Mavericks to get even for the 2006 Finals?

HASSAN PLAYING LIKE HORSE?: Not going to lie, the headline from NBCSports Portland made me read further: “Every team needs a ‘horse’ like Hassan Whiteside.” Turns out, the one thing the Heat and Portland Trail Blazers agree on is that Whiteside’s rebounding is elite. Whiteside said it is all about going “horse out there,” such as his 23 rebounds against the Warriors. “I always tell my teammates I got a horse out, got a horse out there,” Whiteside said. Said Blazers guard Damian Lillard, “I think his ability to rebound is one of the best I’ve seen.”

FITTING IN: Yes, that is former Heat two-way player Derrick Walton Jr. finding a niche with the Los Angeles Clippers, actually getting meaningful playing time under Doc Rivers. “He’s been in big games in his life,” Rivers told The Los Angeles Times. “What I like about him is he can make shots.” Already, there is the Paul George seal of approval, “Every time he’s been out there, he’s made an impact, he’s had big opportunities, big moments for his confidence. When his number is called, he’s ready and available and he’s been consistent.”

NUMBER

1. Teams in NBA history, according to Elias Sports Bureau, to snap multiple season-opening home winning streaks of nine or more games in the same season, with the Heat now having done it in ending the Raptors’ 9-0 run and then, on Wednesday night, the 76ers’ 14-0 start at Wells Fargo Center.