IN THE LANE

NOT A FAN: For those who thought Charles Barkley had it out for the Heat during the team’s Big Three era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the TNT studio analyst and former NBA All-Star forward said you’re right, just as he has it out for what the Brooklyn Nets currently have in place with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. “I’m not a fan of super teams,” Barkley said ahead of his participation in this weekend’s American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.“So listen, if [the Nets] win it, they win it. But, to be perfectly clear, I’m rooting against those guys. I root against all super teams. If I’d known you guys were going to make fun of me for not winning a championship, I would have joined a super team back in my day.”

NOT A FAN, TOO: Among those not participating in the event is Barkley’s TNT studio partner Shaquille O’Neal, allowing Barkley to get in a dig at another former Heat NBA champion. “Shaq doesn’t play,” Barkley said.“He’s in every crappy commercial on television, so that takes up all his free time. Shout out to Shaq. He’s got some water coming out now. I’ve never seen him drink water, but he’s got a water company now.”

STEPPING UP: His LeBron mockery with his salsa dance that got him ejected at the close of the Phoenix Suns’ first-round victory over the Los Angeles Lakers is nothing more, Jae Crowder said, than part of his passion for the game and this time of the season.“Other teams just try to be physical with me, try to get my riled up. I don’t know if they know, but I like that style of play,” the former Heat forward said amid his second consecutive run deep into the postseason.“I like to trash talk. I like all of that because it definitely gets me going, and I think my team definitely feeds off of it a little bit, the energy of it.”As for his salsa steps, Crowder said he hopes there can be a salsa championship celebration, after coming up short in last season’s NBA Finals with the Heat.“Hopefully when we win the whole thing, I can salsa with the crowd, salsa with some of the Phoenix fans here once we bring a championship here,” he said. “That’s the goal.”

A ‘CANE GAIN: No, no one expected this dramatic a role for former University of Miami guard Bruce Brown amid the Nets’ pursuit of a championship. But here he’s been, doing damage alongside Durant and Irving, as James Harden deals with his hamstring issue.“Me and Ky talked about it once we got Bruce, that playing against him the last two years, nobody really knew him in Detroit,” Durant said. “But when you play against him and you got him in the scouting report, he kind of disrupted our flow when I was in Golden State a bit, one game. I was like, ‘Who is this kid?’ But we knew he played with extreme passion and intensity. He wasn’t playing for us early, but whenever he got a chance, we knew he was going to come in and make an impact.”

NUMBER

18. Years since a New York Knicks coach had won NBA Coach of the Year before Tom Thibodeau accomplished the feat this season. Current Heat President Pat Riley last did it in 1993.