Associated Press
The NBA notebook …
MIAMI ó Shawn Marion’s most memorable play with the Miami Heat was his last.
Hours after Marion’s last-second dunk lifted the Heat past the Chicago Bulls, he was traded Friday to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jermaine O’Neal, ending a weekslong saga involving the expected deal.
NBA officials approved the swap Friday afternoon by conference call, the Heat said.
“I developed an unbelievable relationship with Shawn,” Heat star guard Dwyane Wade said in Phoenix, where he’s part of All-Star weekend. “You’re sad to lose a friend on and off the court. At the same time, Shawn and I just had this conversation that it’s part of the business and we knew it was a possibility.”
Toronto also gets guard Marcus Banks and cash considerations, while Miami will receive forward Jamario Moon and a future first-round draft pick, to come sometime between 2010 and 2015. It’s lottery-protected, essentially meaning the first time the Raptors make the playoffs after this season, their first-rounder goes to Miami.
BROWN FINED
CLEVELAND ó Cavaliers coach Mike Brown has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for criticizing officials following Cleveland’s last-second loss at Indiana on Tuesday night.
Brown, who will coach the Eastern Conference team at this weekend’s All-Star game, went into a tirade about a call by referee Joey Crawford that awarded the Pacers two free throws and gave them a 96-95 win. Crawford called a foul on LeBron James, who was trying to stop an alley-oop pass to Indiana’s Danny Granger.
Brown felt Crawford made a predetermined call against James, who had been involved in a similar call moments earlier with Granger.SPUD POWERED
Nate Robinson was only 2 years old at the time but he insists he remembers watching 5-foot-7 Spud Webb win the NBA dunk contest in 1986.
“Watching him as a little kid in the dunk contest, I was like ‘Oh My god, I can do that. That little guy is dunking like this,’ ” Robinson said on Friday.
Robinson, who stands 5 feet 9, brought down the house in the 2006 contest when he dunked over Webb, a fete that can still draws thousands of viewers on the Internet.
“He made it easier for me to believe,” Robinson said of the pioneer for big-leaping small men. “He made me a firm believer.”
Robinson is among those competing in this year’s dunk affair.