FanHouse DaequanCook

The Dayton Daily News reports that native Daequan Cook of the Heat has quietly reached out to a local family whose son died in a tragic hit-and-run accident over the weekend. The youngster, 12-year-old DaQuan Sales, was a huge fan of the reigning NBA three-point champ and planned to attend Cook's local basketball camp later this month.

Cook read about the story over the weekend, and privately contacted the family to volunteer to pay for funeral costs, the News reports. (He's also setting up a scholarship fund in DaQuan's name and invited any of his family members to come to the camp for free.) Cook won't talk to the media about it, wishing not to make a big fuss about his generosity. He deserves the positive attention, though.

PHOENIX -- The competition was there for Jason Kapono. Or maybe Rashard Lewis. Even veteran Mike Bibby might come out of the field the champion. The one thing that was certain was the second-year man from Miami wasn't taking this title, no way, no how.

All-Star weekend is less than two weeks away, so the press releases are coming fast and furious as to who's going to be participating in all of the events. We told you about H.O.R.S.E. on Tuesday, and today, we bring you the field for the 2009 Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout.

Jason Kapono will defend his title and attempt to win the event for the third straight year, and he'll be facing a group of players that collectively have a total of zero three (and counting) prior appearances in the competition.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

LeBron James' big day (as if the other 364 are not) was ruined by Dwyane Wade's friends. Wade had a fine game himself (21/5/12), but Mario Chalmers, Miami's starting forwards and Daequan Cook made the real difference in the Heat win.

Chalmers had 21 points on 9 FGAs, and went 6-7 from three. He also had eight assists, three steals and (this is the big one) zero turnovers. On any night, that's lovely. Against an elite defense like Cleveland, that's incredible. Cook helped with some more sharp outside shooting -- 5-7 from three, 17 points on 9 FGAs -- while Udonis Haslem and Shawn Marion did exactly what they need to: Cleveland had only eight offensive rebounds in 40 opportunities. Great work on the glass for the typically iffy Heat.

Shaq Saves Lives: ... or at least Phoenix, down Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire (who earned an ejection in the second quarter). Shaquille O'Neal racked up 24 points on 13 FGAs, shot 8-10 from the line, pulled 13 rebounds and swatted three Grizz shots. Perhaps most importantly, he did all that playing big minutes (38) on the second night of a back-to-back. Diesel is gunning for an All-Star berth.

Sucker Free: A Chris Paul triple-double (15/10/16) no longer shocks anyone. But figure this: Paul had a direct hand in 32 of New Orleans' offensive possessions. He had two turnovers in those 32 possessions. Simply outrageous.

As currently constructed, the Heat don't have a whole lot of room under the salary cap, but they may be able to fill a glaring need for outside shooting by inking James Jones, who hit 43.7% of his shots from long distance last year for the Trail Blazers. From Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

With the free-agent signing period to commence at midnight, a five-year offer has been extended to Jones, starting at $4 million for next season. The final three years of the contract would be conditional, to protect the Heat for the 2010 free-agency period.

Jones has yet to commit, but working in the team's favor is the fact that he'd be returning home -- he was born and raised in Miami and spent four years at the University of Miami before being drafted. Winderman doesn't offer up any other info about the last three conditional seasons, but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict those will be team option years.

You'd think by now Pat Riley would be getting used to this losing business, right? And as team president, he might start to adopt a big picture view and appreciate the team's march toward Michael Beasley? Well, it hasn't happened yet. After getting smoked by the Raptors on Wednesday, Riley called out both his team and his coaching performance yet again, but this time Miami fans might want to actually listen. From the Sun-Sentinel:

"Just a lack of effort and a horrible attitude," Riley said after his team fell to 11-47. "The attitude they showed, I should write a check to each season-ticket holder.

"I should write the check and not even them, because I can't get them to play hard."

[...] By now it is clear that the offseason overhaul will be extensive.

"There'll be a day of reckoning," Riley said. "They'll be somewhere else.

"I've got to ferret out the guys who really don't care."

He's obviously not serious, but if Riles were to put his money where his mouth is, what would a refund cost him? The Sun-Sentinel reports the team's single-game gate is about $1 million. With that kind of jack, don't you think Riley might be able to do a little better job? At the very least he'd get creative.

While his "day of reckoning" talk sounds tough, it's possible an "end is near" attitude is exactly what's infecting this team: they're burnt out playing for a dictator coach on a team that obviously has nothing to look forward to but the future. And seriously, of the players healthy and able, only Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion are worth building around. Former first-round picks Dorell Wright (who just went down with a season-ending knee injury) and Daequan Cook are as big of a question mark as they were before the season started, so there's really no telling what this roster looks like in five months.

Helluva game in Miami. Dwyane Wade was brilliant -- 48 points on 21 shots and 23 FTAs (!), plus 11 assists and 7 rebounds. But he became a footnote late as a string of improbable shots sent the match to overtime, where Wade didn't score.

That string? Dwight Howard went to the line for two behind by three with 41 seconds. Hit the first, missed the second... but Carlos Arroyo gets the rebound and kicks it to Rashard Lewis for a deeeeep three. Yes, down three with 41 seconds left, the Magic take a lead on a four-point play. Wade draws a foul and hits 'em both (like he wouldn't?), leaving the Heat up one with 21 seconds to go. Dorell Wright inexplicably fouls Arroyo, who nails his own free throws with 12 seconds left. Orlando back up one, smelling victory. Wade misses a tough shot, Dwight (60% career FT shooter) collects the rebound and hits two from the stripe. Four seconds left, Miami takes a 20-second timeout, defeat assured... until Wade hits rookie Daequan Cook for the nails-as-hell tying three.

Cook added 5 points in overtime, but it wasn't enough as Hedo Turkoglu nailed a three with 11 seconds to seal victory. Wade didn't record a FGA or a FTA in overtime; sort-of amazing after being involved in more than half of Miami's regulation points. Soon, the Heat might not have much to play for. But as long as Wade is playing, Miami fans have a reason to watch.

After winning their second straight Big Ten title, and making it to the title game against Florida last season, I don't think many people expect the Ohio State Buckeyes to win their third straight conference title this season. When you lose players like Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook to the NBA, there's going to be a drop off.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, Thad Matta is one of the best recruiters in the country, and this year's freshman class is looking very promising so far.

I had read a little bit about Kosta Koufos before the season started, but last night was the first time I had a chance to actually see him play. Replacing Greg Oden may not turn out to be so tough after all, as I was very impressed by what I saw from the freshman.

Granted, the Buckeyes were playing Columbia last night, but I was very impressed with Koufos' game. He's not the defensive stalwart that Oden was, but his offensive game is far more polished. The seven-footer led the Buckeyes with 19 points on Tuesday night to follow up his 18 point performance the night before.

Koufos displayed a touch down low on the blocks that's far beyond his 18 years, making eight of his twelve shots, and grabbing seven rebounds as well.

I don't know if Koufos will ever be able to develop into the defensive presence that Oden was, but his offense should more than help make up for the scoring the Buckeyes lost from last season. The question is, will Koufos still be able to play like this going up against D.J. White or the Spartans?

If he can, that third straight Big Ten title might not be so far out of reach after all.