Dwyane Wade News

Call it a moment of clarity, self-actualization, or just putting "it" all together, but there is no denying Miami Heat small forward LeBron James has reached the pinnacle of basketball.

Any impartial observer who has watched and heard this Miami Heat-Bulls playoff series would have to agree that the behavior of the underdogs suggests that Chicago's famous nickname should be tweaked just a tad.

It was a brutal night full of elbows and animus, but a thing of desperate beauty through the prism of downtown Miami.

Julia Dale will be the littlest person on the court, by far, when the Miami Heat plays its second-round games.

"Don't take this for granted," Erik Spoelstra was saying Saturday, pinned against a wall by a semi-circle crush of media on one end of the Heat's practice court.

Miami Heat's LeBron James goes up for a dunk in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia March 13, 2013.

In this photo provided by ABC, NBA basketball veteran Jason Collins, left, speaks during an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Los Angeles.

It comes from a charity basketball game dunk contest, and features pro dunkers "Pat The Roc" and Gary "G" Smith.

Reaction from NBA veteran Jason Collins' first-person account published in Sports Illustrated, as he came out as the first gay male player in the four major American professional sports: "If you have learned anything from Jackie Robinson, it is that teammates are always the first to accept.

The importance and value in what Jason Collins has done – beyond his own soul-freeing catharsis – showed itself swiftly and starkly as word spread across social media.

This sweeping fire of injuries has already torched various contenders, underlined by the news on Friday of Russell Westbrook's pending knee surgery.