Who wouldn't wanna spend Christmas with the Celtics and Knicks?

A couple weeks ago, NBA stood for “Never Balling Again”, but now it might as well mean “Merry Christmas!”. The league added two more games to its December 25 slate yesterday, with Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Andris Biedrins all invited to join the festivities. Here’s a look at how the day shapes up:

7:00 – Wake up, pose for family picture next to the tree

7:30 – Bust open those presents

8:30 – Noon – Get ready to watch basketball

Noon: Celtics/Knicks

2:30 – Heat/Mavericks

5:00 – Bulls/Lakers

6:30 – Halftime Christmas dinner

8:00 – Magic/Thunder

10:30 – Clippers/Warriors, though I might pass. No offense to the Blakers, but that’s too much basketball for one day.

Johnson's tribute to Burress

Stevie Johnson should be celebrated. If it wasn’t for him, nobody would’ve even remembered Plaxico Burress shot himself in the groin three years ago. The NFL came down on the Bills’ receiver today, slapping him with a $10,000 fine for his second-quarter touchdown dance in Sunday’s 28-24 loss to the Jets.

Here’s the thing with Johnson: He’s a nobody. I’d say he lost a fair deal of pride along with the fine, but he doesn’t have much left after his memorable drop in overtime and ensuing Twitter outburst last season in a loss to Pittsburgh. Johnson’s celebration, which also mocked Jets receiver Santonio Holmes, cost the Bills a 15-yard penalty and led to a Burress touchdown that pulled New York even heading to halftime. And with Buffalo trailing late in the fourth, Johnson dropped a wide open pass over the middle and had another (albeit it a more difficult one) deflect off his hands in the end zone. No word on whether he’ll be fined for the drops, which may have been an homage to former Jet Braylon Edwards.

Buffalo’s loss, by the way, was its fourth straight after starting the season 5-2. So yeah, not exactly the best timing for a touchdown celebration to begin with, even if that fourth loss wasn’t quite in the bag yet. But this is coming from a teammate of David Nelson, who felt it was a good idea to run across the field to give a ball to his Cowboy cheerleader girlfriend when his score cut Dallas’ lead to 21-7 a few weeks ago. Buffalo ended up dropping that one 44-7.

Maybe Stevie Johnson is content being the top option on a team that hasn’t had much in the way of wide receivers the past 20 years. Touchdown dances are all fun in games in Buffalo, since winning isn’t much of a reality.

Raptors basketball isn't the only thing to get excited about these days

Maybe it’s my unbridled enthusiasm over the pending NBA season, or perhaps the fact Toronto has a pro team that looks mildly relevant this winter. Maybe its my competitive nature that just wants to keep up with the rival VoiceofValeri.com. Either way, I’m back baby! My latest hiatus is over, and you can expect some regular updates coming straight from your second-favourite blog on the Toronto sports scene (the first, of course, being the aforementioned Valeri’s — check it out).

Anyway, thanks for those that’ll be checking back in — looking forward to your comments and some good sports talk.

March Madness tips tomorrow and you know Chris Farley will be watching, wherever he is.

If yesterday was any indication, Brandon Morrow shouldn't have any trouble with the Rays again this season

The Jays are starting to grab some wins, so maybe it’s time to claim Spring Training does mean something after all. Brandon Morrow struck out six Rays over four innings and Jose Bautista hit his second homer in three days yesterday, as Toronto hammered Tampa Bay 9-3 to pull even at 8-8 in exhibition play.

The games do start meaning a little more when starters begin getting stretched out, with Morrow going a couple more innings than he and his counterparts did the first few times they got the ball this spring. He gave up three hits and two runs (one earned), then gave way to Marc Rzepczynski, who gave up a run on three hits in three innings. Carlos Villanueva and Casey Janssen closed it out with a shutout inning each.

Bautista added a single to his homer to continue his torrid spring, bumping his average to .458 in the process. Travis Snider went 2-for-4, running his average to .450, and Yunel Escobar had a double and two RBIs in three at-bats and sits at .423. Eric Thames hit a two-run homer in the seventh, his second of the spring.

The Jays are off today, but are back in action Tuesday when Jesse Litsch takes the hill against the Phillies. Frank Francisco is slated to get his first action of the month in the game as well.

Barbosa had his best game as a Raptor, scoring 29 in the win

Barbosa did much of his damage in the first half, scoring 14 points in his first four minutes off the bench to help Toronto build a double-digit lead it never surrendered. Ed Davis had a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in place of an injured Amir Johnson, Jose Calderon had 13 and eight assists and DeMar DeRozan had 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Reggie Evans again got plenty burn in his second game back from a broken foot, playing 26 minutes and grabbing 16 boards. He also set a team record by airballing two free throws within a stretch of about two minutes, though he did manage to connect once on four attempts for his only point of the contest.

The Raptors shot 53.1% from the field against Indiana’s horrific defense, and that was even with a 1-of-13 effort from Andrea Bargnani, who was returning from a one-game absence with the flu. Aside from Bargnani, the team shot 61.8% (42-of-68).

Indiana has now lost six straight but still somehow sits tied with Charlotte for eighth in the East at 27-38. That’s Eastern Conference basketball for you, folks, and you’ll appreciate it even more when Toronto somehow gets to the playoffs with 35 wins at some point in the next five years. The Raptors will get another shot at playing the spoiler for an undeserving playoff contender, as those very Bobcats are in town for a 1:00 tip at the ACC tomorrow.

Why wasn't Bosh invited to the hug party? Oh yeah, he's locked in the car.

Question: When the Miami Heat win a game, do they get a pizza party with bottomless soda afterward? If so, the Pepsi is flowing like wine right now in the AmericanAirlines Arena home locker room. LeBron and his little playmates shook the monkey tonight, holding off Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to snap a five-game skid with a 94-88 win.

Dwyane Wade scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and stripped Bryant to feed James for a breakaway dunk to make it 90-88 with 1:27 remaining, effectively putting an end to Crygate, at least for one night. Hey, you never know with kids, especially with the way the Chris Bosh’s emotions have been running wild the past couple weeks. Bosh, by the way, led the Heat with 24 points and nine rebounds in the wake of his complaints about his usage, and LeBron chipped in 17 points, eight boards and nine assists.

For all the talk of Miami’s crunch time struggles, it was actually Bryant’s choking act in the final few minutes that handed the Heat this one. A couple possessions after the turnover leading to James’ dunk, Kobe coughed another one up under the basket and heaved the game away with a 30-foot attempt with Miami up 92-88 with 20 clicks left. In all, Bryant scored 24 points, but did it on 8-of-21 shooting and added just two rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes.

Either way, order is restored in Heatland. Erik Spoelstra’s job is safe, Bosh made it through the night without taking a ball off the face and Wade can rejoice in the rest of the world hating its life because Miami is winning again. Until it has to face Boston again, at least.

Jefferson scored 34 points, including a tip at the buzzer to win

With Bargnani out with the flu and Johnson down with a rolled ankle in the first quarter, Evans was stuck with 33 minutes, which undoubtedly was more than Jay Triano had in mind for his winded legs after 48 games on the sidelines. I gotta say, too, that I don’t see what the rest of Toronto sees in Evans. Has there been a bigger offensive liability in the history of the game? Also, for a big, he doesn’t challenge shots, as was evident when Jefferson nailed shot after shot in the post on him en route to scoring 34 points, including a 10-foot fadeaway to give Utah a 94-91 lead in the final minute. Evans also fouled on a rebound to give the Jazz another shot to win after Earl Watson missed a three in with 18 seconds left. In all, the big fella turned in two points and missed all four of his free throws on the night.

The Raptors best effort came from Sonny Weems, who turned in 16 and five boards in 23 minutes off the bench. Jose Calderon had 14 points and six assists on 7-of-12 shooting, but missed three shots in the last three minutes, including a wide-open three prior to Jefferson’s fadeway. DeMar DeRozan led with 17 but was just 4-of-16 and Ed Davis managed just 12 points and three rebounds while starting in place of Bargnani.

I took this one in live and found myself more humoured than upset with the end result. What are we playing for these days, anyway? Nothing. And yet I was still there, which is something I’ll have to address internally. Nevertheless, the season drags on, with Indiana in town for an inspiring matchup on Friday.

I know this one didn’t happen in the past seven days, but it’s fun to watch for old times’ sake:

LeBron James is losing here and losing there

“The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted — losing games. The world is a better place now since the Heat is losing.” — Dwyane Wade, following Miami’s latest collapse.

Yes, Dwyane! LeBron and his sad-sap buddy were hung with another last-second loss yesterday afternoon, 87-86 to the Bulls — the third time in three meetings the Heat has lost to Chicago, and Miami’s fourth straight loss overall. Down one on the final possession, James’ layup in traffic drew backboard and Wade’s 18-foot corner jumper off the rebound rimmed out, making the Heat now 1-of-18 from the field in the final seconds of ties or one-point games this season, including 1-of-12 from the big two alone. Miami is also now 5-13 in games decided by five points or less.

This one took an even more hilarious turn following the game, when coach Erik Spoelstra announced in his press conference that “there are a couple of guys crying in the locker room right now”. Well, I guess that’s not all that unexpected, given Chris Bosh broke down last Thursday following a 24-point blown lead in a loss to Orlando, and he also burst out in tears after getting locked in a hot car while clubbing with James and Wade earlier in the week. Sad, sad stuff all-around in Miami.

Of course, credit yesterday should also be given where it’s due — Chicago came up big again, getting 27 points from Derrick Rose to close its five-game road swing with a 4-1 record, including an 89-81 win in Orlando on Friday to sweep through Florida. At 43-18, the Bulls are now second in the East to Boston and a game ahead of the Heat with two less in the loss column.