(from left to right, Andre Emmett, Dennis Johnson and Marcus Fizer remind you that seats, though not necessarily good ones, start at $11)

It’s eye-rubbin’ time. Pre-game festivities for today’s Lakers/Heat tilt were briefly interrupted on the local ABC affiliate KVUE by what appeared to be hastily shot commercials for the NBDL’s Austin Toros, 2-6 entering Wednesday’s game with Tulsa.

The giggly trio shown above delivered the franchise’s dubious slogan “the NBA dream begins in Austin” as capably as any trained actor. I hate to nitpick, however, but unless said line is delivered by LaMarcus Alrdidge, it would probably be more truthful to say “the NBA dream ends in Austin for the big fella on the right”. But that isn’t much of a sales pitch.

Not much else to say about today’s NBA coverage other than it’s nice to see that neither “Showgirls” nor a haircut worse than Johnny Damon’s has stood in the way of Kyle MacLachlan’s continued employment.