You know it's a big game when lots that usually charge $10 for Toyota Center vicinity parking suddenly show up with new $25 signs. You really know it's a huge game when beloved Texans receiver Andre Johnson isn't the last celebrity in the crowd flashed on the video screen, when Astros All-Star Michael Bourn is all but forgotten as the first announce and numerous other lesser current pro athletes are, when Hakeem Olajuwon is sitting in the front row, reminding everyone of when Houston had the best player in the world on its side.

Those days are long gone of course and on this night, the three best players on the floor played for the other guys. It was Miami Heat night at the Toyota Center, an unofficial holiday for anyone who survives on the periphery of an NBA team (scalpers, parking lot owners, beer vendors). It's stunning just how quickly the Heat have become the single biggest sports draw in the United States outside of the New York Yankees (no matter how good or star-packed an NFL team is, pro football largely draws regardless of the opponent).

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh turn inflated 12,000-person-announced crowds into real sellouts — and if Wednesday night's 125-119 victory over the Houston Rockets is any indication, they do it without even really trying. At least very hard. A lot of the time.

This is one of the most lackadaisical championship caliber teams you'll ever see.

Every time I've ever watched LeBron in person (and that's a good 20 times now), I'm always struck by how infrequently he appears to play at anything close to full speed. Sure, this was the second game of a back-to-back for the Heat, but the NBA's ultimate force spent much of the night, drifting out to the corner behind the 3-point line when Miami was in its half-court offense, not exactly demanding, or even seeming all that interested in getting, the basketball.

Even more egregiously, LeBron managed to get called for an eight-second violation, taking so long to dribble across half court that one of those shopping cart scooters could have beaten him in a foot race — with four minutes left in a close game.

Of course, then Wade and James simply stripped the Rockets of the basketball, as easy as could be, to get the ball right back. And LeBron finished with 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds on the night before his 26th birthday.

Wade played hard and played the baby. When he crumpled to the court behind the baseline after missing a breakway slam dunk and stayed there prone for several eternities, even everyone involved with the Heat seemed to know (and almost acknowledge) he was faking. No Miami player went over to stay with Wade and even the team's trainer — the guy who usually rushes out like it's an episode of Grey's Anatomy — waited a good four minutes to finally slowly trudge out, sort of a "All right Dwyane, what is it this time?"

If LeBron James is The King, Dwyane Wade is the Drama Queen.

Of course, as lame as his thespian skills were, they still got him a flagrant foul and oh yeah, he still dropped 45 points on the Rockets on 17-for-24 shooting from the field.

Plus, HBO's 24-7 Penguins-Capitals series now probably wants Wade to make a guest appearance. Wade said he needed a couple of stitches after the game for that flagrant where Rockets guard Aaron Brooks barely glazed him — he may have really gotten them from biting his lip after missing the dunk, but the NBA likes its good stories (see the much overdramatized Michael Jordan Flu Game in Utah), however dubious.

So the national storyline becomes the Heat charge back after Wade gets mad for blowing a dunk ... er, being "thrown down" by Brooks. When in reality, even as the Rockets (15-16) took a 62-59 lead into halftime, even when they came back to challenge Miami down the stretch, there was never much of a sense in the arena that they were going to win. Houston played extremely hard all game and never had a real shot.

The Heat don't even have to exert themselves all that much most nights to get a win (and this is there 15 W in their last 16 games). That's the hard truth for the rest of the NBA. Anyone who's still delighting in the idea that this new big three could fail, any fool still fixated on that 9-8 start, needs to find a better bet.

Perhaps Snooki to win an EGOT?

It's not even January, but the 2011 NBA Championship is already Miami's. Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers have never looked older and the Boston Celtics are hobbling like a team of Yao Mings. There's one real show in the NBA.

Houston barely got to see it. With a game in Miami Tuesday night, the Rockets flew in and out of the Bayou City for their one visit in a flash. They didn't even bring any of their A material to the postgame. The only real silly LeBron moment of the night came when bit Heat player Joel Anthony — a bad free-throw shooter — hit several foul shots down the stretch and James clowned him, almost trying to distract his own teammate. (Hey, they have to keep themselves entertained, somehow.)

Then, the Heat were gone and you couldn't help but wish for more.

The Toronto Raptors on New Year's Eve? Maybe, $25 parking isn't so wrong if it would bring the circus back to Toyota.