The South Florida teen who created a YouTube video asking Dwyane Wade to her high school prom, had her wish come true. Last month, Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School senior Nicole Muxo created a YouTube prom proposal video asking her favorite basketball player, Miami Heat champion Dwyane Wade to prom. Wade accepted Muxo’s proposal and surprised the teen and her classmates Friday night at her prom at La Jolla Ballroom in Coral Gables. “She actually DM’d me on Twitter and said, ‘This is the address, this is where I’m gonna be just in case,’ and when I got that I said I won’t be doing nothing tomorrow night and I can go and make this a memorable moment for her,” said Wade. “I’m gonna remember it forever. This was my highlight of my senior year,” said Muxo.

Never let ‘em see you wince.

That has been Dwyane Wade‘s mostly successful approach since suffering a deep bone bruise to his right knee against Orlando in early March. Heck, that has been Wade’s approach more or less since he reached the NBA and got busy with that fall-down-578-times, get-up-579 business.

The Miami Heat star shooting guard has had good days and bad days since initially injuring the knee. He has aggravated it, pampered it, fought it, ignored it and, through Miami’s first eight games this postseason, made peace with it. It’s not getting noticeably better, it’s not forcing him to miss significant time in the Heat’s quest to repeat as NBA champions. Stalemate.

Until the second quarter of Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls Monday night at United Center, anyway. When Bulls defender Jimmy Butler banged knees with Wade, Miami’s guy lost in the collision. The pain showed on Wade’s face and he quickly subbed out, getting some treatment and a fresh taping on the Heat bench. He returned and scored six points in the third quarter – but they were his only points of the night and Wade played just 2:39 in the fourth, compared to LeBron James‘ nine minutes and Chris Bosh‘s six down the stretch of the blowout victory.

After Wade’s 10-point performance on 5-of-7 shooting in Game 3, he and coach Erik Spoelstra reminded reporters of Wade’s adjustment and growing deference to James over the past three years. It wasn’t exactly a cover story but it was a diversion, a tale of teamwork and chemistry fit for a two-day break between games.

But after Wade’s 3-of-10 effort in Game 4, a tale of noble motives gives way to the urgency of  his injury, his prognosis and timeline for healing and his availability not just for what’s left of this series – the Heat lead the Eastern Conference semifinals, 3-1, with Game 5 Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena – but what’s left of Miami’s title defense.

Spoelstra got defensive on behalf of his star and friend when talking with reporters, as chronicled by the Sun Sentinel’s Shandel Richardson:

“He’s helping us win right now,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “OK. One of these days boxscores will have your plus-minus impact and maybe eventually people will start to look at a boxscore differently and eventually a new generation of fans, the media, staff will see that’s the most important one and he’s having that impact.”

The Heat have lost just once in the playoffs despite Wade averaging only 12.3 points, nearly nine below his season average. After Monday’s six-point effort against the Bulls, he is averaging 11.3 points in the series.

Wade, 31, ranks fourth in scoring for Miami this postseason and isn’t even the top scoring Marquette product in the series (Butler, 23, is averaging 12.8 for Chicago). But that’s the sort of comparative stuff that rankles Spoelstra.

“I understand the interest level in it, but what you dislike about team sports is people lose sight of the main thing being the main thing,” Spoelstra said. “Dwyane’s proven himself as a warrior, he’s helping us win and at the end of the day we’re up 3-1 with a chance to close out. We knew going into this series that it wasn’t going to be about averages and that was one thing we had to have a discussion about before the series.”

Wade is considered day-to-day, though a guess at his status for Game 4 might be possible, based on the previous round. The Heat were comfortably in control through three games against Milwaukee, so Wade sat out the finale of that sweep. As undermanned and overtaxed as the Bulls are, skipping Wednesday’s game could be the smart option, allowing maximum treatment time before Miami faces the eventual winner of the New York-Indiana series in the East finals.

It’s not as if Wade hasn’t missed time with injuries previously or that the Heat struggle in his absence (they were 12-2 this season when he did not play). Even if his knee doesn’t heal completely in the coming weeks, he’ll do what he can to play through it.

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The Bulls, however, don’t have enough firepower or depth to make a diminished Wade a serious problem. That might change in the next round or in The Finals. Also, nagging injuries can sometimes lead to the same outcome as debilitating ones, as James talked about after Game 4 Monday. Remember his aching right elbow and how much attention that got in his final playoff run with Cleveland?

“It lingered throughout the whole playoffs,” James said. “You just try to go out there and give it all you got. It sucks because you know you can do things that the injury isn’t allowing you to do it.

“I know what he’s going through.”

LeBron James, 28, became the youngest player in the history of the NBA to score 20,000 points when he hit a floater in the lane late in the second quarter at Golden State on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena.

In a symbolic reminder that he is the farthest thing from a one-dimensional scorer, James – who has been assaulting the record books since he was drafted first overall by Cleveland in 2003 out of St. Vincent St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio – also surpassed the 5,000-assist mark against the Warriors. By doing so, he joined a club that – according to Basketball-Reference.com – has a total of 13 members. James surpassed the 5,000-rebound mark last season, and is now one of 11 players in the 20,000-point, 5,000-assist ,5,000-rebound club.

Thirty-eight players have reached the 20,000-point mark in all, with seven of them active (including James’ 37-year-old teammate, Ray Allen, who entered play with 23,336 points). James’ 5,000th assist came midway through the first quarter, when he found Dwyane Wade for a dunk that put the Heat up 8-7.

His scoring was versatile as always – a converted alley-oop via Wade from midcourt early, a three-pointer atop the key late in the first quarter that stretched the Heat’s lead to nine, and a stepback 17-footer that gave him 17 points and put Miami up 41-29 with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter.

James – who was the youngest player to be drafted No. 1 overall in 2003 at 18 years old, the youngest to win Rookie of the Year, and the youngest to score both 1,000 and 10,000 points – has long since cornered the market on becoming the youngest player in the game’s history to achieve such feats. He is marching past the milestones in what is already a remarkable career.

“I’m not really a numbers, milestone guy,” James insisted to USA TODAY Sports after the Heat’s shoot-a-round at the University of San Francisco on Wednesday. “As they come up on me, I live in that moment. (The points mark) came up on my radar when I needed 50 points. That’s when I knew about it.

“I’m just a complete basketball player. I dominate all facets of the game – rebounding, scoring, passing. I do a little bit of everything – defending. I’m not just a one-dimensional guy. It’s just a testament to how I was brought up in the game, how people taught me the game. I just try to play the right way.”

In terms of perceptions, James’ running mate, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, is the one known more for his scoring. Yet Wade, who has 15,632 points in his 10 seasons, said James doesn’t get the credit he deserves as a scorer because of his unprecedented versatility.

“When they mention the best scorers in the game, they never really say him as the best scorer,” Wade said. “He has so many other attributes that it’s hard to mention everything.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra agreed.

“I think what’s most remarkable about it is the fact that LeBron came into the league as a complete player,” Spoelstra said. “Often times he’s a facilitator. He’s been criticized for that many times during the course of his time with us, and scoring – while that’s just one of the things that he does – he does it as well as anybody in this league.

“And the fact that he’s able to accomplish that milestone so quickly shows you how talented he is. He continues to push himself to get to a higher level.”

[LeBron James] revealed on Wednesday that the screensaver of his phone is a Photoshop image of himself handling the ball while guarded by Michael Jordan in his prime. “Jordan was my superhero growing up,” James said. “He was the guy I feel helped me get to where I am today. As a competitor, who would not want to go against the best? That’s like asking [Tom] Brady would he want to go against Montana in the fourth quarter.”

Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, making him the fifth player in NBA history to score 30,000, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a two-game skid with a 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.

Bryant entered the game needing only 13 points to eclipse the scoring milestone and did so with a short jumper late in the first half that was perhaps the least spectacular of his baskets, which included the usual array of soaring dunks, demoralizing transition 3-pointers and turnaround, off-balance jumpers.

The New Orleans Hornets are planning to change their nickname to the Pelicans for the 2013-14 season in a move that could affect the Charlotte franchise as well, Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday.

New Hornets owner Tom Benson, who Yahoo said owns the NBA rights to the Pelicans name, said when he bought the team from the league last summer that he was interested in changing the nickname to something that appeals to the region. Louisiana’s state bird is the pelican.

Michael Jordan ruffled feathers at an exclusive Miami Beach country club when he wouldn’t play by their rules. Page Six has exclusively learned the NBA legend hit the links as a guest at swanky La Gorce Country Club — but his gear didn’t fit the club’s old-school rules. “Michael was wearing cargo pants on the course,” said a spy. Jordan’s multipocketed pants were apparently against the dress code that, sources say, dictates that members and guests must be attired in a collared shirt and Bermuda shorts. But when 6-foot, 6-inch Jordan was offered a chance to change outfits, he demurred. “He was given the chance to change but he didn’t want to,” a source said. The source added that Jordan, who was enjoying a round at the club with one of its members, played on anyway.

The source added that members complained about Jordan breaking the rules and, “He won’t be invited back.” A rep for Jordan said, “Michael Jordan did wear cargo pants . . . He had been there many times before and had worn cargo pants previously, and had never been made aware that he was violating any dress code. This time, he was made aware of the violation on the 12th hole, and at that point . . . he did refuse to interrupt his game, and return to the clubhouse and change. We were not aware that he is not allowed to return to La Gorce. I guess it’s their loss — as MJ is a great golfer, and a great guest.” The club did not respond for comment.