. . . Dwight Howard won't be competing in the dunk contest in New Orleans at All-Star weekend. The Rockets' star might have entered, "if I wasn't so old,'' he said. "I'm getting up there in age, man, I tell you. I got a lot of years." He does? The guy is all of 28. . . . Adam Silver made it clear, addressing the spate of injuries seen this season, that the 82-game season is not to blame and will continue for the foreseeable future. "We've been playing an 82-game season for I think roughly 45 years,'' the incoming commish said in London when the Nets played the Hawks. "I'm not even sure that the injuries this season are a statistical aberration. There may be more high-profile injuries this year, so of course we're concerned. But (the league has) no plans at this time to shorten the season.'' . . . Even with Greg Oden making his debut for the Heat this past week — his first game action since 2009 — it's not out of the realm that the Heat will look to sign Andrew Bynum now that he's free. You know who could really use him in its low post? Oklahoma City, but that would be a real roll of the dice for that franchise. . . . Detroit's 7-13 mark in the Palace of Auburn Hills is by far the worst home record of any of the 16 teams that started the weekend in the playoffs. The Pistons went 0-5 at home from Dec. 13-Jan. 11, losing to Portland, Charlotte, Houston, Washington and Memphis. . . . The old Warrior Rick Barry loves this season's team, but sees two areas where they can use some improvement. Defense is one. "Then if they can establish an inside game, if they can get some inside baskets, they'll be even better,'' Barry told me the other day. "Nobody has ever won an NBA championship when they've relied on an outside game. That's too difficult. As for their defense, they don't need to be the best team in that area. But you have to be one of the better defensive teams to win a title.'' . . . One scout who saw J.R. Smith in the past few games had this to say about the troubled Knick: "You can tell he's not right, physically. He doesn't have nearly the same explosion that he had last season.''