MIAMI – Despite a potentially fatal kidney disorder, Alonzo Mourning kept hanging on to his career for games like last night’s.
With Shaquille O’Neal reduced to Kurt Thomas-like numbers, Mourning stepped off the bench to power the Heat with 21 points in 16 minutes, with nine rebounds, one block and two standing ovations in Miami’s 104-87 rout of the Nets in Game 2 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“I haven’t forgotten how to play the game,” said Mourning, who outscored Shaq 21-14. “I just had a kidney transplant.
“I made a tremendous amount of sacrifices and this is the reward, playing on this stage, with this group of guys. I’m treating this as my last opportunity because it could be my last.”
Mourning, who started the season with the Nets before a nasty divorce that prompted the Vince Carter blockbuster, was a bulldog inside, seemingly wanting to make Nets owner Bruce Ratner suffer for not buying him out in preseason as he wanted.
“The Hulk carried Superman today,” said O’Neal, who put forth 14 points, 10 rebounds, still ailing from a bruised right thigh. “He told me before the game that I got your back.”
Mourning admits he is tired of people talking about Miami as a two-man team – Shaq and Dwyane Wade.
“That’s disrespectful to the rest of the team, and we’re out to prove everybody wrong,” Mourning said.
Perhaps the Nets could’ve found a way to make the Carter deal work without Mourning’s inclusion. They’d have a decent bench had he remained.
“He was unbelievable,” Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Twenty one and nine in 16 minutes. It’s one of the most productive lines you’ll ever see.”
Mourning, rounding into fiery form, looked like he was battling the Knicks in the old, great playoff series of the ’90’s but admitted the Heat’s “D” is not up to par with Riley’s Heat teams of the 1990’s. “If it becomes that, watch out,” Mourning said.
In the second quarter, he ripped down a rebound, laid it in, got fouled and pumped his arms wildly, howled at the screaming red mass of Heat fans and stamped his feet.
“If he can go out and give us half of that, this season could be great for us,” said defensive hound Eddie Jones.
Mourning won’t admit this is sweet payback. “That’s the past,” Mourning said. “The Nets did what they had to do and I did, too.”
The Nets, meanwhile, get no life from that bench. After Robinson bricked a side jumper in the waning seconds of the first quarter, the Heat raced out in transition and backup point guard Keyon Dooling buried a buzzer-beating 20-footer from the right corner, sending the Heat to a 10-point lead after one. The Heat bench outscored the Nets bench 39-24.