KNICKSatHEATToday12:30 – NBC
WEVD (1050 AM)
When they last met, a heartbroken Alonzo Mourning was doing his annual hands-on-head, painfully slow walk off the Heat’s home court.
Despite a 29-point, 13-rebound performance, Mourning had once again been foiled by his idol Patrick Ewing and the Knicks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last May.
Today at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the 6-foot-10 Mourning will post-up against the Knicks for the first time since he returned from a kidney disorder on March 27.
While he can be thankful that Ewing won’t be around to humiliate him anymore, the Heat center will have to contend with a sampling of shorter, but physically strong defenders, including Larry Johnson, Kurt Thomas and, perhaps, Othella Harrington.
Employing the same strategy that he used on Shaquille O’Neal (31 points) last Sunday against the Lakers, Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said yesterday that he doesn’t plan to assign the 6-11 Marcus Camby against the stronger and offensively-gifted Mourning.
“We’ll probably guard him a little bit like we did O’Neal,” Van Gundy said after the Knicks held a shooting-oriented practice at Purchase College. “Play everybody else on Mourning and keep Marcus off of him. I just think the strength factor is better that way. I also think, obviously Marcus has been, without a doubt, all year our best player, so you want to keep your best player on the floor as much as you can.”
Coming off the bench in the six games since his surprising return, Mourning has averaged 11.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 21.2 minutes per game. Considering the rivalry and that both teams are tied for the third seed in the East (with seven games left), Heat coach Pat Riley will likely increase Mourning’s court time in the nationally-televised game.
And the Knicks are prepared to test him. “I’m going to go at him,” said Camby, who’s averaged 11 points and 12.8 rebounds in the four games with the Heat this season in which the Knicks hold a 3-1 advantage. “We’re going to try to make him work, try to get him in foul trouble.”
Defensively, Camby said, “It’s not like he’s going out there and getting 35 or 40 points right now. So we’re going to play him with size and quickness and if he’s hurting us enough, we’re going to double-team him. But we feel we don’t need to double-team.”
Not so in last year’s playoffs, when the Knicks regularly doubled Mourning when he faced the basket, preventing him from making his favorite drive to the hoop.
Whatever the Knicks’ defensive strategy, Van Gundy said that Mourning’s presence “makes them significantly better.” Unlike the debate the last few years, whether the Knicks were better or worse with Ewing, nobody questions if Miami needs Mourning.
While the Heat will surely benefit, Glen Rice said Mourning’s return enhances the rivalry heading into the playoffs.
“You want to face their best team,” Rice said. “He’s going to anchor their defense and on the offensive end that’s another weapon they have.”
In watching tape to prepare for Mourning, Van Gundy said that the Heat star has shown no effects from his long lay-off.
“His game is the same,” Van Gundy said.
But his teammates are not. In an attempt to make a serious run for the title, Riley added 6-7 Anthony Mason and 6-9 Brian Grant to the roster during the off-season. Now, Mourning is trying to get comfortable alongside them, which will make the Heat’s frontcourt the most formidable in the league.
But Camby seemed unconcerned by saying, “We pretty much know how to play those guys.”
It was Ewing, though, who knew best of all how to guard Mourning.
“The thing that Pat can do, particularly down the stretch of games, his size had an effect on Mourning’s post-up,” Van Gundy said.
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Upset with the poor second-half starts, Van Gundy said he is considering changing the team’s starting lineup to open the third quarter today.
Van Gundy said that the struggling Larry Johnson needs to pick up his game.
“I think he’s got to compete at a higher level,” he said.
