Mourning’s Comeback Has Heat Right in Center

Good (Alonzo) Mourning, Eastern Conference!

There are times when the balance of power trembles, and last week was one. Hope glimmered in the downtrodden East with the announcement that Mourning, the conference’s lone star center, was returning to the Miami Heat, which had stayed in the top four without him.

Despite angry denials-- “Ridiculous!”--by Coach Pat Riley, Mr. Mind Games, himself, this was a possibility that had already occurred to everyone.

A week before, Orlando Magic Coach Doc Rivers said he was just hoping to stay out of the Heat’s way in the playoffs.

“The Zo thing scares the heck out of the rest of the league,” Rivers said. “They’ll also get Eddie Jones back [from a separated shoulder] and they’ve been winning without him and they could have the best starting five in the league.”

Said Miami’s Tim Hardaway after Mourning’s announcement: “Zo is back. They should be scared.”

The importance to the East, as well as the league, can hardly be overstated. When Michael Jordan retired, it was if he had pulled the plug on his conference, which sent heavy underdogs into one-sided, low-rated finals.

In 1999, the 37-13 San Antonio Spurs met a New York Knick team that had gone 27-23.

Last spring, the 67-win Lakers met the 56-win Indiana Pacers.

This season, the gallant, under-gunned Philadelphia 76ers have dominated the East. Until last week, they had the league’s best record, which would have meant home-court advantage in the finals, had they made it that far, evening things out.

Of course, there’s a problem when you’re being carried by 160-pound Allen Iverson, who keeps taking on giants and limping away. His latest injury, a sore hip, cost him four games and the 76ers went 0-4.

Now the Heat can field a Mourning-Brian Grant-Anthony Mason front line that would be almost as physical as any in the West. Except Riley says he won’t even put that unit on the court for a while.

Yes, everybody had gotten a tad ahead of himself. In Mourning’s first game, the Heat lost at home to the Toronto Raptors.

In his second, at Milwaukee, it lost again and Riley, who has unmellowed dramatically as the stakes have gone up, staged one of his days of rage, blasting his team and reprising it for reporters: “It’s not about Alonzo, it’s about the Heat getting their [rear end] kicked again.”

Newcomers Jones, Grant and Mason haven’t played with Mourning. Riley is worried about ego conflict, musing about “people being bent out of shape.”

If you couldn’t guess which pretzel he meant, Mason, the resident Oscar the Grouch who became an all-star in Mourning’s absence, was looking even gloomier than usual.

“What am I supposed to do?” Mason asked reporters. “Run around yelling? We can’t help it if we’re not doing the same parade you all are doing.”

When a writer persisted, Mason told him, “Stop making an issue out of nothing. You sound like an idiot.”

Isn’t it great when reality intrudes in this fantasy world and everyone gets a renewed perspective on life?

Mourning has real worries. He takes 14 pills a day to control his kidney disease. The man who was once the most macho of NBA warriors says he’s scared.

“Let me tell you the god’s honest truth,” he said at the news conference announcing his return, “every time I step out on that court, I’m afraid.

“I’m scared. I’m human. It’s natural to be scared. The reason why I’m scared, the doctors haven’t really given me any solid answers on my future.”

His wife, Tracy, told Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald: “I know that this makes him happy and that’s like medicine, but he still has to take those pills. . . . This has literally brought us to our knees like never before. We’re just trying to hold each other up now.”

Doctors aren’t in the assurance business, but it’s hard to believe they weren’t more confident that playing posed no significant risk. If they weren’t, coming back was the wrong thing to do.

So it’s way too early to know what it means to the Heat, the East, the NBA or, most important, Mourning. Let’s hope it turns out that ego was their biggest problem, after all.

FACES AND FIGURES

Great to be here (now): Beset by speculation he had put the Milwaukee Bucks on hold to see if anything opened up in Portland, Coach George Karl signed that two-year, $14-million extension Sen. Herb Kohl was offering. “Being sought out by the Milwaukee Bucks has been one of my life’s blessings,” Karl said. “ . . . I have a great relationship with the Senator and with Ernie [Grunfeld, the general manager], who both want to win as much as I do. We have a first-rate coaching staff and a cohesive team that continues to improve and respond to challenges. Our fans have responded big-time this year and I don’t think I could ask for any more than the treatment I’ve received, personally or professionally, since arriving in Milwaukee.”

In case Karl thinks of anything more he could ask for, he also got out clauses, giving him the right to leave to coach North Carolina or in Europe.

Chicago Bull Coach Tim Floyd on the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce, who averaged 31.4 points in March: “I’ve watched him since he was at Kansas. It’s amazing to me he fell to 10th in the [1998] draft. There must have been a bunch of people out drinking and not going to games to scout. People get so caught up in talking about Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant and all these great young players in our league and I hardly ever hear his name mentioned.”

Players chosen ahead of Pierce included the Clippers’ Michael Olowokandi, first; the Vancouver Grizzlies’ Mike Bibby, second; the Denver Nuggets’ Raef LaFrentz, third; Robert Traylor, who was traded to Milwaukee, sixth; the Sacramento Kings’ Jason Williams, seventh, and Larry Hughes, eighth, by the 76ers.

Around here, we expect the impossible, the miraculous takes a little longer: The Knicks have been a pleasant surprise, outside of New York, anyway, but a concerned Madison Square Garden boss Dave Checketts is accompanying the team on its West Coast trip that ends here today. “I think we have to be happy with our record and where we are and the chance that we have this year,” Checketts said. “But I would not be telling the truth unless I said I’m very, very concerned about this stretch of five games, the rest of the season, road and home. I think it’s time to see what this team can do.” So far the Knicks are 1-3, including a 21-point loss at Vancouver and a 17-point loss at Portland.

To help pass the long season, Washington Wizard players like to snap at Coach Leonard Hamilton. On the list are Felipe Lopez, Gerard King and Tyrone Nesby, who refused Hamilton’s order to leave the bench, was led off by security but allowed to return for the second half. Last week, power forward Mike Smith yelled about being taken out at Golden State and was sent home. Meanwhile, Mitch Richmond, who was coming off a sore knee and wanted to make the trip-- reportedly to show the Lakers he can still play--was left home. “I understand what [Wizard management is] trying to do,” Richmond said. “They’ve got some young guys in here and that’s the direction they’re headed in. I understand that. But don’t step on me while I’m still here.”

Remember Chris Webber’s promise never to talk about his free agency again because reporters were making it into a “Jerry Springer” sensation? Apparently he meant never or until someone asked, whichever came first. With the Knicks in town, Webber confided to several New York writers: “I’ve lived there the past two summers so I’m pretty familiar with the city. I stayed in Manhattan, Westchester, everywhere. All those areas. . . . I’ve watched [the Knicks] a lot. I think they play hard. I think they play with a lot of pride. It’s East Coast style and I played on the East Coast for six years. I’ve switched style anywhere I’ve been. I could adapt.” The New York Post called this “a stunning revelation” and ran it under the headline: “NYC HAS BECOME BIG APPLE OF WEBBER’S EYE.”

Charlotte Hornet Coach Paul Silas, on the chances of Derrick Coleman recovering from his calf muscle sprain in time to play this season: “If he wants to come back, there’s nothing I can do. I’ve got to bring him back.”