It’s a Flashback for Mourning

Alonzo Mourning was supposed to be an insurance policy for the Miami Heat, someone to supplement Shaquille O’Neal.

On Tuesday night, Mourning was much more for the Heat, who took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference series with the New Jersey Nets.

Mourning, who wanted out of New Jersey this season because he didn’t consider the Nets a championship contender, had 21 points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes -- helping the Heat to a 104-87 victory at Miami.

“The Hulk carried Superman today,” O’Neal said.

Dwyane Wade had 17 points and 10 assists for Miami. O’Neal, Eddie Jones and Damon Jones each finished with 14 points for the Heat, which moved to 38-5 at home this season.

Nenad Krstic had 27 points for New Jersey.

“We’re still confident. We’re still focused,” the Nets’ Vince Carter said. “And we still believe we can make this a contest.”

Once again, the Nets limited O’Neal to no avail. In five games against the Nets this season -- all Miami victories -- O’Neal has averaged 16.4 points and 10 rebounds. Still, the Nets have lost by an average of 19.8 points.

Mourning had 13 points in seven second-half minutes, eight of those points coming in the third quarter. His short hook with 3:46 left in the third gave Miami what was then its biggest lead, 69-49 -- and capped a 16-5 run that put the Nets away. New Jersey missed 13 of 14 shots during the run.

Seattle 105, Sacramento 93 -- Ray Allen scored 26 points and Jerome James followed a strong Game 1 effort with 19 points and nine rebounds to help the SuperSonics to a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference series at Seattle

James had 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots in the opener.

Seattle led by as many as 26 points in the third quarter before Sacramento cut it to eight in the final minutes with their starters on the bench.

Bobby Jackson had 17 points and Mike Bibby added 16, but the Kings got only nine points on three-for-10 shooting from Peja Stojakovic.

Detroit 99, Philadelphia 84 -- Sparked by a technical foul against him, Rasheed Wallace scored 11 of 15 points during a decisive 27-12 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to lift the Pistons to a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Allen Iverson scored 19 points on seven-for-24 shooting for Philadelphia, which trailed by 20 midway through the fourth quarter.

Detroit’s Richard Hamilton scored 23 points, and Chauncey Billups added 20 points and eight assists.

Meanwhile, a 31-year-old unidentified Piston fan was arrested and released after Iverson was struck with a coin while sitting on the bench with about two minutes left, police said. Other fans pointed out the suspect to police and arena security.