Miami
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Booed throughout the entire game for giving up on the Nets franchise earlier this season and demanding out, Alonzo Mourning delivered what essentially turned out to be the final blow in this nailbiting double overtime 108-105victory over New Jersey when he recorded his only offensive rebound of the game off of a Udonis Haslem missed free throw with just 20 seconds to go and the Heat up by three.
Head coach Stan Van Gundy had no issues putting in Mourning over Shaquille O'Neal with just 20 seconds to go, thinking his higher free throw percentage (career 70 percent average as compared to Shaq's career 53 percentage average) might hold the advantage. It turned out Mourning's heart, and not his transplanted kidney or his marksmanship, is what saved the day. A hustle play like that doesn't come around very often and when it does and ends up leading to the win, it says a lot about the character of the player and his team.
There is nothing better for a championship-contending team to receive a scare from a lower-seeded team and to rise to the challenge.
The Heat did it three times last night.
Once to finish the regulation, once in overtime, and once again in double-overtime. Miami was able to do what needs to be done to win in the playoffs -- namely, play defense -- as it held new Jersey virtually scoreless int he waning minutes of each of those stanzas.
NEXT GAME
The Heat (up 3-0 against the Nets) stay in the Meadowlands for game four on Sunday against the Nets at 3:30pm to be broadcast on ABC. With a win, Miami can notch its first ever four-game sweep in franchise history.
TEAM NOTES
Richard Jefferson seems to be back so the Heat better wrap this up pretty soon or they will have to face a very formidable trio when all three are fully healthy and clicking together. This Nets team, even if unretouched this summer, is a virtual playoff lock next season, and possibly with home court advantage, so the Heat will do well not to underestimate them and to finish them off quickly.
INJURY UPDATE
Qyntel Woods (left ankle),Wang Zhi-Zhi(lower back), andDorell Wright( patella tendonitis) are on the Heat's injured list for the remainder of the playoffs.
Dave Hyde ofThe South Florida Sun-Sentinelwrites: Could they play any worse, but offer any better reason to dream big?Could they look any uglier while simultaneously never sitting prettier? Could a game in need of an ending, and a night in search of closure, deliver a more fitting finale than Heat reserve Alonzo Mourning charging across the court in search of a rebound like a bowling ball after a pin? Mourning had scored no points, made no big plays, offered nothing like the everything he had in the previous Game 2. But there he was Thursday night, running after an errant basketball as New Jersey Nets grabbed his jersey, his arm, anything they could in chasing the ball themselves.
Michael Cunningham ofThe South Florida Sun-Sentinelwrites: Add Richard Jefferson to the New Jersey lineup, even after he's had three months off, and suddenly the Nets are a more dynamic offensive team with a player who can hang with Heat guard Dwyane Wade.Nets coach Lawrence Frank again started Brian Scalabrine instead of Jefferson against the Heat in the first-round Eastern Conference series. But Frank went to Jefferson early in Thursday's Game 3 and stayed with him for most of New Jersey's 108-105 loss to the Heat. Jefferson, who missed the final three months of the regular season after wrist surgery, showed he's ready to play major minutes. Jefferson had 23 points in 45 minutes while attacking the basket, running the floor and electrifying fans at Continental Airlines Arena, all while doing a solid job containing Wade.
Stephen F. Holder and Israel Gutierrez ofThe Miami Heraldwrite: Heat center Alonzo Mourning and Nets guard Vince Carter shared the court Thursday night as two of the biggest story lines in this playoff series. But before the game, they drew the attention of NBA commissioner David Stern for reasons other than their play on the court.Stern said in a pregame interview he was disturbed by the recent trend that has seen players force the management of their respective teams to trade them or buy out their contracts simply because the players are unhappy about their situations or roles. That list would include Mourning and Carter.
Dan Le Batard ofThe Miami Heraldwrites: This was the best shot New Jersey had.Best shot, as in its finest opportunity. Best shot, as in Vince Carter's season-saver bouncing on the rim an Allan Houston-esque five times before going in. Best shot, as in a surprise sucker punch. But Miami withstood the force of the blow, wiped the blood off its mouth and then smiled through bloody lips before administering the kind of beating that will echo throughout New Jersey's offseason -- an offseason that's much closer to beginning after this majestic, breathtaking, staggering 108-105 Miami triumph in double overtime.
Stephen F. Holder ofThe Miami Heraldwrites: This one was about the other guys.The guys who don't make the headlines, who don't star in the commercials and who don't have sneakers named after them. They got the Heat through Thursday night when the big guns (Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal) still were trying to find their way. Without Alonzo Mourning diving on the floor for a critical loose ball, without Udonis Haslem fighting for a staggering 19 rebounds, without Keyon Dooling injecting a needed dose of life into the offense, the result of this game likely would not have gone in the Heat's favor.