It's the same ol' Heat—with one healthy exception

Sporting News, The, Nov 29, 1999 by Dave D'Alessandro

Miami is by far the best team in the East right now, and this is a result of a fairly common NBA ascent. No, it's not the "innocent climb" Pat Riley espouses--it's more like a "two-steps-up, dodge-the-boulder" type of ascent.

Now the crest is in sight, and familiarity and experience are only part of Miami's evolution as a title contender. So is talent, which the Heat has in abundance. And a large portion of it is attitude: After years of postseason disappointment--call it underachievement, if you must--the team seems to have adopted the don't-give-a-damn attitude that Utah acquired when it finally broke through to the Finals in 1996-97.

But let's be frank: When it comes to the Heat, what you see is basically what you're going to get. Alonzo Mourning is a serious, high-voltage monster of a center whose dedication makes it easy to overlook his occasional brain spasm. Tim Hardaway seems to have gotten his mobility back after a hideous playoff spring. P.J. Brown is the same sturdy bookend opposite 'Zo, though Brown is rebounding more effectively this year.

Those are the cornerstones, fortified by solid role players, including a trimmer Clarence Weatherspoon. They make the Heat what it is--solid, predictable and workmanlike, as reliable as the World Almanac. No new contributors, at least not until Otis Thorpe's thumb heals. Sure, they're playing some run-and-stun right now, but let's see how that'll fly come March or April. Until further notice, it's same ol', same or. What you see is what you get, only it's a year later.

Unless, of course, there's something that has been there all along we haven't seen.

Such as the Jamal Mashburn we've been waiting to see all these years.

Who'd have thought it? The season has barely begun, and Mash has taken the stage and seized a starring role. Through the weekend, he looked like the 20-point scorer from the three-spot Miami has needed since time immemorial. He is using his remarkable, yet underutilized gifts to become a matchup headache every time he takes the court. And he is becoming the unexpected edge Miami will need if it is to make it to late June.

We'll admit it: Mash has never been one of our faves, if only because he had this quirky habit of magically disappearing in the hot glare of the postseason. We'll also admit our judgment of this uniquely contoured player (6-8, 250) may have been hasty, given his appalling history of injuries.

And leave it to Riley to finally reap the rewards of a player he stood by all along, other than those times when he was busy shopping him around the league. Riley has been waiting for this payoff for four seasons now, but though he's no proponent of self-fulfilling prophecies, he always has regarded Mash's body as something of a ticking bomb.

"I think, to be honest with you, he is jinxed," Riley said recently.

Let's hope not. But Mashburn's medical history supports his coach's theory, even if most of his injuries were flukes. He lost 26 games last year because of a hyperextended left knee, suffered during a relatively minor collision. The year before, a shattered right thumb, incurred while breaking a fall, sidelined him for 31 games. Years earlier, another knee injury that required surgery limited him to 18 games when he was with Dallas. It was always something. It makes you think the Heat should outfit him with a wrought-iron uniform.

"It's not like I can be more careful," Mash told the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale recently. "There's not one thing to be careful about.... I don't think I'm jinxed. I don't think I'm fragile."

He is, however, a remarkable player when he stays healthy and doesn't have to waste three weeks reacclimating himself to Riley's demanding environment. With that in mind, Mashburn has reconsidered his approach to conditioning and has emphasized flexibility over muscle mass. For an hour a day, he is Gumby. The difference is noticeable.

"I've increased my flexibility a whole lot," he says. "I've never had problems with my hamstring or anything like that, but I'm taking all the precautions I can to be healthy. I was always having a little tightness, but now you'd be surprised what I'm capable of doing. Nothing is going to prevent you from the freak (injury), when you're going for a layup and someone hits you and you fall on your thumb. But maybe, if I'm more flexible, I'll roll over next time."

It would be a welcome change over his usual roll-over-and-die performances we've seen in the postseason. Riley doesn't regard Mashburn as an athletic player, but you have to love his versatility. He can be a terror in the post. He can hit the spot-up 3s. He can take anyone, big or small, off the dribble. He can be a holy terror for the Heat--the unfair advantage, as they say on pit row. But only if he stays healthy.

"He's real aggressive--I think he's playing a real balanced game; he's playing great for us," Riley says. "He was off to a great start last year, and I thought when he hurt his thumb two years ago he was really on his way to an All-Star kind of year. For him to be consistent, he has to be on the court and practicing every day. If we can get a healthy year out of Jamal, he can prove to all of us just what kind of player he is, which is a front-line player."