http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/8507214.htm Posted on Sat, Apr. 24, 2004 Bumpy road behind Heat? Miami, which has struggled away from home like no other playoff team, is hoping to put its past to rest beginning with Game 3 today in New Orleans. BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ [email protected] NBA PLAYOFFS It hangs around the Miami Heat, shrouded by the good vibes that have come with the team's 19-4 record of late, but still visible and definitely unavoidable. It will immediately slap some sense into crazed Heat fans who are talking second round and beyond. It's ugly and sobering and even more forgetful than 0-7, 5-15 or 25-36. "It" is the Heat's road record, and it's the one dark cloud that has hovered over the team through its remarkable late-season run. And unless the Heat can turn its fortunes around -- today at 1 p.m. in Game 3 against the Hornets would be a good time to start -- the team's hopes of advancing in the NBA playoffs could get dicey. "You have to play at a higher level to win on the road," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I think we play at a level that allows us to play well at home. We haven't quite risen to the level as a team to be able to win consistently on the road." FEW QUALITY WINS The Heat's road problems can't be examined by simply glancing over the 13-28 record, the worst of any playoff team. A closer examination shows that those 13 wins were hardly impressive. The Heat began the season 1-11 on the road, its only win coming in Seattle against a team playing without All-Star Ray Allen. Miami won three road games in December -- against the Raptors, Wizards and Bulls, all losing teams that finished a combined 81-165. In January, the Heat managed another three wins away from home, against the Clippers, the Hornets (who were playing without their starting backcourt of Baron Davis and David Wesley), and the Knicks, which was arguably the team's highest quality road win of the season. The rest of the season, the Heat only won at Orlando, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago and Boston, which was playing without Paul Pierce. That's not exactly an endorsement for the Heat as it prepares to face the desperate Hornets for two games in New Orleans. The problem? It starts, Van Gundy says, with the one element that has carried the Heat through several of its 29 home wins: energy. "What I see as the main difference on the road is, I think our defense stays pretty consistent, but we don't seem to bring as much offensive energy on the road," Van Gundy said. "We don't run as much, we don't move the ball as well, the pace of our game becomes a little bit slower. We need to change that." It's an outlook his players agree with but don't necessarily know how to change. "We've played 82 games, and now we're in the playoffs," Udonis Haslem said. "As professionals we should be able to do that by now. Early on, maybe being a young team you can kind of use that as an excuse. Right now we just have to get it done." ALSTON BOOSTS HEAT Throughout the season, Rafer Alston has provided energy when the team lacked it. The reserve point guard pushes the tempo offensively and is a nuisance defensively. Alston says he's prepared to provide more of it, especially on the road, in the postseason. "Coach has really stressed that to me, too," Alston said. "He said he noticed a big difference in my game from home to the road. He said that it seems my energy level is way down. So I'm going to find a way to get my energy up and really be as energetic as possible and try to find a way to feel like I'm at AmericanAirlines Arena." Brian Grant would like to remind his team to remain as loose and energetic in New Orleans as it has been at home, but he worries about the possible consequences. "I'm afraid that if I start emphasizing it, then they'll start thinking about that rather than going out there free," Grant said. "It'll put added pressure on them, and why do that when we've been successful going this route." The last thing Grant wants is his team entering a road playoff game as uptight as some of his previous Trail Blazers and Kings teams have been. "When I was on a team full of veterans, right before the playoffs the air was so thick,'' Grant said. 'You couldn't whisper. You had to look down, and it was like, 'Let's go!' " RECENT SUCCESS It probably won't hurt, though, to remind the Heat of its past two games in New Orleans. The first was a physical contest on Jan. 31 that featured a scuffle between Lamar Odom and David West, and ended with the Heat pulling away 94-70. If that was an encouraging game for the Heat, a study of the second game in New Orleans could at least prepare the Heat for what's to come today. The Heat lost the March 10 meeting in New Orleans 95-84, as the Hornets were purposefully physical and made their way to the free throw line 46 times to the Heat's 16 trips. The Heat finished its road schedule 5-3 after that loss, and the team is hopeful that winning trend continues. "I feel like, as the year closed out, we played a little better on the road," Odom said. "Who knows, maybe we can get it together now." --

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