http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/ sfl-skolnick27apr27,0,314242.column?coll=sfla-sports-heat Sports columnist -------------------------------------------------------------- Ethan J. Skolnick SKOLNICK: Playoff crash course for Heat Published April 27, 2004 NEW ORLEANS -- Welcome to Playoffs 101. Take a folding seat. Enrollment is limited to 16 for this popular crash course, taught on backboards instead of blackboards, offering students a chance to stretch their minds and muscles and games as they never have before. Through it, they learn about themselves. They learn who among them is willing to lead the class, raise his hand, stand up, stand out, and who shakes when his name is called. They learn who has the passion, force, will and problem-solving skill necessary just to make it near a Finals exam. And we, as observers, get to audit the class. So we learn much too. Tonight, in Game 4 of a 2-1 series, we learn how quick a study the young Heat can be and whether it has comprehended the Game 3 lessons well enough to fare better offensively. Expect physical play. Go hard from the start. Run as much you can, because an aggressive error beats a passive one. Play as freely as you do at home, because playing your game is the best way to take the Hornets out of theirs. We learn if the Heat has what it takes to hang around long enough to learn more about what it takes. It would be priceless for the Heat players to graduate to play even four games against the disciplined and deep Pacers, and for management trying to determine how to retool the roster during summer break. Think of all that's been learned or reinforced already, in just three games against the damaged Hornets: Dwyane Wade isn't destined to be a point guard, something his series nemesis Baron Davis has said too, even while calling Wade "a special player" with a "world of potential." The Heat is short a shooter, especially when Eddie Jones shrinks and Rasual Butler sits. Caron Butler can rise to a moment as well as a rim. Mostly we have learned that the Heat already has the most difficult and important part of the playoffs just about nailed. It already plays playoff defense. This is a discovery of Naismith proportions. The Heat has generally been a solid defensive team since Pat Riley's arrival. But it has never under such adverse circumstances, without a shot-blocker like Alonzo Mourning, a proven shutdown forward like Bruce Bowen or teammates together so long they knew all of each other's tendencies. After holding teams to a surprisingly low 42.5 percent during the season, the Heat defense has been the story of this series, stifling the Hornets at 33 percent, and testing their patience while keeping itself in all three games. "That's the base of who they are," said Hornets coach Tim Floyd, frantically cramming to solve the Heat's basic equation. "The defense is designed to take away the paint, the interior. It was when Pat was there. Even with the old illegal defense rules, they capitalized on those better than anybody in the league. And with the non-rules, they are a great help-defensive team." Hornets guard Darrell Armstrong spoke about the style and scrappiness being the same as the Riley days: "The first trap and rotation, they got all those things down. You got to make the extra pass." P.J. Brown, once a strong Heat help defender, said the philosophy hasn't changed, but he suggests in some ways this Heat defense is superior, because "they are more athletic on the perimeter than we were. Hey, you got those kind of guys four or five years ago, we might have won a ring, no doubt." Brown said the Heat's perimeter players are making it "hard inside, man," by cluttering the paint and making him and Jamaal Magloire shoot quickly. "They can come down on the post just enough to mess with you and then get back and contest Baron and David [Wesley's] shots," Brown said. "There's not a lot of guys in the league who do that. ... That's Miami D, though." That's what has rendered Magloire moot on offense. Big Cat hasn't purred in this series, making 12 field goals, leaving before talking after Monday's practice. Sunday, Floyd defended his center as well as Brian Grant has. The coach referred to Grant as "a guy who is paid to defend people in this league," one "who has frustrated Shaquille O'Neal." While Grant has kept Magloire from catching it in the post, the Heat helpers have kept him from stepping out for 12-footers. Magloire has looked agitated. Brown, knowing that "Sometimes he gets a little anxious and tries to force it a little bit," has told the 25-year-old not to get frustrated, "because that's what they want him to do, get frustrated, get technical fouls, get kicked out. But he's a four-year veteran now, he's an All-Star, so I think he's going to be OK." The Heat should be better than OK. It simply must improve its offensive grade -- a 90 would be an A -- while continuing to exhibit such defensive mastery. If so, it will pass this challenging class while closing the book on the Hornets. Copyright c 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel --

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