http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/ sfl-skolnick28apr28,0,772996.column?coll=sfla-sports-heat Sports columnist ---------------------------------------------------------- Ethan J. Skolnick SKOLNICK: Is this all the Heat has? Published April 28, 2004 NEW ORLEANS -- We have wondered if some teams would be too big for the Heat but never if a moment might be. But maybe this one is. The Heat needed to come to New Orleans with purpose, intensity and composure, and for more than one quarter, to finish a team already teetering. It came away with two losses. With a tied series. With another lesson. "We're finding out what it is to be the road team in the playoffs," Lamar Odom said after the 96-85 loss. The Heat players find themselves in peril now, hoping their home court tilts the series back their way. But now the Hornets are coming at them and their 14-game home win streak full speed ahead. "They got life, they got momentum, it's a tied series," Brian Grant said. "If I'm the Hornets, I'm thinking I got a great chance to win." They do think that. Especially their point guard and leader, who also has a great chance to win an Emmy for best actor in a suddenly dramatic series. "We've been in Game 5 situations, and they haven't," Baron Davis said, after 23 points, 10 assists and some fairly aggressive defense for a guy with an occasional limp. "So we're going in with the utmost confidence." And now the Heat is going in limping, too. Players spoke about all the "tough shots" the Hornets hit. That was true. Some were ridiculous, three of them by Davis alone, counting for nine points, though his foot on the line before halftime meant it should have been eight. Many came late in the shot clock, when the Heat had made the Hornets exhaust every reasonable option. "It's faith, I guess," Dwyane Wade said. "I think we did a good job of being there, putting our hands up." Still, the Hornets knocked the shots down. Off-balance. Off a double-clutch. On one leg. With one second left. "There's no defense for that," Odom said. But that wasn't all that knocked the Heat down on this night. In the first half, there were too many times no one seemed to want to take a shot, overpassing, overdribbling. At the end, when it mattered, no one could make one, or even get it in bounds to have the chance. The Heat was down six with 53.6 left when Wade let the five-second clock expire as a play developed slowly. Afterwards, Wade talked about something else the Heat let get to them. "A couple of calls didn't go our way," Wade said. "We let that bother us on both ends of the court. And they went back ahead quick." "This is the playoffs," said Grant. "There's nothing questionable in the playoffs. You just gotta play." The Heat players let other things happen. They let too many easy shot opportunities get away, especially early. They let their emotions show in the first half; it's rare to see them somewhat frustrated with each other. They let too many Hornets players get inside for dunks and layups. They let you see the best of them, displaying poise and grit -- particularly Odom -- during a 20-6 third quarter run. They let it get away by shooting 25 percent in the fourth. They let Davis take the series back by using one of the few body parts not listed on his injury report: his strong, steady hands. Before the game, TNT gave Davis a "Bop Buddy," a three-foot red and blue and chubby inflatable man with a closed purple eye. TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager told Davis it resembled him in one way: you could hit it, but it wouldn't fall down. "As long as I keep getting back up," Davis joked. He was the reason his team did, because he was cooler than his counterparts when it counted. He also gave the Heat players more reason to raise eyebrows about his "woe-is-me" act. "Baron hit some tough shots," Wade said. "Baron had a very good game to be so hurt," Grant said. "You can't take anything away from his effort tonight." Grant was asked how injured he thinks Davis really is. "Only Baron knows that," Grant said. "I only know what he did out there tonight." And what he's said? "We don't listen to that anyway," Grant said. "Whatever he says, we play him the same way." Davis played 43 minutes. The Heat played him tight but ultimately not tight enough. "I'm ready to go sleep for two days about right now," Davis said, when asked how a man so damaged could play so well. This is for sure: he'll sleep better than the Heat. Ethan J. Skolnick can be reached at [email protected]. Copyright c 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel --

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