http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/ sfl-hornets17apr17,0,2805752.story?coll=sfla-sports-heat Seeing is believing when it comes to Magloire By Ira Winderman Staff Writer Posted April 17 2004 Jamaal Magloire has spent much of this season quieting doubters. When the Hornets open their first-round playoff series Sunday against the Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena, the 6-foot-11 New Orleans center will only find believers. "He's aggressive, physical and I know I'm going to get that from him every time I see him," Heat center Brian Grant said Friday. "Some guys, you might see it sometimes, but you always get it from him." After going mostly unnoticed his first three seasons with the Hornets, Magloire found himself at the center of an unexpected debate at midseason. With the East lacking quality centers, Magloire was elected by conference coaches to back up Detroit's Ben Wallace at the All-Star Game. The protests came mostly from the uninformed, who did not understand that at least two centers had to be selected, regardless of superior qualifications by those at other positions. Magloire did his best to silence the skeptics by leading the East with 19 points in 21 minutes. Heat reserve forward Udonis Haslem has been banging with the Hornets center since his days at the University of Florida and Magloire's at Kentucky. "I've seen a tremendous improvement in his offensive game, especially," Haslem said. "He's scoring a lot better than he did in college. In college, he just rebounded, he had long arms. I've even seen him pull up and shoot a couple of 'J's that actually look good." Magloire closed the season as Eastern Conference Player of the Month for April, averaging 21.7 points and 12.1 rebounds over the final seven games. He recorded double-doubles in 12 of his final 13 appearances. "The doubts about him being on the All-Star team, he's removed a lot of that," coach Tim Floyd said. The next step toward redemption could come in the upcoming series. While he averaged 13.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and shot 48 percent from the field in playing all 82 games, he averaged six points and 10.5 rebounds and shot 5 of 22 in four games against the Heat. "I thought throughout the regular season we didn't approach the games the way we should have," he said of the 1-3 record against the Heat. "But now that we're in a different setting and everything's 0-0, things will definitely change." P.J.'S BEEN THERE Former Heat power forward P.J. Brown is well aware of the influence of the home crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena. "One thing we're going to try and do is keep that crowd out of it, because they've really been supporting their team, especially the second half of the year," he said. ARMSTRONG SITS Veteran point guard Darrell Armstrong sat out Friday's practice and is listed as questionable for Sunday because of a badly sprained right ankle. The injury forced the 35-year-old veteran to miss the final three games of the regular season. ... Hornets forward George Lynch is downplaying the Heat's youth. "The playoffs aren't about who's most athletic," said the forward who will start in place of sidelined Jamal Mashburn. "It's going to come down to who plays the smartest with two minutes left in the game." Staff Writer Brian Sumers contributed to this report. Copyright c 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel --

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